Professional Development Series (PDS)

Ember Tota, PhD was recently a scientist at Sun Vectors, a JLABS member focused on advancing manufacturing for cell and gene therapies. She did her PhD and postdoc work in Chemical Biology with Dr. Neal Devaraj in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. She is also a founding member of the Chemistry and Biochemsitry Graduate Student Council!

Sural Ranamukhaarachchi, PhD is the cofounder and CEO of Serafin Labs, which spun out of his doctoral and postdoctoral research at UC San Diego. He earned his PhD in Bioengineering under Dr. Stephanie Fraley and completed his postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Hannah Carter at Moores Cancer Center through the Cancer Therapeutics (CT2) Training Program. He now leads Serafin Labs full-time, advancing the company's anti-metastatic drug discovery platform and pipeline toward the clinic. 

Hyesoo Kim, PhD is an industry postdoc at PumpKin, a company dedicated to improving breastmilk storage by understanding the biomolecular composition and structure of human milk fat globules. She completed her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at UCSD under the mentorship of Dr. Itay Budin in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.

Stephanie Dusaban, PhD is founder and partner of Antheros Legal, where she works closely with her clients to strategically build and manage IP portfolios that align with their business goals. She counsels emerging and growth-stage companies focused on small molecules, antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, RNA-based therapeutics, gene therapies, gene editing therapeutics, oncolytic viruses, peptide-based therapies, epigenetics, and cell-based agriculture. She also works closely with investors to spin out new companies and diligence companies in advance of investment. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Her Ph.D. and postdoctoral work focused on G-protein coupled receptor signaling in astrocytes and its role in inflammation in the Central Nervous System. Stephanie is admitted to practice law in California and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Erilynn Heinrichsen, PhD is Assistant Director of Engaged Teaching at the UC San Diego Teaching and Learning Commons, where she collaborates with faculty to advance equity-minded teaching practices and oversees comprehensive teaching development programs for both new and experienced graduate student instructors. Erilynn oversees the development, implementation, and assessment of programs designed to support graduate student instructors. She collaborates with faculty and graduate students to develop inclusive and evidence-based teaching practices through individualized support, workshops, learning communities, and pedagogy courses. With a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from UC San Diego, Erilynn transitioned from laboratory research to educational leadership and development, a path sparked by her experiences as an NIH IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer in Biology. Today her research focuses on the intersection of equity-minded practices and graduate instructor professional development, aiming to empower the next generation of educators.

Taylor Cottle, PhD is a biotech founder, scientist, and principal of the Cottle Life Science Advisory and Director of Business Development for The Airway Company. He is currently working with growing biotech and medtech companies to expand market access and develop digitally savvy GTM plans. Dr. Cottle built and led ventures at the intersection of science and business, from founding Aptabridge Therapeutics to develop aptamer-based T-cell engagers, to launching SHARP Diagnostics to advance isothermal nucleic acid detection. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University, and is currently an MBA candidate at the Carey Business School at JHU.