PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Michael Parsons got his Ph. D. from the National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK. He started a lab at Johns Hopkins University in 2004 and worked there in Baltimore for 14 years before heading west to sunny SoCal. At UCI, Dr. Parsons is a member of the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology and runs a lab that utilizes zebrafish to better understand pancreatic cell regeneration and differentiation. Dr. Parsons also teaches an honors genetics class for undergraduates (Bio H97).
POSTDOCS
Currently seeking potential postdoc candidates. Click here for more information.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Tori T
ucker graduated from the first time from UCI in 2017 and loved the place so much she stayed on to join grad school! Tori published a joint 1st author paper & was awarded an F31 grant from the NIH, won a Graduate Dean’s Excellence Fellowship, and is the 2021 Edward Steinhaus Teaching Award recipient. In 2023 Tori published her second paper before graduating and starting a job at a local biotech company
Sanzida Afrin successful obtained her Masters degree in the lab and graduated from UCI before pursuing a career in industry.
LAB ASSISTANTS
Charley Wang graduated from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA and gained a B.S. in Biology. Charley is currently perfecting CRISPR – mediated gene knock-ins in the lab and making lots of exciting transgenic lines.
Arinnae Kurdian received her B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from California State University – Northridge and worked at UCLA as a research associate utilizing patient-derived brain organoids to model human epileptogenesis. She is currently exploring cellular fate during pancreatic organogenesis and regeneration in zebrafish.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
RECENT DEPARTURES 🙁
Craig Sutkin, former Honor’s student in Dr. Parsons genetics class (H97). Loved genetics so much he came back for more. Here he is explaining how he combined two pigment mutations to generate Casper fish. Craig is soon to start Dental school.
Sophia Tran is a CHC student and also a former student of Dr. Parsons’ genetics class. She studied beta-cell ablation and chronic hyperglycemia models in zebrafish. Her work was published in DMM. Sophia plans on attending medical school .
Marie Lassaigne, Bio 199 Research Student and Honors student
Sheida Eshghi, Bio 199 Research Student
Ramiro II Equihua, Bio 199 Research Student and Honors student. Ramiro worked on maintaining and characterizing Nkx2.1a mutants. After graduation, Ramiro applied and was accepted to The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. Congratulations!
