Rachel Shahan
rshahan[at]ucla.edu
Dr. Rachel Shahan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at UCLA. Prior to coming to UCLA in March 2024, she was a Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University in the lab of the late Philip Benfey. Rachel received her PhD from the University of Maryland where she conducted her thesis research in the lab of Zhongchi Liu as a USDA NIFA Pre-doctoral fellow. Rachel received her B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech and originally hails from the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland. As a first-generation scientist, she is passionate about increasing representation in science and training the next generation of scientists.
Min Chen
minchen7[at]ucla.edu
Min is our laboratory manager. Originally from Beijing, China, she moved to Los Angeles in 2007 with her family. She has a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and a master’s degree in Computer Science. Before joining the Shahan Lab, she worked in the Goldberg Lab focusing on comprehensive genomic profiling during seed development. She has two boys and likes to spend her free time volunteering, practicing yoga, cooking and camping.
Ruth Jean Ae Kim
rjkim032[at]ucla.edu
Jean Ae is a postdoctoral scholar working on root developmental timing. She recently graduated with a PhD in Plant Biology from UC Riverside. Her graduate work in Meng Chen’s lab focused on the function of a biomolecular condensate in light and temperature signaling in plants. She is excited to apply her experience to discover how environmental signals inform root development over time. Outside of the lab she enjoys tennis, watching k-dramas, going on food adventures, and outings with her english cream golden retriever.
Sarah Pardi
spardi24[at]ucla.edu
Sarah received her PhD at Washington University in St. Louis in the Nusinow lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center where she studied disordered proteins and phase separation during red-light photoperception in Arabidopsis. Sarah is now a Postdoctoral researcher in the Shahan lab studying cell identity decisions and maintenance in the Arabidopsis root. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing tennis and spending time with friends and family.
Saahithi Kari
Saahithi is a 4th year Computational and Systems Biology major, concentrating in Bioinformatics. She is interested in using data visualization tools to study plant cell development. In her free time, she enjoys reading, spending time outdoors, and exploring the Los Angeles area.
Michael Lee
Michael joined the Shahan Lab in the Fall of 2024 and is currently a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA majoring in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. In his free time, he enjoys playing music, going for runs in nature and playing video games.
Talia Perelli-Minetti
Talia is a third year Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology undergraduate student at UCLA. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, bird watching, and playing video games.
Former lab members
We thank UCLA undergraduates Britney Trieu and Celina Yu for helping to set up the lab in Summer 2024!