principal investigator

Amy Rowat


PhD, University of Southern Denmark
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University/
Brigham Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School

Amy C. Rowat is a biophysicist, Professor and Vice Chair of Graduate Education in the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology at the University of California at Los Angeles. She is the Marcie H. Rothman Presidential Chair in Food Studies and also a member of the UCLA Bioengineering Department, the California NanoSystems Institute, the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center. Rowat holds degrees from Mount Allison University (B.Sc. Honors Physics; B.A. Asian Studies, French, & Math), the Technical University of Denmark (M.Sc. Chemistry), and the University of Southern Denmark (Ph.D. Physics). She completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University and Brigham-Women’s Hospital, and was a Research Fellow at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). Rowat is the author of over 75 scientific papers and inventor on over 6 patents. Rowat has also pioneered the use of food to teach sophisticated concepts in science, and has both written and lectured on the topic of science and food to hundreds of UCLA students and public audiences. Rowat is also Founder and Director of the Science&Food non-profit organization, Chair of the Food Studies Minor, and leads the Food Pod of the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA. Her work has been recognized by awards from national organizations like the National Science Foundation, and Dr. Rowat has received wide media coverage from outlets like the New York Times, LA Times, CBC News, and NPR.

Affiliations: Bioengineering Department; Center for Biological Physics; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; Broad Stem Cell Research Center; Graduate Programs of Bioengineering; Molecular Biology Institute; Molecular, Cellular, & Integrative Physiology; Biomedical Sciences.

Lab Members

Emily Cheng

Undergraduate Student Researcher

Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology

Ceci (Rebecca) Cohen

Graduate Student Researcher

MS candidate
BSc Chemical Biology, UC Berkeley

Angelina Flores

Graduate Student Researcher

PhD candidate, Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Program, Cellular and Developmental Biology
BSc California State University, Long Beach

Ester Fridman

Undergraduate Student Researcher

Sociology

Stephanie Kawecki

Postdoctoral Researcher

PhD Bioengineering, UCLA
MSc Environmental Science, Loyola Marymount University
BSc Biology, Loyola Marymount University

Minh-Tam Tran Le

Graduate Student Researcher

Bioengineering
BSc Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins

Dongping Qi

Project Scientist

PhD Physics, U Waterloo

Andrea Simonian

MS candidate 

Physiological Sciences
BSc Physiological Sciences, UCLA

Corinne Smith

Graduate Student Researcher

Bioengineering
BS in Chemical Engineering, University of Cincinnati

Jennifer Soto

Project Scientist

PhD in Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley/ University of California, San Francisco
BS in Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University

Layal Suboh

Research Associate

BSc in Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology, UCLA

Qingwen Xie

MS candidate 

Physiolocial Sciences
BSc Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UC Santa Barbara

Alumni

Alex Abdou (Undergraduate Student Researcher)
Pancho (Francisco) Alvarez (MS graduate student researcher)
Samuel Bruce (Undergraduate Summer Student), MD Columbia University, now Resident at Columbia University
Clara Chan (Graduate Student, PhD Bioengineering), now Research Associate at Evasc Medical Systems
Ashley Chang (High School Summer Student), Undergraduate Student, UCLA
Bryanna Chavez (MS graduate student researcher) , now MD student at UCSD
Kathleen Chen (Graduate Student, PhD Chemistry), now 2024 California Council on Science & Technology Policy Fellow
Alexei Christodoulides (Research Associate & Undergraduate Student Researcher), now MD Student, Indiana University Medical School
Ashton Davis (Masters & Undergraduate Student Researcher), now Graduate Student, MIT
Olivia Eggenberger (Undergraduate Summer Student), now Graduate Student, Lausanne
Junxi Feng (Undergraduate Student Researcher), now MS candidate at Harvard University
Douglas Fudge (Sabbatical), Professor of Integrative Biology, Chapman University
Navjot Kaur Gill (Graduate Student, PhD MCIP), now Postdoctoral Researcher, University of British Columbia/Simon Fraser University
Ajay Gopinath (High School Student Researcher), now Computer Science Undergraduate Student, UCSD
David Hoelzle (Postdoc), now Associate Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Ohio State University
Tae-Hyung Kim (Project Scientist & Postdoc), now Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of New Mexico
David Le (Undergraduate Student Researcher)
Rebecca Liu (Undergraduate Student Researcher), MS Food Science & Technology, Ohio State University; Sensory Scientist at Kerry Ingredients; now Sensory & Perceptual Researcher at Impossible Foods
Joshua Lu (Undergraduate Student Researcher), now Chef
Daniel Lutz (Undergraduate Student Researcher)
Chau Ly (Graduate Student, PhD Bioengineering)
Marinna Madrid (Undergraduate Student Researcher), PhD School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, now co-founder
Richard Morgan (Rotation), MD/PhD Student, MSTP Program UCLA/Caltech
Adam Nguyen (Undergraduate Student Researcher)
Angelyn Nguyen (Graduate Student, PhD Molecular, Cellular, & Integrative Physiology), Technology Transfer Associate at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; ‎now Business Development and Technology Transfer Officer, The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Charity Nguyen (Undergraduate Student Researcher)
Sam Norris (Postdoctoral Researcher), now Postdoctoral Researcher, U Chicago
Kendra Nyberg (Graduate Student, PhD Bioengineering), Research Associate at HP; Microfluidics Engineer at Triplebar Bio; now Sr. Microfluidic Engineer at Calico Life Sciences
Dongping Qi (Postdoc), Scientist, Cytolumina Technologies Corporation, Inc., Now Project Scientist, Rowat Lab
Sami Rafeedie (Undergraduate Student Researcher), BEng Bioengineering, UCLA
Vayu Maini Rekdal (Undergraduate Summer Student), PhD Harvard University, Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley, now Assistant Professor at Stanford University
Mike Scott (Masters & Undergraduate Student Researcher), now MD/PhD Student, Northwestern University
Shruti Sharma (Undergraduate Student Researcher), Research Associate, A2 Biotherapeutics, now Graduate Student at UCLA
Anup Singh (Masters Student Researcher), now Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, InnaMed
Hikari Tanaka (Undergraduate Summer Student Researcher & Amgen Scholar), BSc, Vassar College
Julia Thulin (Undergraduate Student Researcher), BEng Bioengineering, UCLA
Christina Tripsas (Graduate Student Researcher)
Brittany Trompetto (Undergraduate Student Researcher), now MD student, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Jackson Kazuto Uriu (Undergraduate Student Researcher), Life Sciences Undergraduate Student, UCLA
Bino Varghese (Postdoc), now Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Radiology, University of Southern California
Danielle Vasquez (Undergraduate Summer Student), Biology Undergraduate Student, Stanford University
Muriel Vernon (Project Scientist)
Adhvaith Vijay (Undergraduate Student), Statistics & Data Sciences Undergraduate Student, UCLA
Alia Welsh (Undergraduate Summer Student), Research Associate at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
Sam Yang (Undergraduate Student Researcher), Research Assistant, UCLA
Morgan Yee (Undergraduate Student Researcher), Graduate Student in the School of Dentistry, UCSF
Yang Zhuo (Visiting Researcher), Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University

Scroll to Top