CAI Lab

People

Principal Investigator

Dr. H. Linda Cai
  • H. Linda Cai, MD, PhD
  • Professor of Anesthesiology and Medicine/Cardiology (tenured since 2006)
  • Director of Translational Research, Dept. of Anesthesiology
  • Cardiovascular Theme Principal Investigator Cai Laboratory
  • Member, Molecular Biology Institute
  • Member, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC)
  • Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology GPB Home Area
  • Molecular Pharmacology GPB Home Area
  • Member, Molecular Medicine, Cell & Developmental Biology GPB Home Area
  • JCCC Signal Transduction and Therapeutics Program Area
    Phone: (310) 267-2303
  • Fax: (310) 825-0132
  • Email: hcai@mednet.ucla.edu

Assistant Project Scientist/Assistant Professor

Yixuan Zhang
  • Ji-Youn Youn, PhD 
  • Phone: (310) 825-0165
  • Fax: (310) 825-0132
  • Email: jyyoun@mednet.ucla.edu
  • Projects:
    1. COVID-19
    2. Diabetic atherogenesis and wound healing
    3. Atrial fibrillation and POAF
    4. Phenotyping of novel transgenic strains

Assistant Project Scientist/Assistant Professor

Yixuan Zhang
  • Yixuan Zhang, PhD
  • Phone: (310) 825-0165
  • Fax: (310) 825-0132
  • Email: yxzhang@ucla.edu
  • Projects:
    1. NADPH oxidases and cardiac arrhythogenesis
    2. Novel VEGF-dependent eNOS activating pathway
    3. Phenotyping of novel vascular protective/injurious transgenics

Postdoctoral Fellows

Kai Huang
  • Kai Huang, PhD (Shanghai Jiaotong University, China)
  • Start Date: September 2017
  • Phone: (310) 825-0165
  • Fax: (310) 825-0132
  • Email: kaihuang@ucla.edu
  • Projects:
    1. Mechanistic roles of oxidative stress in obesity
    2. RNA mechanisms of hypertension and aneurysms
Priya Murugesan

Graduate Students

 

 

  • David Wong
  • UCLA MCIP (Molecular Cellular and Intergrative Physiology)
  • Start Date: September 2020
  • Phone: (925) 336-1539
  • Fax: (310) 825-0132
  • EEmail: david.wong@ucla.edu
  • Projects:
  •        1. RNA mechanisms of aortic aneurysm
  •        2. COVID-19

Undergraduate Research Students

  • Marie Bae
  • SRP Student, UCLA Class 2016
  • Start Date: Fall 2018
 
  • Jared Ngao
  • SRP Student, UCLA Class 2016
  • Start Date: Fall 2018
 
  • Nerissa Low
  • SRP Student, UCLA Class 2016
  • Start Date: Fall 2018

 


 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alumni (Partial)

Andy Nguyen, BS, Research Technologist, 2003-2006
Current Position: PhD Candidate, University of California Santa Cruz, 2010-2016; Five3 Genomics, Santa Cruz, CA, 2016-present
Publications: FEBS Letter 2004; PNAS, 2006; Hypertension 2011; Clinical Sci 2012
Karel Chalupsky, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2004-2006
Current Position: Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR (Academy of Science Czech Republic), 2006-2010; Head of Biochemistry Screen at Czech Center for Phenogenomics, Institute of Molecular Genetics, Czech Republic, 2010-present
Publications: PNAS 2005; J Mol Cell Cardiol 2009; Hypertension 2012
 
Jeong-Ho Oak, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2004-2006
Current Position: Principal Scientist, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Osaka, Japan, 2006-present
Publications: Diabetes, 2007; Cardiovascular Diabetology 2009; Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2012
John Blair, MD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2004-2006
Current Position: Cardiology Fellow at Northwestern University till 2009; Director of Cardiovascular Research, Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation at Wilford Hall Medical Center, 2009-2012 ; Assistant Professor, University of Chicago, 2012-present
Publications: Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2012
 
Ting Wang, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2005-2006
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago till 2009;  Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009-2014; Associate Professor, University of Arizona, 2014-2021; Professor, Florida International University, 2021-present
Publications: : Circ Res 2009; Am J Physiol Heart Physiol 2009; Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2012
Ankit Desai, MD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2006-2006
Current position: Cardiology Fellow, The University of Chicago, 2000-2009; Assistant and Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Arizona, 2010-2018; Associate Professor, Indiana University, 2018-present
Publications: N/A for short duration
 
Yuh Fen Pung, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2006-2007
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant  Professor, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, 2008-2014; Associate Professor, University of Nottingham, 2014-present
Publications: Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2009
Doan Ngo, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2007-2008
Current position: Research Fellow and Associate Professor, University of Adelaide, Australia, 2009-present
Publications: Frontiers in Physiology 2012
 
Ling Gao, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2006-2010
Current Position: Associate Professor, Associate Director of Endocrinology, Wuhan University, China, 2011-present
Publications: Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2009; J Mol Cell Cardiol 2009; Hypertension 2011; Diabetologia 2012; J Biol Chem 2016
Jun Zhang, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2007-2010
Current Position: Associate Professor, Nankai University, China, 2010-present
Publications: J Mol Cell Cardiol 2009; Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2009; J Mol Cell Cardiol 2013
 
Omar Bouhidel, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010-2011
Current position: Training in clinical studies
Publications: Frontiers in Bioscience (Landmark) 2014, BBA Mol Basis of Dis 2015
Van Nguen, BS, UCLA, 2011-2012 Work Study Student
Current position: Admission into Pharmacy School
 
Bo Gu, BS, Peking University, UCLA 2012 Summer Research Student
Current position: PhD Candidate, Stanford University
Ashley Bauer, BS, University of Minnesota, UCLA 2012 Amgen Scholar
Current position: PhD Candidate, Yale University
 
Xiaoniu Miao, co-educational PhD, 2011-2013
Current position: Cell Line Engineer, Innocent Biologics, Inc., Hangzhou, China
Publications: J Mol Cell Cardiol 2015, MS in preparation to Circ Res
Jun Zhou, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2012-2013
Current position: Director of Molecular Biology Research Division, National Emergency Prevention Pharma Research Center, Beijing, China
Publications: Mol Endocrinology 2015
 
Seokyoung Song, MD, Visiting Scholar, 2012-2013
Current position: Anesthesiologist and Associate Professor, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, Korea
Nicolas W. Hatch, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2012-2014
Current position: Lecturer, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA
Publications: MS in preapration to Cell Matab
 
Kin Lung Siu, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009-2015
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Silver Lake Research Corp., CA, 2015-present
Publications: Hypertension 2011; Chapter in System Biology of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants 2013; Diabetes 2014; PLOS One 2014; BBA Mol Basis Dis 2014; J Biol Chem 2014; J Mol Cell Cardiol 2014; Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2014; J Biol Chem 2016; J Mol Med 2016; Redox Biology 2017; J Mol Med 2017; Hypertension 2019; Redox Biology 2019; Redox Biology 2021
Hong Li, co-educational PhD, 2013-2015
Current position: Lecturer, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 2016-2019; Associate Professor, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 2019-present
Publications: BBA Mol Basis of Dis 2015, Hypertension 2019
 
Ji Youn Youn, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Project Scientist/Assistant Professor 2006-2016
Current Position: Family care, 2016-2020; Assistant Professor/Assistant Project Scientist, UCLA 2021-present
Publications: Circ Res 2009; J Clin Invest 2009; Cardiovasc Diabetologia 2009; Anethesiology 2012; Basic Res Cardiol 2012; Frontiers in Physiol 2012; Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2012; Clin Sci 2012; Diabetologia 2012; J Mol Cell Cardiol 2013; Chinese J Hyperten 2013; System Biology of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants 2013; Diabetes 2014; BBA Mol Basis of Dis 2014; J Hyperten 2015; Chemistry and Biology 2015; Mol Endocrinology 2015; Circulation 2016; J Mol Med 2017; Redox Biology 2017; J Biol Chem 2017; BBA Mol Basis of Dis 2017; PNAS 2018; Hypertension 2019; Redox Biology 2019
Ji Youn Youn, PhD, Assistant Professor/Assistant Project Scientist, UCLA 2021-present
Publilcations: Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2021; Redox Biology 2021
 
Taro Narumi, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2017
Current Position: Cardiologist and Associate Professor, Yamagata University, Japan
Publications: Hypertension 2021
 
Yongchen Wang, co-educational PhD, 2015-2017
Current Position: Senior Scientist, TransThera Pharmaceuticals, China
Publications: BBA Mol Basis of Dis 2017; Redox Biology 2021
Qiang Li, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2012-2018
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Fulgent Genetics, Los Angeles, CA
Publications: Front Biosci 2014; PNAS 2015; J Mol Cell Cardiol 2015; J Hyperten 2015; Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 2015; J Biol Chem 2017; Redox Biology 2017; Hypertension 2019; Redox Biology 2019; Hypertension 2021; MS in preparation to Circ Res
 
Norika Mengchia Liu, Graduate Student of MCIP (Molecular Cellular and Intergrative Physiology), 2013-2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Japan, 2018-2020;  Assistant Professor, Jikei University, Toyko, Japan, 2021-present
Publications: BBA Mol Basis of Dis 2017; J Mol Med 2017; Hypertension 2021; MS in preparation
Chuang Li, MD, co-educational PhD, 2017-2019
Current position: Cardiologist and Postdoc, Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, China
Publications: MS in preparation
 
Yabing Zhang, MD, co-educational PhD, 2017-2019
Current position: Anesthesiologist and Postdoc, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China
Publications: MS in preparation to Circ Res