2021

  • February 2021: For millennia, the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been one of humanity’s most useful microbial workhorses — transforming flour into bread, grapes into wine and grain into beer, among other tasks. S. cerevisiae also serves as a handy tool for biologists: a single-celled fungus, easily grown in the lab, whose metabolic processes can serve as a model for those of more complex creatures. And, according to a new study by UCLA researchers, this organism’s dietary habits may shed light on a genetic disorder that makes dairy products crippling or deadly to some people, and potentially lead to new treatments. Read the full UCLA Health article: Yeast study offers new insights into a devastating metabolic disorder: Research was led by UCLA Health's Dr. Leonid Kruglyak.

2020

  • October 2020: We welcome Giancarlo Bruni, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar to the Kruglyak Lab! Giancarlo officially started working in science at Reed College studying telomere biology. He then worked in Boston using chemical biology to manipulate larval zebrafish behavior. Later during the pursuit of his doctoral degree, he studied bacterial electrophysiology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Giancarlo is excited to use the awesome power of genetics to understand interspecies interactions and symbioses in the Kruglyak lab!

2019

  • September 2019: We are pleased to announce that Stefan Zdralejic, Ph.D., will be joining our lab as a Postdoctoral Scholar. Stefan received his doctoral degree in Biological Sciences at Northwestern University and his B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Santa Cruz. His primary doctoral research focused on the study of variable drug responses in Caenorhabditis elegans; his thesis was entitled, "Genetic and molecular mechanisms of phenotypic variation in the Caenorhabditis elegans species." We look forward to working with Stefan!
  • August 2019: We are pleased to announce that Connie (Liangke) Gou successfully passed her dissertation defense, "Understanding the connection between genotypes and phenotypes using linkage analysis and CRISPR genetic engineering." Congratulations, Dr. Gou! Connie has accepted a position as a Principal Biostatistician at Novartis in New Jersey state.
  • August 2019: Congratulations to Matthieu Delcourt who is starting a new position at the University of Ottawa.
  • August 2019: Congratulations to Elise Pham who will soon start an MS program in Boston.
  • July 2019: Welcome to our new grad student Noah Alexander.
  • January 2019: Welcome to our new postdoc Oliver Brandenberg who will use genetic engineering towards microbial plastic degradation.

2018

  • September 2018: Congratulations to Alejandro Burga Ramos who will soon start his own lab at IMBA in Vienna, Austria.
  • September 2018: Congratulations to Meru Sadhu who will soon start his own lab at NHGRI.
  • June 2018: Leonid Kruglyak Steps into UCLA Magazine Spotlight in the article "Gene Chaser" on pages 14 and 15.

2017

2016

  • June 2016: We are pleased to announce that Dr. Leonid Kruglyak has been appointed Chair of the Department of Human Genetics, effective July 1, 2016. Read the UCLA Newsroom announcement.