Lab Members

Alberto E. Ayala Sarmiento, PhD, earned his bachelor’s degree in biotechnology at the Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico. He obtained his master’s degree and doctorate from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in Mexico City where he focused mainly on brain tumors, gene therapy, neurogenesis and cerebrospinal fluid physiology. Ayala’s current interest in the Breunig Laboratory includes new brain tumor models and their early diagnosis.

Chuan is a visiting graduate student from Tsinghua University and works in the Breunig Lab. Chuan is interested in stem cell-derived organoid models and their applications in modeling development and disease.

Ana C. De La Cruz, PhD, earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Mount St. Mary’s University. She earned her doctorate in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University, where she focused on developing single-molecule imaging tools to study RNA biology in live cells. As a postdoctoral scientist in the Breunig Lab, she is interested in integrating single-cell multi-omics and spatial transcriptomic technologies into brain tumor models. More specifically, her focus is engineering an in vivo perturbation screen for functional screening of tumor drivers.

Katie Grausam, PhD, earned bachelor's degrees in human biology and psychology at Michigan State University, followed by master's degrees in neuroscience and science education at Florida State University. In 2018, she completed her doctorate in basic biomedical sciences at the University of South Dakota/Sanford School of Medicine, with a focus on the involvement of transcription factor ATOH1 in metastatic medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain tumor. Currently, as a postdoctoral scientist in the Breunig Lab, she is investigating additional brain tumors, including glioblastoma, and the interaction with the immune microenvironment of the brain, a project in collaboration with Stephen Shiao, MD, PhD, the Barth Family Chair in Cancer Genetics in honor of Beth Y. Karlan, MD.

Emily Hatanaka earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). While attending CSUN, she became a CIRM Bridges intern and worked in Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael’s Lab at UCLA. There she worked directly under Dr. Irene L. Llorente, studying white matter stroke and repair using a human glial cell-based therapy. Through working as an intern and later as a lab technician she became interested in understanding molecular mechanisms of repair in neurodegenerative diseases. For her graduate work in the Breunig Lab, Emily is interested in studying the immune microenvironment both in the tumor and in the skull bone marrow niche in adult glioblastoma and other brain tumors.

Jiaqi He is a visiting medical student from Tsinghua University (MD Program, Class of 2021). Currently a member of the Breunig Lab, her research investigates the role of the Tox3 gene in cerebellar development and medulloblastoma modeling, and exploring novel therapeutic strategies for H3K27M-altered gliomas.

Naomi Kobritz received her master’s degree in biotechnology and bioinformatics with an emphasis on stem cell technology and laboratory management, and an MBA from California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI), in 2018. She studied the role of TNF-α in Alzheimer's disease at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System before joining the Breunig Laboratory as a visiting graduate student through the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program—after which she joined as a research associate with interest in engineering iPSC and cancer models.

Paul Linesch, PhD, is a neuroscientist with expertise in developmental biology and stem cell research. He earned his doctorate from Cedars-Sinai, where he began studying dementia through functional brain imaging. His dissertation focused on engineering inducible gene expression systems to direct stem cell differentiation, and his postdoctoral research continues to explore central nervous system development and regeneration. In addition to his research, Paul is highly mechanically skilled and oversees maintenance of institutional equipment. He manages iPSC cultures and performs a range of laboratory animal procedures, such as lateral ventricle electroporation.

Griselda Metta Yvone earned her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Cornell University. For her undergraduate research, she worked on membrane trafficking and cell biology. She then went to work as a research technician at the Broad Institute, assisting in developing high-throughput cancer cell line screening methodology. In 2018, she completed her PhD program in molecular, cellular and integrative physiology at UCLA, studying spinal cord development and the role of Reelin-signaling pathway in dorsal horn neuronal migration and pain transmission. As a postdoctoral scientist in the Breunig Lab, she will work on generating brain tumor models and investigating potential new therapies for pediatric gliomas.

Nancy Morones, MS, earned her bachelor’s degree in molecular, cell and developmental biology from UCLA. Prior to joining the lab, she obtained her master’s degree in cell biology from Yale University and worked at Cedars-Sinai as a research associate. Currently, Nancy studies neurodegeneration of hypothalamic circuits in aging and disease under the co-mentorship of Dr. Celine Riera and Dr. Joshua Breunig.

David Rincón Fernandez Pacheco, PhD, is a biologist with a master's degree in immunology. In 2016, he completed his doctorate in biomedicine at the University of Córdoba, Spain, under the supervision of Justo P. Castaño, PhD. Rincón Fernandez Pacheco focused his research in the cellular and molecular implications of alternative splicing abnormalities in the context of breast cancer. Currently, he has started his postdoctoral in the Breunig Lab where his studies involve the development of new cancer models and the investigation of the role of extracellular vesicles in brain tumor development and progression.

Madhura Subba Rao, PhD, earned a bachelor's degree in biotechnology and a master's in stem cells and regenerative medicine in India before completing her doctorate in developmental neuroscience in Japan. Currently, as a postdoctoral scientist and Center for Neural Science and Medicine Fellow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she leads projects using iPSC-derived organoids, CSF spheroids and in vivo models to study neurodevelopmental disorders, pediatric brain tumors and epigenetic mechanisms, with a focus on integrating single-cell and spatial omics with high-throughput imaging. Also, she is an active mentor and a dedicated member of the Cedars-Sinai Group Postdoc Society, where she promotes scientific collaboration and career development within the neuroscience community.