
Neville Bethel, PhD
Principal Investigator
Dr. Bethel studied under Michael Grabe at UCSF as a biophysics PhD student. Using computational techniques such as molecular dynamics, enhanced sampling, and numerical integration, he investigated membrane remodelling transmembrane proteins. As an HHMI Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow and under the mentorship of David Baker at the Institute of Protein Design, he utilized deep learning, Rosetta and electron microscopy to design and validate a new family of highly modular protein oligomers. The Bethel lab builds on many of these approaches to investigate protein conformational change, allostery and to build new molecular switches for cell biology applications

Zinnia Ma, MS
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology
Zinnia is a first-year PhD student in the Bioinformatics & Systems Biology (BISB) program at UCSD, where she also recently earned her MS degree in Bioengineering. Her research focuses on applying machine learning to drug design, particularly in protein design and method development. Outside of her academic work, she enjoys playing the guzheng, drawing, reading, badminton, and skiing.

Sarah Johnson
Graduate Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Sarah obtained her bachelor’s at the University of Vermont, where she studied glia in fruit flies. As a research tech at Duke University, she investigated mechanisms of synaptogenesis and behavior. She is now developing multi-targeting protein binders to combat antibiotic resistance. Sarah enjoys improving her Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese, playing piano, listening to progressive rock, and drawing.

Leyi Liu
Graduate Student, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Leyi completed her bachelor’s degree at Fudan University, studying biochemistry and biophysics. Her research focuses on utilizing physics-based simulation for protein conformation prediction and de novo protein design. In her free time, she likes playing the piano and reading literary fiction.

Devlin Swanson
Graduate Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics

Luke Sebastian
Graduate Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics

Enrico Arambulo, BS
Rotation Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Enrico earned his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from UCLA, where he studied mitochondrial protein import mechanisms linked to rare metabolic diseases. His current research focuses on leveraging de novo protein design to develop novel binders for the TrkA receptor. Beyond the lab, he is a competitive powerlifter and enjoys cooking, as well as playing volleyball, tennis, and pickleball.

Swan Van
Rotation Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics