Principle Investigator, Sandler Fellow

Mark received his undergraduate degree from The College of William & Mary in 2018, where he discovered a passion for developmental biology working with Dr. Margaret Saha. He received his Ph.D. in 2023 working with Dr. Antonio Giraldez at Yale University and joined UCSF as a Sandler Faculty Fellow in early 2024. During his Ph.D., Mark developed Chromatin Expansion Microscopy to enable super-resolution imaging of chromatin, transcription, and transcription factors in developing zebrafish embryos. Outside of the lab, Mark enjoys staying active and outdoors through hiking, swimming, and camping.

Junior Specialist

Nidhi holds a MSc. in Cancer Cell Biology from University of Sussex, and studied the impact of strain variation in EBNA1 protein on its structure, function and drug development under the guidance of Prof. Michelle West. After her masters, Nidhi worked for an NGO teaching English and employable skills to adults in rural India. Prior to UCSF, Nidhi worked at a Cancer Hospital and Research center and studied the correlation between Tumor Associated Macrophages in Breast Cancer and response to Neo-adjuvant Chemotherapy. Nidhi’s research interests include signaling pathways in context of disease biology and developmental biology. Outside the lab, Nidhi enjoys cuddling cats, gardening, and dancing.

Bioengineering Ph.D. student (co-mentored with Bo Huang)

Xiangru earned his bachelor’s degree in 2024 from Emory University, where he conducted research under the mentorship of Prof. Zhexing Wen and Dr. Weibo Niu. His work focused on investigating the impact of TSC2 pathogenic variants on human brain development using iPSC-derived 3D cortical organoids. In 2025, he joined the Huang and Pownall labs as a part of the UCSF-UC Berkley Bioengineering Ph.D. program where he is passionate about integrating deep learning techniques into quantitative biology to advance data-driven discovery. Outside the lab, Xiangru enjoys traveling to different countries, skiing, road-tripping through national parks, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.