Welcome to the Bayrer Lab

 

We are dedicated to the study of intestinal disorders with a focus on how disruption of the gut lining impacts human disease. Our work is multidisciplinary, encompassing the basic science of epithelial cell renewal through integrated physiologic studies. Our imperative is to focus on bench science that will advance new therapies and diagnostics to help our patients in the clinic.

 

 

Current Lab Members 


 

 

 

James Bayrer, MD,PhD
Associate Professor
Director, Training Program in
Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition

 

Originally hailing from the desert southwest, I majored in Chemistry and Literature at Claremont McKenna College, where I graduated with honors in both disciplines and the best thesis in science award. I moved to Cleveland to study medicine and pharamcology in the medical scientist training program, completing this in 2007. Along the way I have been fortunate to receive several science awards including the Young Faculty Investigator Award in 2015 from the pediatric gastroenterology society. I enjoy the scientific and clinical environments at UCSF, where I am able to work both with patients and investigate new lines of therapy for gastrointestinal diseases.

My long-term research interests include the study of intestinal epithelial signaling and wound healing. To do this my lab utilizes 3D tissue modeling coupled with animal models of human disease to probe the molecular underpinnings of gastrointestinal disease. 

 



Carla Bueno-Silva, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar



Carla comes to the Bayrer Lab following her graduate studies at the University of Florida and Campinas State Univesity of Brazil. She has a special interest in metabolic diseases and obesity. Her current project examines the role of intestinal LRH-1 expression in glucose homeostasis and bile acid metabolism.

 



Hsi-Ju Chen, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar



Hsi-Ju earned her Masters degree in Taipei before traveling to Worsester for her graduate work in investigating stem cell biology in Tony Ip's laboratory using the drosophila model organism. Her interests revolve around stem cell biology with a particular interest in the role of intestinal stem cells and epithelial plasticity in gut wound repair.

 



Callie Goodman, BS
Graduate Student


Callie comes to the Bayrer Lab as a PhD student of Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University. She is passionate about the intersections of gastrointestinal disorders and accountability within pediatric behavioral health care to attend to the whole child’s health. For her dissertation, she is examining the gut-brain behavioral connection.

 

 



Saba Majidi
Undergraduate Student


Saba comes to Bayrer Lab as an undergraduate student of Molecular & Cell Biology at University of California, Berkeley. She is fervent about stem cell biology and infectious diseases in the body. She is currently working on making organoids and learning the scientific processes behind their importance in the gastrointestinal system.

 



Bohan Yu, BS
Staff Research Assistant



Bohan comes to the Bayrer Lab after completing his BS in Biochemistry from UC Davis and a research internship in the UC Davis School of Medicine Surgical Department.

 

Bayrer Lab Alumni


 

Kristina Braverman, BS
Staff Research Assistant

Kristina comes to the Bayrer Lab following experience in the pharmaceutical industry where she specialized in X-ray crystallography. She co-authored two papers in the Bayrer Lab (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature)!

 

Pervin Choksi, BS
Graduate Student

Pervin worked with our lab investigating the role of LRH-1 in intestinal epithelial differentiation. She is now persuing her thesis with the Willenbring Lab at UCSF!

 

Christina Herron, BS
Lab Coordinator

Christina graduated from UC Santa Barbara, and comes to UCSF after working as a staff scientist in the Denise Montell laboratory at UCSB. She is now a Research Supervisor at Barrow Neurological Institute.

 

Harry Horsnell, BS
Summer Visiting Scholar

Harry joined us from University College London under the prestigous UCSF/UCL rotation project where he worked on questions related to gut-brain signaling. He is now pursuing his dissertation work in the Acton Lab. Good luck Harry!