Our team

As the Senior Manager for Accounting, Ligia is responsible for financial management, accounting, budgeting, internal controls, and federal compliance.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Ligia spent more than eight years as director of finance and administration with another nonprofit medical research organization, responsible for administrative operations including supervision of facilities, vivarium management, staff training, and the accounting department.

Ligia earned a BS in business administration with an emphasis in management from the University of Redlands, and a master’s degree in business administration and global management from the University of Phoenix.

Ligia enjoys walking outdoors every morning, reading, and traveling.

As a Research Technician, Neha is developing methods for improving the ability of oligonucleotide-based therapies to increase protein expression levels.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, she completed her master’s degree in bioengineering at UC San Diego and her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from the B.M.S. College of Engineering in Bengaluru, India.

Outside of the lab, Neha enjoys watercolor painting, running, hiking and analyzing movies.

As Senior Research Technician, Savannah is developing methods to enhance oligonucleotide-based therapies to manipulate protein expression levels in patients with rare genetic disorders.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, she held key positions at Ferrologix, a biotech startup, where she served as the Director of Bioassay Development and a Senior Scientist, focusing on the design and implementation of advanced cell isolation platforms.

Savannah holds both a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from California State University, San Marcos. Her academic background includes research on the impact of chemokines on epidermal T cells along with developing protocols for isolating and culturing these cells. This work contributed to a deeper understanding of skin-specific immunity and inflammation.

Outside the lab, Savannah enjoys spending time at the beach with her dogs, crafting handmade soaps and weightlifting.

As Executive Assistant to Dr. Kristiina Vuori, President and CEO of Sanford Labs, Trixi provides detailed logistical support and coordinates scheduling for meetings, speaking engagements, travel and meetings of the Board of Directors.

Trixi also serves as Executive Assistant and Research Administrative Assistant at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, where she has worked since May 2000.

Trixi is a “transplant” from her birthplace, Vienna, Austria, where she worked for more than 15 years with Sony Music supporting the Managing Director. In 1999, she moved to the U.S. and worked for a Florida real estate company as a bi-lingual executive assistant, using her native language of German, before moving to San Diego. In her free time, Trixi enjoys spending time with family, which includes two spoiled German Shepherds, and everything outdoors, especially hiking in the back country.

As CAO/ACFO, Mike is responsible for overseeing the administrative and financial operations at Sanford Labs.

He comes to the role with over 25 years of experience working with not-for-profit biomedical research institutions, including as CFO of La Jolla Institute for Immunology, several administrative and financial leadership roles at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and director of accounting at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. He also spent seven years at Deloitte as an auditing manager and staff accountant. Mike earned a BS in business administration from San Diego State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant with active California and Utah licenses and a Chartered Global Managerial Accountant.

When not working, Mike enjoys spending time with his wife, children, and grandkids, reading, playing hearts or spades, or playing golf.

As Scientific Resources Coordinator, Ericka works with Sanford Labs staff to determine materials and equipment needs and coordinate various laboratory health and safety matters.

Ericka also serves as lab manager for Dr. Kristiina Vuori and shared resources coordinator at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, where she has worked for the past 20 years. She previously spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at Nagoya University in Japan working on DNA replication at the role of Rb protein the cell cycle, followed by four years as a research scientist at Chugai Pharmaceutical developing a drug screening assay for telomerase activity. She earned her PharmD, master’s degree and PhD from Henri Poincaré University in Nancy France.

Origami and flower arrangement are two of Ericka’s favorite hobbies; she also enjoys traveling, reading, drawing, and short hikes in the Utah mountains.

Mateo is a Staff Scientist developing methods to use catalytic RNAs as the basis for novel therapeutic approaches.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Mateo worked at the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core at UC San Diego and at Bellatrix Pharmaceuticals. He obtained his PhD from UC Riverside in Dr. Joseph Genereux’s lab, where he investigated protein translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum and its effects on neurodegenerative disease-associated protein misfolding.

In his spare time, Mateo enjoys spending time with family, working on DIY projects and watching movies.

As a Staff Scientist, Shai is developing platforms to enhance RNA translation for therapies targeting haploinsufficiency diseases.

Shai is a seasoned molecular geneticist with over 15 years of experience in molecular genetics, gene editing and embryology. Before joining Sanford Labs, he completed his PhD at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where his research focused on the development and morphology of bones during embryogenesis. As a postdoctoral fellow in at UC San Diego, he used CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing and advanced microscopy to uncover mechanisms leading to the formation of blood stem cells.

Beyond the laboratory, Shai cherishes quality time with his family. An avid outdoor enthusiast, he rejuvenates through surfing and biking.

I received my PhD in Microbiology from the National University of Singapore and my BS and MS degrees in China. In 2000, I came to the US as a postdoctoral fellow to work on signal transduction of melanoma cells at the University of Arizona. In 2008, I joined Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute as a Staff Scientist, where I identified and characterized several potent small molecules that target different oncogenes and inhibit melanoma growth, both in cells and in mice. Meanwhile, I have also served as the lab manager from 2018 – 2024.

In my spare time, I enjoy cooking, crafting, hiking, and spending time with my family. I also help in my church.

As an AI Machine Learning Scientist, Agustin focuses on developing AI and machine learning models to accelerate the discovery of precision medicines, while also providing computational assistance throughout the organization.

Agustin’s previous role was at Eclipsebio, where he developed eCV, a method for streamlining data reproducibility, culminating in a published paper and software package. Agustin earned his PhD in genetics and genomic sciences from Michigan State University, where he created an R package for omic integration.

Outside of work, Agustin’s passions include hiking, fitness, movies and books. Fluent in both English and Spanish, he cherishes effective communication, whether it be through scientific outreach or engaging with diverse communities.

Wenhao leads the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence models for biological applications and provides essential computational support across Sanford Labs research programs.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Wenhao was a scientist at Trotana Therapeutics, where he contributed to the therapeutic target discovery team using machine learning and data-driven technologies. He previously was a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego where he developed and applied machine learning and bioinformatics approaches to the discovery of new RNA-binding proteins and domains in humans. He received his BS from Zhejiang University in China and his PhD from the National University of Singapore.

Outside of science, Wenhao enjoys spending time with his family, rock climbing and surfing.

As a Staff Scientist, Ankana is engineering non-coding RNA molecules with specific functional properties for a variety of therapeutic applications.

Ankana earned her PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati where she worked on aptamer selection for biosensing applications. She then pursued her postdoctoral studies at the LIMES Institute at the University of Bonn, Germany, where she worked on the in vitro selection of RNA for optoribogenetics, using light to regulate gene expression through interactions between photoreceptor proteins and their cognate aptamers. Prior to joining Sanford Labs, she trained in the lab of Prof. Gerald Joyce at the Salk Institute working on the directed evolution of polymerase ribozymes.

Beyond the lab, she is passionate about traveling, hiking, reading and spending time with her family.

As the Associate Director of Scientific Strategy and Partnerships, Jason oversees Sanford Labs’ research programs and works with venture capital firms, biotech and pharmaceutical companies to facilitate commercialization.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Jason was senior member of Dr. Trey Ideker’s lab at UC San Diego where he served as the assistant director of the San Diego Center for Systems Biology and later the Cancer Cell Map Initiative. He received his BS in biology from MIT and his PhD in biomedical sciences from UCSF. He did his postdoctoral studies at the Genome Institute of Singapore and later worked as a manuscript editor at Nature Biotechnology.

Outside the lab, Jason enjoys spending time with his family, training for marathons and playing electric bass.

As Legal Counsel, Dave provides general legal advice and intellectual property strategy.

Dave also works full time at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute where he is Deputy General Counsel. Dave graduated cum laude from Loyola Law School. He also graduated cum laude from UC San Diego, majoring in bioengineering, and worked in the lab of Prof. Richard Lerner before attending law school.

In his free time, Dave enjoys the outdoors, sailing and craft beer.

Maya is a Senior Scientist at Sanford Labs, involved in developing an RNA-targeting platform for therapeutic applications.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Maya was a principal scientist at Eclipsebio where she developed novel, simplified approaches for ribosome profiling. Her previous experience was in signal transduction where she utilized FRET microscopy to visualize localized kinase activity and examine protein-protein interactions in live cells in multiple projects in the fields of cancer and neurodegenerative disease. Maya received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry/biochemistry at UC San Diego and her PhD in biochemistry at Harvard University.

Outside the lab, Maya enjoys hiking, road biking, and live music.

Dan is a Group Leader focused on identifying and developing innovative RNA therapeutics and platforms.

Before joining Sanford Labs, Dan served as the associate director of research at Eclipsebio, where he played a pivotal role in the design and development of novel sequencing-based assays and was actively involved in the company’s patent strategy. He earned his PhD from the University of Michigan and was a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego, where utilized long-read sequencing platforms to identify isoform specific RNA binding protein binding sites and RNA modifications.

Outside the lab, Dan enjoys spending time with his family, travelling, and passionately cheering on his favorite sports teams.

Susan is a Staff Scientist who is focusing on RNA binding proteins as potential targets for the development of innovative therapies aimed at treating human neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases.

Prior to Sanford Labs, Susan worked at Trotana Therapeutics. Before that, she worked at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute supporting high-content screening and small molecule drug discovery for multiple disease indications. Her postdoctoral work at the Proteogenomics Research Institute for Systems Medicine focused on antibody-drug conjugates to treat metastatic cancer. Susan received her PhD in bioengineering from the University of Maryland where she studied how cell contractility controls mRNA localization in migrating cells.

In her spare time, Susan likes to run, read books and spend time with her family exploring San Diego.

As the Office Coordinator for Sanford Labs, Marcie is responsible for ensuring efficient general office operations including meeting logistics, managing office supplies, and assisting with event planning.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Marcie served as executive assistant to the CEO, and two CFOs and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. She previously spent 12 years as a senior litigation paralegal at a national law firm and taught high school math for 15 years. Marcie holds a BS in business administration with an emphasis in international management from San Diego State University and a MA in education with an emphasis in secondary urban school math.

A former marathon runner, Marcie now enjoys hiking, travel, spending time with family, and reading up on politics and civil rights history.

As a Group Leader and Strategy Advisor at Sanford Labs, Sebastian and his team are identifying and targeting RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) to develop novel therapies for neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases with high unmet needs.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Sebastian was co-founder and senior director of biology at Trotana Therapeutics, where he was critical to raising over $18 million in seed funding and overseeing the creation of the company’s pre-clinical target identification and validation platform. Before joining Trotana, Sebastian was a member of Dr. Gene Yeo’s lab at UC San Diego, first as postdoctoral fellow and later as project scientist. There he identified key factors and molecular mechanisms in the formation of protein aggregates, which are at the heart of late-onset neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Sebastian received his PhD in cancer genetics from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and his BS and MS from the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

In his spare time, Sebastian enjoys running, cycling, climbing, soccer and watching his kids best him at all of the above much sooner than he had hoped.

As the Director of Human Resources, Connie oversees the execution of HR policies, procedures, and programs, which include recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, compensation benefit planning, and systems implementation.

Connie has over 25 years of experience as a human resources and operations leader in nonprofit for-profit organizations. Prior to Sanford Labs, she spent nine and a half years as a consultant assisting tech start-ups build their organizations, as well as serving as a board member for San Diego Comic-Con and developing their HR department. She holds a BA in photojournalism and communications from San Fransico State University, a BS in business administration with an emphasis in human resource management and an MBA from the University of Arizona; she is also certified as a senior professional in human resources, employee benefits specialist and a California licensed medical insurance broker.

Connie is an avid surfer and underwater photographer, loves all things sports and athletics, and enjoys having cooking competitions with her kids.

As a Senior Research Technician, Jasmine is assisting in the development of bifunctional small molecules for therapeutic applications.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Jasmine was a research associate in Dr. Gene Yeo’s lab at UC San Diego where she specialized in mapping where RNA binding proteins bind to RNA for the ENCODE Consortium.  She then took her expertise to EclipseBio, where she assisted customers using a variety of RNA mapping technologies. Jasmine received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Cal Poly Humboldt.

In her spare time, Jasmine likes cooking for others, playing water polo and watching the Padres win.

As Director of Procurement, Wendi is responsible for ensuring that Sanford Labs purchases are at the best price and quality, and comply with organizational policies.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Wendi held leadership positions in procurement at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and Scripps Research. She spent a decade on the Board of the Whitehead Leadership Society and has held positions on the E&I Research and Academic Healthcare Advisory Council and the Biocom Purchasing Committee. She received her bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego and an MBA from University of Redlands.

When not at work, Wendi is often hiking Torrey Pines or running around after her two children.

As a Staff Scientist, Lucie specializes in developing novel aptamer molecules for therapeutic applications.

Prior to Sanford Labs, she worked at a contract research organization developing high-throughput assays to discover binding partners of E3 ligases. She subsequently brought her expertise as a protein specialist and immunologist to Trotana Therapeutics, supporting the discovery of novel RNA therapeutics. Her postdoctoral studies at the Salk Institute focused on immuno-oncology with an emphasis on enhancing checkpoint immunotherapies. Lucie received her PhD in experimental biology from the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic and UC Riverside.

When not at work, Lucie enjoys spending time in the mountains and high desert, mountain biking, climbing, hiking and yoga.

Josh is working to develop RNA-based therapeutics to treat rare genetic disorders, particularly neurodevelopmental haploinsufficiency diseases caused by the pathological reduction of a crucial protein.

Josh was previously a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Gene Yeo’s lab at UC San Diego, where he developed preclinical models of fifteen rare neurodevelopmental disorders. He received his PhD in biological chemistry from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and his BA in biology and chemistry from Transylvania University.

Beyond the lab, Josh enjoys spending time with his family, playing games, competing in volleyball tournaments, and analyzing his own DNA for insights into genealogy and health.

Fred’s research program focuses on developing RNA-targeting therapeutic platforms for treating debilitating genetic disorders. He is specifically interested in developing treatments for diseases caused by genetic deficiencies for which a moderate increase in gene expression could restore physiologically necessary protein levels.

Fred received his bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemical engineering from MIT and his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from CalTech. Prior to starting at Sanford Labs, he was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Gene Yeo at UC San Diego.

In his spare time, Fred takes every opportunity to savor the San Diego sun.

As a Research Technician, Alicia is developing therapeutic approaches based on antisense oligonucleotides to increase protein expression levels.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, she worked in a clinical laboratory setting, getting experience with cell culturing and molecular biology assays. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Minor in Spanish from San Diego State University.

Outside of work, Alicia enjoys spending time with family, and a perfect day for her is watching a movie and eating pizza.

As a Senior Research Technician, Julio will be working on the identification and targeting of RNA-binding proteins to develop novel therapies for neurodegenerative disorders.

Prior to joining Sanford Labs, Julio worked as a quality control supervisor at Sorrento Therapeutics where he worked on several cell therapies and immunotherapies.  He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from San Diego State University.

In his spare time, Julio likes working on his car, watching soccer games and playing with his kids and pets.

Lidija is a Staff Scientist working to identify and target therapeutically relevant riboregulatory interactions.

Prior to joining Sanford labs, Lidija worked at Trotana Therapeutics, where she worked on RNA binding proteins. She previously worked at startup company Ferrologix, developing a cell isolation platform. Before joining the biotech industry, Lidija was a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego where she worked on enhancer RNAs and their transport within exosomes in cancer. Lidija completed her PhD at the University of Wyoming where she studied nuclear size regulation in melanoma. She received both her BS and MS from the University of Belgrade.

When not in the lab, Lidija likes traveling, spending time on the beach and sailing.

Kristiina is the President and CEO of Sanford Labs. She is also Professor and Pauline & Stanley Foster Distinguished Chair at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, where she continues to direct a cancer research laboratory.

Prior to helping launch Sanford Labs, Kristiina held several leadership roles at Sanford Burnham Prebys, including President of the Institute (2010–2022) and Director of its NCI-designated Cancer Center (2005–2013).

As a cancer researcher, Kristiina is recognized for delineating molecular pathways that regulate cancer cell survival, metastasis and drug responsiveness. She has published over one hundred research articles; received numerous research awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Department of Defense and others. She was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2014.

Kristiina serves on several scientific editorial, advisory and review boards, and is a member of NCI’s Chemical Biology Consortium Steering Committee. She currently serves or has served on the board of directors for Sanford Labs, Sanford Burnham Prebys, the American Association for Cancer Research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the California Breast Cancer Research Program and the publicly traded companies Bionano Genomics, Sio Gene Therapies, Forian, Inhibrx and WebMD.

Kristiina earned her MD and PhD degrees at University of Oulu, Finland.

Gene is the Chief Scientist at Sanford Labs, overseeing all of the research and business development activities of the RNA therapeutics initiative.

Gene is a also Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego. His research interest is in understanding and manipulating RNA processing in development and disease and his work has led to advancements in understanding several neurodegenerative diseases including myotonic dystrophy, Huntington’s disease and ALS. He is the chair of the scientific steering committee for the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, the founding director of the Center for RNA Technologies and Therapeutics at UC San Diego and a seasoned entrepreneur having already started several well-funded RNA-based biotech companies. Gene earned a BS in chemical engineering and BA in economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a PhD in computational neuroscience from MIT, and an MBA from the UC San Diego Rady School of Management.

Outside the lab, Gene has completed multiple Ironman-distance triathlons and full marathons and now spends his time chasing after his young twins.