Members

Dr. Hannah Shafaat

Hannah grew up on the South End of Whidbey Island, Washington, which is only connected to the “mainland” by ferry boat. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2006, where she performed research on spectroscopic endospore viability assays with Adrian Ponce (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and Harry Gray. She pursued her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2011, under the direction of Professor Judy Kim, as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow. During her graduate research, she used many different types of spectroscopy to study the structure and dynamics of amino acid radical intermediates in biological electron transfer reactions. After earning her Ph.D., Hannah moved across the ocean to Germany to study hydrogenase and oxidase enzymes and learn advanced EPR techniques as a Humboldt Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow working under Director Wolfgang Lubitz at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion. Hannah began her independent career at The Ohio State University in 2013, where she was awarded the NSF CAREER award in 2015 to support work on hydrogenase mimics and the DOE Early Career award in 2017 to support the group’s research on one-carbon activation in model nickel metalloenzymes. The group has also received support for their research on heterobimetallic Mn/Fe cofactors through the NIH R35 MIRA program. Hannah was awarded the 2018 Sloan Research Fellowship and the 2019 Ed Stiefel Young Investigator Award for research on Metals in Biology. Hannah is also an Associate Editor at Chemical Science, the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, where she enjoys seeing all the great bioinorganic work that is submitted there (and hopes to see more!). Hannah and her group moved to UCLA in 2023 and are thoroughly enjoying the new adventures and opportunities that California offers!

Email: shafaat [at] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: Hannah is a big fan of stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, and hiking; she has summited South Sister, the highest of the Three Sisters mountain chain, in central Oregon, and looks forward to tackling more mountains!

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Dr. Yuri Lee

Yuri is from Seoul, South Korea. She graduated from Seoul Women’s University with a B.S. in Chemistry and Bio & Environmental technology as a double major (2012). She then pursued her M.S. in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Seoul National University (2014), where she studied the antimicrobial and hemolytic effects of small peptides under the supervision of Professor Jaehoon Yu. She came to the States to start Ph.D. studies at the University of Kansas, where she was trained as a bioinorganic scientist while working with manganese and late transition metal model complexes for structure-reactivity correlations under the guidance of Professor Timothy Jackson. After earning her Ph.D. in Chemistry (2021), she joined the Shafaat group to explore and establish structure-reactivity relationships of the active site in the heterobimetallic Mn/Fe R2-like ligand-binding oxidase protein (R2lox) using multiple spectroscopic techniques.

Email: yuri [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: Yuri likes swimming and plans to learn scuba diving in the near future.

Dr. Kevin E. Rivera Cruz

Kevin earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in 2019, where he performed computational and synthetic inorganic chemistry research in close collaboration with Professor Dalice Piñero (University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras) and Professor Dalvin Mendez (University of Puerto Rico Cayey) as a National Institute of Health – Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (NIH-RISE) and National Science Foundation Louis Stoke Alliances for Minority Participation (NSF-LSAMP) scholar. He then completed his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 2024, under the mentorship of Professor Charles C.L. McCrory and Paul M. Zimmerman. At the University of Michigan, he was awarded a Department of Energy sponsored GEM Consortium Fellowship, an NSF-Graduate Research Fellowship, and National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine-Ford Fellowship. During his graduate research, as a co-mentored student, he specialized in bridging the field of experimental molecular electrocatalysis with first principal calculations during his dissertation work titled “Modulating CO2 Reduction Activity by Systematically Modifying the Catalyst Electronic Structure,” which involved modeling and correlating at an atomistic scale the reaction mechanism for CO2 Reduction Reaction (CO2RR) with bulk scale electrochemical parameters. Under the support of the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowships Program and the National Science Foundation ASCEND Postdoctoral Fellowship, in the Shafaat group, his research goal is harnessing artificial metalloenzymes for selective Carbon-Carbon coupling, aiming to develop a new biocatalytic approach for characterizing the carbon-carbon (C–C) bond-forming reaction on nickel-substituted azurin (NiAz), an Acetyl-CoA Synthase (ACS) model protein. Beyond his academic track record, he has strived to serve as a leader and a mentor and increase the participation of students from underrepresented backgrounds in Puerto Rico and in the continental United States as part of programs such as NSF-LSAMP, NIH-RISE,  the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native American in Science (SACNAS), OutinSTEM, and other professional organizations emphasizing the importance of collaboration in scientific research and his commitment to diversity and inclusion in academia. To learn more, please visit Kevin’s personal website.

Email: kriverac [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: When he is not in lab, he will most like be visiting a National Park. His personal goal is to do at least 2 national parks per year.

Dr. Matthew Gaynes

Matt is originally from Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he received a B.S. in Biochemistry with a minor in Chemistry (2020). As an undergraduate, Matt conducted research in the laboratory of Dr. Satish Nair, where he investigated the mechanistic features of a newly discovered dehydropiperidine reductase. He also conducted research in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Foltz at Northwestern University, where he studied the in vivo preference of UBR7 for histone H3.1 over H3.3. Following his undergraduate studies, Matt joined the laboratory of Dr. David W. Christianson at the University of Pennsylvania, where he investigated the structural and mechanistic features of strained-ring-forming enzymes and bifunctional terpene biosynthetic systems. During his graduate studies, he was supported as an NIH Chemistry–Biology Interface T32 training fellow and earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2025. Matt then joined the Shafaat laboratory, where he is gaining expertise in bioinorganic chemistry by investigating the nickel-pincer nucleotide cofactor of lactate racemase and related organometallic enzyme systems.

Email: mngaynes [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: When he’s not in lab, Matt can usually be found at the movie theater. His favorite theater that he’s found in LA so far is within the Academy Arts Museum.

Henry Teptarakulkarn

Henry is from Bangkok, Thailand. He attended Mahidol University (MU) where he received a B.Sc. (2020) and a M.Sc. (2021) in Chemistry. While at MU, he conducted research on the effects of redox-inactive metal cations in secondary coordination sphere on redox property and catalytic activity of iron-NNN (pincer) complexes under the supervision of Dr. Teera Chantarojsiri. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. as a member of the UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry program with a biophysics specialization. His current projects combine different semi-synthetic approaches, NMR spectroscopy, and other characterization techniques to understand the nature of metal-substituted rubredoxin, a protein-based model for [NiFe]-hydrogenases.

Email: Teptarakulkarn [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: In his occasional free time Henry volunteers at the LA Animal Shelter, teaching the dogs and cats cool chem facts.

Aadhishre Kasat

Aadhishre is from Nashik, India. She is in the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental program (MBIDP) specifically in the Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology home area. She completed her B.S. in Biochemistry and Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022. At Wisconsin, Aadhishre worked in Professor Andrew Buller’s lab where she helped develop and engineer an enzymatic pathway for the biocatalytic synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols. In the Shafaat lab, Aadhishre is keen to explore the explore the catalytic function and mechanism of R2lox, a heterobimetallic Mn/Fe metalloenzyme, using biochemical, spectroscopic, and bioinformatics tools.

Email: akasat [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: In her free time, Aadhishre enjoys running by the beach, reading, cooking, and bragging about her triple scorpio identity.

Kathryn Woodburn

Kathryn grew up in Cupertino, CA. She decided to move north and experience living and learning in the Pacific Northwest, graduating with a B.A. in Chemistry from Whitman College in 2023. During her time at Whitman, she investigated the kinetics and co-product evolution of zinc sulfide nanocrystals from single and dual source precursors under the guidance of Professor Mark Hendricks. Inspired by her mentors, Kathryn decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry at UCLA beginning Fall 2023. Pivoting from materials to bioinorganic chemistry, her research focuses on probing enzymatic substrate channel design and binding in nickel-substituted azurin as a model to mimic acetyl coenzymeA synthase reactivity.

Email: kwoodburn [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: Kathryn loves to swim, hike, and explore National Parks. Her favorites so far are Yosemite, Grand Teton, and Glacier.

Itzel Vaca

Itzel is from Mexicali, Mexico. She attended UCSD for her undergraduate studies and first started doing research with the Figueroa group. The scope of her project focused on the synthesis of low-valent metal coordination polymers supported by m-terphenyl isocyanide ligands. After graduating in 2018 with a B.S. in Chemistry, she then ventured off into biotech industry for a couple years and became a part of the Sirigen R&D team. During this time, she worked on the development of fluorescent dyes for flow cytometry. In 2023, Itzel joined the UCLA PhD program with a specialization in Chemical Biology. Her current project in the Shafaat group focuses on building a protein based model for carbon monoxide dehydrogenase to understand its reactivity and mechanism for CO2/CO conversion. 

Email: itzelpvaca [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: She is obsessed with boba and it’s super hard to make her mad (unless it’s her sister).

Cassie Huang

Cassie is from Anhui, China, and graduated with a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She has done computational research with Prof. Jean-Sabin McEwen at Washington State University on extracting chemical information from XANES of Ga(I)-containing materials with CASTEP, then supervised by Prof. Neil Tomson at University of Pennsylvania, she worked on C-H bond activation for organic substrates containing primary and secondary amine groups catalyzed by Tris(phosphinimato) copper complex. In the Shafaat lab, Cassie works to study the iron-sulfur cluster in CODH.

Email: huangc [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: Cassie played the pipa, a Chinese traditional instrument, in music ensemble during her undergraduate.

James Collings

James is from Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from Stanford University in 2024 with a B.S. in Chemistry. While at Stanford, he conducted research on the total synthesis of pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids and on skeletal editing under the direction of Professor Noah Burns. As a joint student with Professor Soumitra Athavale, James’s research focuses on probing the mechanism of biocatalytic MHAT chemistry.

Email: james23 [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: James is a guild-certified carillonneur and enjoys playing Stanford’s carillon—an instrument made up of large church bells—when visiting friends in Northern California.

Minh Lam

Minh is from Southern California. He graduated with a B.S. from Cal Poly Pomona where he did research on the deoxydehydration reaction of vicinal diols using acac and salan based molybdenum catalysts under Prof. Alex John. His goal was catalytic optimization and mechanistic studies using microwave assisted catalysis to compare to traditional heating conventions. Currently, he is working in the Shafaat group on a synthetic project involving hydrogenases.

Email: pmlamvy [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

Fun Fact: In high school, Minh investigated the effects of different electrolytes on water-splitting electrolysis (2H2O to 2H2 + O2) using a self made apparatus consisting of a plastic food tub and carbon electrodes scavenged from lantern batteries. Little did he know he would once again work with hydrogen chemistry. His latest obsession is the remote controlled rotovap which he is holding in his hand.