Laboratory Scientists
Laboratory Sciences Director
Jasmine Plummer, PhD
Manager of Laboratory Services (Genomics Services)
Chintda Santiskulvong, PhD
Dr. Santiskulvong obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied signal transduction of G-Protein coupled receptors under the mentorship of Dr. Enrique Rozengurt. For her post-doctoral fellowship, performed in the laboratory of Dr. Oliver Dorigo, she studied the effect of small molecule inhibitors on ovarian cancer. Dr. Santiskulvong trained in NGS under Dr. Xinmin Li at the UCLA Technology Center for Genomics and Biotechnology in 2013. She joined the Genomics Core in 2016 and currently serves as the Operations Manager.
Research Associate III (Research + Development)
Stephanie Chen
Stephanie Chen has worked extensively in the ovarian cancer field, first at the University of Southern California with Dr. Susan Ramus. At USC, Stephanie used the Nanostring nCounter technology to detect gene expression, and analyzed over 1,900 ovarian tumor samples from FFPE for tumor profiling. She joined Dr. Simon Gayther's lab to develop and perform multiple functional genomic techniques including chromosome conformation capture methods (3C/4C) and ChIP-seq to identify transcription factor binding sites, for key transcriptional regulators in various diseases. She is currently 1 of 2 members in the R&D branch of the Genomics Core, bringing cutting-edge technologies to the Cedars-Sinai research community. Recently, Stephanie co-authored two peer-reviewed COVID-19 papers in JAMA, discovering a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant found in Southern California.
On weekends, Stephanie enjoys hiking, bird watching and is an avid rock climber.
Research Specialist I (Research + Development)
Brian Davis
Brian Davis started working with Dr Gayther as a Research Specialist I after working at the Molecular Genomics Core at the University of Southern California. At USC MGC core, Brian oversaw library preparations to be run on Illumina’s Next-Generation Sequencing Systems, the NextSeq500 and MiSeq platform. Along with sequencing, Brian is adept at SNP genotyping and gene and miRNA expression. He has had much experience with sample extractions and movement, using various liquid handling Tecan robotics. Brian oversees epigenetic profiling (ChIP-seq) projects with goals to establish HiChIP methodologies to map the enhancer interactome of hormonal cancers. Brian is now part of the R&D branch of the genomics core. Recently, Brian co-authored two peer-reviewed COVID-19 papers in JAMA, discovering a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant found in Southern California.
When he's not at work, he can be found in a movie theater or diving off the Channel Island.
Research Associate II (Genomics Services)
Esther Guerrido
Esther obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology and Physiology from California State University, Long Beach. She joined the Genomics Core in 2017 in which she uses the latest next generation and single cell sequencing technologies to generate high quality libraries from tissue and cells. Esther sequences libraries on Illumina’s sequencing platforms such as NovaSeq, Next-Seq500, MiSeq and MiniSeq for the different genomics services including single cell omics, genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics and metagenomics.
Research Associate II (Genomics Services)
Joseph Caballero
Joseph obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He joined the Genomics Core in 2020 in a Research Associate II position where he prepares and sequences NGS libraries and writes automation scripts.
Joseph enjoys taking care of his house plants and walking his dog with his wife.
Research Associate I (Genomics Services)
Zella Achdjian
Zella obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of California, Davis in Genetics and Genomics. Zella joined the Genomics Core in November 2019 as a Research Associate I in which she performs a variety of applications for Next-Generation Sequencing platforms
Zella loves the great outdoors and will hike, climb, surf and snowboard when she has free time.
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Research Associate I (Genomics Services)
Kane (Chun Yat) Ong
Kane holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining the Cedars-Sinai Genomics Core in January 2020, he interned at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC for one year and the Department of Pathology at USC Keck School of Medicine for two years. During his internship at USC Stem Cell, Kane assisted with projects involving modified human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) tissue culture and cell line generation using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique. At Keck, he assisted with gross description under the supervision of surgical PAs and Pathologists. Kane is enthusiastic in learning about artificial intelligence in healthcare, autoimmune diseases, biotechnology engineering, targeted drug delivery applications and precision medicine.
Kane dry-ages his own steaks and has a beautiful cat.