Lab Members

Kei Igarashi, PhD

Assistant Professor

Kei grew up in greater Tokyo and obtained his Ph.D in the Kensaku Mori lab at University of Tokyo. He then moved all the way to Trondheim, Norway to join the laboratory of Edvard and May-Britt Moser. There, he experienced a vibrant and exciting new era of memory research, concurrent with the awarding of Edvard and May-Britt’s Nobel Prizes. Kei moved again all the way to California to start his lab in 2016.
Enthusiast in Nordic skiing (Langrenn & Telemark)

Tatsuki Nakagawa, PhD

Postdoc
Alzheimer's Association Research Fellow

Tatsuki grew up in Nakgano, Japan, and obtained his PhD at Kanazawa University. He joins the lab in Aug 2020.

Sharon Lim, PhD

Postdoc (shared with the Kitazawa lab)

Sharon grew up in Singapore and obtained her PhD at National University of Singapore. She will be expanding her research interest in Alzheimer's disease in the Igarashi lab starting May 2020.

Heechul Jun

MD-PhD Student
NIH F31 Fellowship

Heechul grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. He obtained his BA at Johns Hopkins University in 2012 with work in Dr. Hongjun Song’s lab. He then worked as a technician in Dr. Mi-hyeon Jan’s lab at the Mayo Clinic. Heechul joined the Igarashi lab in 2017.

Jason Lee

PhD Student

Jason grew up in Huntington Beach, CA. He obtained his BS in Neuroscience at UCLA gaining experience in the lab of Dr. Dean Buonomano, and joined the Igarashi lab through the UCI Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (INP) in 2019.

Jiayun Leon Xie

PhD Student

Leon grew up in Guangzhou, China. He obtained his BS in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UCSD in 2014, working in Dr. Ralph Greenspan's Lab. He continued working as a technician in the Greenspan Lab after graduation. He joined the Igarashi lab in 2020

Marjan Savadkohi

Research Technician

Marjan joined the lab in 2021.
BS, UC Irvine

Nicholas Bleza

Research Technician

Nick started the lab in 2022
BS, UCSB

Ayana Ichii

Research Technician

Ayana started the lab in 2022
BS, UCSB

Past Members

Shogo Soma, Ph.D

Postdoc 2018 – 2019
Now Assistant Professor at Kyoto Medical College, Japan

Ananya Dasgupta, Ph.D

Postdoc 2018 – 2019
Now back in India

Tomoaki Nakazono, Ph.D

Postdoc 2016 – 2018
Nakazono et al., Neurosci Res 2018

Nakazono et at., Front Sys Neurosci 2017

Now Assistant Professor at Fukushima Medical College, Japan

Karolyn Tran

Undergraduate Student 2018 – 2019

Seiya Bamba

Undergraduate Student 2018
Now MD student at Kyoto University

Sunwoo Oh

Undergraduate Student 2018
Now PhD student in UCI CMB program

Ayushi Patel

Undergraduate Student 2016 – 2018
Now MD student at University of South Florida

Travis Lam

Undergraduate Student 2016 – 2018
Now MD student at Creighton University

Rodrigo Romo

Research Technician 2020 - 2021
Now in the Clinical Lab Scientist Training Program at CSULA/USC

Sandra Yungblut

Research Technician 2020 - 2021

Kaori Shiraiwa

Research Technician 2019 - 2021

Tomoko Viaclovsky

Research Technician 2017 - 2021

Jasmine Chavez

Undergraduate Student 2019 - 2021
Now graduate student in UCI INP program

Allen Bramian

Research Technician 2020 - 2022
Undergraduate Student 2018 - 2020
Now MD student at SUNY Stony Brook