Get to know our board members!

Current Board Member

Briana Aboulache

Briana Aboulache

President • Curriculum Team
BCHM
Briana graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2017 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. After college, she moved to New York and worked as an EMT, a substitute teacher, and a research associate in Dr. Vern Schramm’s Lab studying Clostridium difficile. Now, Briana is a 5th year graduate student in the Luger Lab at 91¶ÌÊÓƵ where she researches how proteins interact with DNA. When not pipetting, Briana...
Naiara Doherty Garcia

Naiara Doherty Garcia

Vice President • Curriculum Team
MCDB
Naiara, or Nai (as most people call her), is currently a second year graduate student in the Niswander Lab in the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) Department. She graduated from Winona State University in 2017 with a B.Sc. in Cell and Molecular Biology. She moved to the USA in 2014 from Brazil, where she was born, and moved to Boulder in 2018, where she has been working for 91¶ÌÊÓƵ...
drown

Chelsea Drown

Public Relations Coordinator
MCDB
Chelsea graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2020 with a B.S. in Genetic, Cellular Biology, and Development. While an undergraduate she worked in an Epigenetics lab studying various mutagens' effects on methylation levels. After graduating, she worked as a lab technician at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in a Cell Division lab. Chelsea is currently a second year PhD student in the Niswander lab in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental...
Josh

Josh Fandel

Treasurer • Curriculum Team
MCBD
Josh hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, where he grew up, went to school, and worked before moving to Japan for two years to teach English. Now in the Niswander and Knight labs, he is pursuing potential genetic causes of neural tube defects and researching how students encounter mentorship throughout their coursework during undergrad. For fun, he enjoys photography, playing taiko, running, and eating.
nate

Nathaniel Hamel

Curriculum Coordinator • Curriculum Team
BCHM
Nate is a 4th year graduate student that found his way to 91¶ÌÊÓƵ from southern Oregon, where he graduated from Southern Oregon University with a B.S. in Chemistry. His undergraduate research focused on identification of anticancer natural products from the Oregon Grape plant. Outside of research Nate also focused on building teaching skills by leading various workshops and working as a tutor. Now at 91¶ÌÊÓƵ, Nate is working...
Daniel

Daniel Hassell

Events Coordinator
MCDB
Daniel found his passion for science as a high school student through outreach by a research lab at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Since then, he's worked to inspire the same passion in young scientists through teaching and outreach whenever and wherever he can. He's most interested in the molecular mechanisms of evolution and the origins of life, but he also studied human diseases like sickle cell anemia...
Ella

Ella Tommer

Volunteer Coordinator • Curriculum Team
BCHM
Ella graduated from Indiana University in 2020 with a B.S. in neuroscience and minors in chemistry and psychology. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in Dr. Ken Mackie’s lab studying the endocannabinoid system in mice. After graduating, worked as an NIH IRTA post-baccalaureate fellow in Dr. Ranjan Sen’s lab studying glial cell transcriptomics in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases. She is currently a second-year PhD student in the Biochemistry Department...