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Allison Yin/AP Images for HHMI
Principal Investigator
Moisés (Moi) Expósito-Alonso , PhD
(he/him/él)
Assistant Professor of Global Change Biology, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California BerkeleyFreeman Hrabowski Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institutes (HHMI)Member of the Innovative Genomics Institute
Moi aims to mentor creative scientists that apply ecology, evolution, and genetics principles to understand nature and its relationship with climate
@MExpositoAlonso
moiexpositoalonso@berkeley.edu
Moi's Google ScholarMoi's CV
https://www.hhmi.org/scientists/moises-exposito-alonso https://ib.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/moi-exposito-alonso
Meixi Lin, PhD
Postdoc, Stanford CEHG Fellow '23 & Smith Conservation Research Fellow '23-25Meixi aims to develop ways to track genetic health of ecosystems with geo-tagged genomes and real-time satellite information.
meixilin@berkeley.edu Meixi's Google Scholar
Postdoc, Stanford CEHG Fellow '24
Xing is interested in developing polygenic methods to understand complex adaptive architectures in plants.
xingwu@berkeley.edu Xing's Google Scholar
Xing is interested in developing polygenic methods to understand complex adaptive architectures in plants.
xingwu@berkeley.edu Xing's Google Scholar
Postdoc
Jinseul is interested in understanding the evolutionary dynamics of plants amidst environmental shifts, particularly drought. Her work delves into uncovering the strategies plants employ to adapt and thrive under such conditions.
Jinseul is interested in understanding the evolutionary dynamics of plants amidst environmental shifts, particularly drought. Her work delves into uncovering the strategies plants employ to adapt and thrive under such conditions.
Postdoc
Ruth is interested in understanding molecular pathways involved in mutation and recombination and the impacts of variation in evolutionary rates in rapid adaptation processes including plant domestication.
ruthkepstein@berkeley.edu
Ruth is interested in understanding molecular pathways involved in mutation and recombination and the impacts of variation in evolutionary rates in rapid adaptation processes including plant domestication.
ruthkepstein@berkeley.edu
Miles Roberts, PhD
Postdoc, Coadvised with Yaniv Brandvain at UMN, NSF PRFB fellow '25he/himMiles is interested in the evolutionary consequences of environment-specific gene expression and developing new approaches to cheaply analyze pangenomes in plants.
milesroberts@berkeley.edu
Wei Wei, PhD
PostdocWei is interested in using systems and synthetic biology to reprogram regulatory components, with the goal of enhancing plant climate resilience.
weiwei8@berkeley.edu
Misha Gupta, PhD
Incoming Postdoc
PhD Candidate in Biology | Ecology & Evolution. Fulbright Fellow
Tati aims to understand the predictability of evolution using population genetics theory and techniques.
tbellg@berkeley.edutbellag@stanford.edu
Tati aims to understand the predictability of evolution using population genetics theory and techniques.
tbellg@berkeley.edutbellag@stanford.edu
PhD Candidate in Computational Biology | Center for Computational Biology, NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Jules is interested in computational approaches to population genetics, conservation genomics, and in studying evolution in regards to climate change.
jules_perez@berkeley.edu
Jules is interested in computational approaches to population genetics, conservation genomics, and in studying evolution in regards to climate change.
jules_perez@berkeley.edu
PhD Student in Plant Biology | Grace Kase Fellow and SECIHTI Scholar
Eddy is interested in plant adaptation from a molecular evolutionary perspective. He aims to understand how plants can thrive in extreme environments and how this knowledge can be used to conserve biological and ethnobotanical diversity.
eddy_mendoza@berkeley.eduEddy's Google Scholar
Eddy is interested in plant adaptation from a molecular evolutionary perspective. He aims to understand how plants can thrive in extreme environments and how this knowledge can be used to conserve biological and ethnobotanical diversity.
eddy_mendoza@berkeley.eduEddy's Google Scholar
Kristal Lam
PhD Student in Integrative BiologyKristal is interested in understanding how plants are responding to climate change through rapid evolution, particularly how these responses may differ within and between species.
kristal_lam@berkeley.edu
Renato La Torre
PhD Student in Integrative BiologyRenato is interested in understanding the historical and contemporary processes shaping the genetic diversity of Neotropical plant communities through a temporal genomics perspective.
renato_latorre@berkeley.edu
Katherine MacDonald
Research Technician
Katherine is interested in plant genetics and how plants adapt to environmental stress over time, particularly in the context of climate change.
chessym@berkeley.edu
Megan Tandean
Undergraduate | B.S. Molecular & Cell BiologyMegan is interested in studying genetics and adaptations to stress and extreme environments, especially in the context of climate change.
mtandean@berkeley.edu
Juhi Jadav
Undergraduate | B.A. Data Science, Emphasis in Computational Molecular and Genomic BiologyJuhi is interested in applying computational methods to characterize mutation spectra patterns in plant species, with the goal of understanding the mechanisms driving genomic change.
jugijadav@berkeley.edu
Natalie Torres
Undergraduate | B.A. Mathematics (Statistics) at CSU FullertonNatalie is interested in using mathematical and computational models to study how plant populations evolve and respond to environmental change.
natalietor@csu.fullerton.edu
Taylor Waimrin
Undergraduate | B.S. Genetics and Plant Biology, with an intended double-major in Forestrythey/themTaylor is interested in studying the genetic basis for climate adaptability in plants, with a focus in implementing this research into restoration and conservation models.
taylor_waimrin@berkeley.edu
Scarlet Shi
Undergraduate | B.S. Data Science and Applied MathScarlet is interested in using data science, statistical modeling, and computational genomics to study relationships between genomic variation and plant functional traits.
scarlet0812@berkeley.edu
Sarah An Nguyen
Undergraduate | B.S. Genetics and Plant BiologySarah is interested in studying genetics and molecular biology in order to engineer plants for improved food systems and biopharmaceuticals.
sarahnguy3n@berkeley.edu
Hamilton NGS STAR
Liquid handling robot (MOA 🦤)
MOA is interested in processing large amounts of DNA/RNA samples and likes to be very organized about it.
In 2025/2026 are recruiting researchers at all levels (Postdoc, PhD, technicians, undergraduates)
For more information on opportunities to join our lab, see the subpage Join us!
In 2025/2026 are recruiting researchers at all levels (Postdoc, PhD, technicians, undergraduates)
For more information on opportunities to join our lab, see the subpage Join us!
alumni
alumni
Laura Leventhal, Graduate Student, Now EEB Postdoctoral Fellow with Stephen Wright at University of Toronto
Jake Eggen, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Summer 2026
Nicolás Zepeda, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Summer 2026
Joseph (Joey) Mann, Research Technician II, 2024-2026, now a graduate student at University of Washington
Andrew Fairclough, Staff Research Associate I, 2025-2026, now a graduate student at Michigan State University
Benjamin (Ben) Jin, Staff Research Associate II, 2024-2026
Alyssa Phillips, Postdoc, 2025-2026 - Now Research Scientist in Genetics at Atlanta Botanical Garden
Kristy Mualim, PhD Student - Now PhD student in the Dinneny Lab at Stanford University.
Wendy Feng, Undergraduate Research Assistant 2025-2026
Lauren Gillespie, PhD student, 2020-2025 - Now MIT Meteor Postdoc Fellow and Assistant Professor in University of Michigan
Andy Huynh, Research Assistant, 2023-2024 - Now at Stemuli
Oliver Selmoni, Postdoc, 2022-2024 - Now Postdoc at University of Zurich,
Ken Thompson, Postdoc, HFPS 2021-2024 (Schumer lab) - Now Mitacs Elevate Fellow at the Ontario Centre for Biodiversity Genomics
Megan Ruffley, Postdoc, NSF PGRF Fellow 2020-2024 - Now scientist at Simplot company
Emily Koke - Research Assistant 2023-2024 - Now Research Assistant in the Carnegie Institution for Science
Lucas Czech - Postdoctoral Scholar 2020-2023- Now Postdoctoral Scholar at GeoGenetics center in Copenhagen
Salim Soltani - Visiting Graduate Student 2023
Diego Rafael Perez - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2023 - undergrad at Stanford
Nicolas Camacho - Research Assistant 2023 - Graduated Stanford
Mali Esfahanian, PhD - Research Associate (Postdoc level scientist) 2021-2023 - Now Senior Scientist at Cquesta, CA.
Norzin Tenzin - Biology PhD student rotating 2023 - now RAISE Graduate Student at Stanford University
Ethan Gurwitch - Summer intern 2023 - now undergraduate at Duke University
Oliver Bossdorf, PhD - Sabbatical Professor 2023
Seba Toro Arana - Biology PhD student 2021-2023 - now PhD student in the Dinneny Lab at Stanford University.
Kaiku Kaholoaa - Hopkins Marine station PhD student rotating 2022-2023 - now PhD student in the Palumbi Lab at Stanford University.
Zouberou Sayibou - Undegraduate Research Assistant 2022-2023 - now pursuing M.S. in Computer Science at Stanford
Keegan Pham - Research Assistant 2022-2023 - now plant transgenic specialist at BioDrive
Tenzing Kalsang - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2023 - now undergraduate at Stanford
Shannon Hateley, PhD - Postdoc 2020-2023 - Now computational biologist at Google X, CA
Kelly Huang - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2022 - now undergraduate at Stanford
Marlot Westera - Master Student 2021-2022 - now PhD student at Amsterdam University, NL
Clara Kieschnick - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2020-2022
Katie Baker - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2022 - now undergraduate at Stanford
Christie Patel - Summer Intern 2022 - now undergraduate in Cambridge University, UK
Ru Peng - Research Assistant 2019-2022, now PhD student at Washington University, St.Louis, US
Matt Gill - Genetics PhD student rotating Spring 22, now PhD Student in Bhatt lab at Stanford University School of Medicine
Erin Zess, PhD - Postdoc 2021, now group leader in Benson Hill, Missouri, US
Jennifer Serrano Rojas - Biology PhD student rotating Summer 21, now PhD student in the O'Connell Lab at Stanford
Alanna Pyke - Genetics PhD student rotating Fall 20, now PhD student in the Sherlock Lab at Stanford
Eva Sehr - Bioinformatics Master student, FH Campus Wien 2019-2020, now scientist at Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria
Andrea Ramirez - Biology PhD student rotating Winter 20, now PhD student in the Dinneny Lab at Stanford
Veronica Pagowski - Biology PhD student rotating Fall 19-Spring20, now PhD student in the Lowe Lab at Stanford
Some cute pictures of the lab! our timeline
Some cute pictures of the lab! our timeline
Fall 2019 Moi with Ru Peng, the first lab member and first Illumina kits for sequencing ;)
Dec 2020 MOILAB winter party (of course in ZoomLand!)
Summer 2021 first MOILAB retreat!
Spring 2022
Summer 2022 (with Kristy, Oliver and Megan photoshoped, you cannot tell right? 🤣)
Summer 2023 lab retreat in Yosemite (with Megan and Xing missing!)
Lab organizing BAPG 2024 at Berkeley with new T-shirts!
Summer 2024 lab retreat in Blue Oak
Summer 2025 Lauren PhD defense celebration!
Lab retreat 2025 in Point Reyes!
Spring 2026 Laura PhD defense!
Spring 2026 lab photoshoot!
Lab retreat Sep 2026!
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