Jonathan Okubo, B.S.

Jon Okubo graduated from California State University, San Marcos with a B.S. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Molecular Biology and a minor in Chemistry. While attending CSUSM, he joined Dr. Alysson Muotri’s lab at the University of California, San Diego as a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine intern, and then as a volunteer research assistant. While with the Muotri lab, Jon studied under Dr. Helen Miranda gathering experience reprogramming human fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells, characterization of iPSCs, and the differentiation of iPSCs into neural progenitors and motor neurons. His project was dedicated to the study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis type 8.

Jon joined the Frazer lab in June of 2015 as a laboratory assistant and will be primarily performing iPS cell culture and cardiomyocyte differentiation for the purpose of identifying hereditary genetic variations involved in cardiovascular disease and to identify potential personalized therapeutic targets.