Meet the Team

Principal Investigator

Calvin Yip

As an alumni of UBC, I am grateful to have the opportunity to return to my alma mater to establish my lab in 2011 after completing post-doc training at Harvard Medical School. 

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Scientific interests: Autophagy, rare disease, membrane trafficking, chromatin 

Hobbies: family time with two young kids, cooking, travelling

Fun Fact: I am a modern history fanatic

PhD

Sunny Cheung

I grew up in Asia and Australia. I completed my BSc at the University of Toronto before coming to Vancouver for graduate school.  I am enjoying the final chapter of my school life in the Yip lab at UBC. 

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Scientific interests: Structural biology, protein-protein interactions

Hobbies: Eating, cooking, sleeping, snowboarding

Fun Fact: Wombat poops are square shaped

PhD candidate

Tomas Pelletier

I completed a HBSc in Biochemistry at Okanagan College and the University of Saskatchewan. I joined the Yip lab in 2020 to pursue my interest in proteostasis and its role in disease.

Scientific interests: protein structure, membrane trafficking, lipid dynamics

Hobbies: Climbing, cooking, all things artsy

Fun Fact: Robert Picardo, who played "The Doctor" on Voyager, is a trained opera singer.

PhD candidate

Hannah Shariati

I was born and grew up in Vancouver. I completed my BSc in Biochemistry at UBC where I took Calvin's lecture on autophagy and never looked back!

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Scientific interests: cell biology, rare disease, autophagy

Hobbies: cooking/baking, coffee, driving 2 hours everyday to school/work

Fun Fact: Jason Gideon>David Rossi

PhD candidate

Kha Nguyen

Hello! I was born and raised in Toronto and completed my Honours BSc at the University of Toronto. I then decided to move across the country to join the Yip lab!

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Scientific interests: Membrane fusion, Structural biology

Hobbies: Birding, Photography, Running

Fun Fact: All birds are dinosaurs 🦖

Work-learn

Gage Fairlie

Hi! My name is Gage and I came to UBC from interior BC to complete a combined Honours BSc in Biochemistry and Chemistry. I now work as a technician in the Yip lab. 

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Scientific interests: Rabs, Structural biology, Lipids

Hobbies: Crystals, Climbing, Lipids

Fun Fact: My favourite bird is chicks

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PhD candidate 

Elijah Hoy

Hi! I am from Oakville, Ontario and did my BSc at the University of Waterloo. I love how our lab supports and fun and interactive atmosphere where perseverance and innovation are the keys to success.

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Scientific Interests: Protein-protein interactions, structural biology, chromatin

Hobbies: Movies, reading, video games

Fun fact: I have made a music video describing glycolysis 

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PhD candidate (joint with Dr. John Burke)

Alex Shaw

Hey! I'm Alex and I grew up on Vancouver Island. I went to the University of Victoria and completed an Honours BSc in Microbiology. I'm currently working jointly between the Yip and Burke lab (UVic) studying lipid kinases using structural biology and biochemical techniques. 

Scientifc interests: Kinases, Structural biology, Lipids

Hobbies: Running, Eating Potatoes, BC Ferries

Fun Fact: I have a singing Justin Bieber toothbrush

Master's student

Chloe House

I am currently in my 5th year of the Honours Biochemistry undergraduate program at UBC. I joined the Yip lab as an Honours student in order to explore my interest in studying multiprotein systems, and more broadly, protein biochemistry.

Scientific interests: biochemical details underlying processes essential for life, the use of biochemical methods and microscopy techniques to study membrane and protein players involved in such processes, and how we can exploit biochemical diversity between organisms for environmental and medical applications. 
Hobbies: working out, crocheting, learning about geography, and trying new foods!
Fun fact:  I have a very large travel bucket list, with destinations including Patagonia, Jeju island, Mongolia, and Iceland.

Master's student

Chase Talarico

Howdy 𐚁⊹₊ ⋆, I'm from Calgary and completed my undergrad in Biochemistry at the University of Calgary. This is my first year at the Yip lab. 

Scientific interests: Structural biology, rare diseases, protein-protein interactions

Hobbies: mossin'

Fun fact: an easy way to remember what a semicolon looks like is to think of a comma and then think of a period over top that comma - Cher

Undergraduate work-learn student

Rachel Wong

I am currently in my 5th year of Integrated Sciences. 

Scientific interests: Immunology and biochemistry

Hobbies: Backpacking, climbing, anything outdoors

Fun fact: I like deep fried memes

Work-learn

Kelly Ye

Hello! I’m currently in my third year majoring in Biochemistry here at UBC. I’m very grateful to be helping out with the fantastic research in the lab! 

Scientific interests: Protein folding/structure, structural biology 
Hobbies: Sudoku, origami, baking, & reading
Fun fact: The moon is very slightly lemon-shaped!

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Honor's student

Alice Liu

Hello! I'm a 5th-year biochem honours student undertaking a directed thesis project at the Yip lab to explore my interest in protein biochemistry and autophagy.

Scientific interests: Protein-protein interactions. Molecular basis of disease. 

Hobbies: Basketball. Board games. Winning.

Fun fact: A song that streams in my head every day is by Adam Sandler.