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

Postdoctoral fellow

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 🦖

Lab associate 

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

Hi! I'm Chloe, a M.Sc student in the Yip Lab. I grew up in Calgary, and originally joined the Yip Lab as an undergraduate Honours Thesis student!

Scientific interests: protein function and evolution, membrane trafficking, synthetic biology, environmental biochemistry

Hobbies: listening to loud music, playing loud music (guitar), vibe-based cooking, reading weird books, memorizing geography facts

Fun fact: I always make my spaghetti sauce from scratch

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

Master's student (Joint with Dr. John Burke)

Hunter Nyvall

I’m Hunter, and I grew up in Victoria. I completed a degree in biochemistry at the University of Victoria and continued to work at UVic as a research technician, before joining the Yip lab to begin graduate school. My work focuses on lipid kinases, and I am co-supervised by Dr. Yip and Dr. John Burke (UVic)

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Scientific Interests: Structural biology, HDX-MS, lipids

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Hobbies: Paddle sports, Hockey, Squash

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Fun Fact: I have Swiss citizenship

Master's student

Amelia Wojtyk

Hi! My name is Amelia, and this is my first year in the Yip lab. I completed my undergrad at Dalhousie University in Halifax, where I worked in a structural biology lab. I am currently studying the structure and function of proteins involved in autophagy.

Scientific interests: Structural biology, protein-protein interactions, biochemical mechanisms involved in disease

Hobbies: Running, hiking, rowing - I row for UBC!

Fun fact: I have a cat named Skittles

Lab technician

Alex Zhao

Hello! I am a 4th year biochemistry honours student at UBC. I joined the Yip lab as a summer volunteer and will be completing my honours thesis here as well.

Scientific interests: Biochemical mechanism of diseases, Catalytic mechanism of enzymes, Drug discovery

Hobbies: Video games, researching random topics, committing to the bit

Fun fact: We are running out of sand.

Work-learn student

Zoe Grames-Webb

Hi! I am a third year Honours Biochemistry Student at UBC, and I’m from Vancouver, BC. This is my first year in the Yip Lab! 

Scientific Interests: enzymes, vesicle transport, and biochemical pathways 

Hobbies: Running, cooking, and reading

Fun fact: Sea turtles use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate!