Nan Hultgren, PhD

Nan Hultgren, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher

Biography

I graduated Cum Laude with my B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from California State University, East Bay. After graduation, I applied my knowledge in molecular biomedicine at Cholestech, Inc., helping patients with cardiovascular diseases. I then returned to basic research, my true passion, as a Research Associate in Dr. Jeoung-sook Shin’s lab at University of California, San Francisco, studying dendritic cell maturation and regulatory T cell development. In 2012, I started my doctoral research with Dr. Christopher Hughes at University of California, Irvine. My thesis focused on molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis, in both development and pathological conditions such as cancer and ischemic diseases. In particular, I studied the significance of endothelial expression of transcription factor Slug in sprouting angiogenesis. Here at the Williams lab, my projects includes studying mitochondria dynamics in healthy and diseased RPE cells, as well as the role of Usher proteins in ciliogenesis. When I am not at work, I like gardening, spending time in the nature, exercising and cooking.