Our Team
April Lukowski
Principal Investigator
April first developed an interest in enzymes and the environment as an undergraduate student at Saginaw Valley State University, where she completed a B.S. in Biochemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from the University of Michigan with Alison Narayan studying the biosynthesis of saxitoxin in cyanobacteria and the application of enzymes in biocatalysis. She joined the lab of Bradley Moore at UC San Diego to study the biosynthesis of halogenated toxins and connecting genes to molecules. April launched her own research group at UC San Diego at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Fall 2023, where her lab focuses on the discovery of novel enzymes from natural product biosynthetic pathways and their applications as biocatalysts in medicinal chemistry.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Robert Shepherd
email:
2026 - PresentPhD Students
Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Anna Skrip
'I am originally from the Great Lake State where I attended Grand Valley State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. I then worked for 3 years in industry followed by my current pursuit of a PhD at UCSD. When I’m not neck deep in the primordial soup of knowledge (in lab), I enjoy anything that gets me outdoors and finding all of the best places to eat!
email: askrip@ucsd.edu
2024 - Present
Lisa Saxton
I moved around from Japan to Tennessee and then spent the majority of my life growing up in San Diego. Environmentalism and spending time in nature are passions of mine, and I became interested in environmental-related research during my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley where I studied molecular environmental biology and conservation resources studies. I worked with microalgal biotechnology for nearly 2 years after graduating and am very excited for my graduate school journey at SIO to research natural products and bioremediation. Beyond the lab, I enjoy going to jazz jams to play my alto sax, live concerts, and vibing by the beach.
email: lsaxton@ucsd.edu
2025 - Present
Marine Biology BiologyLucas Cohen
2024 - Present
email: l4cohen@ucsd.edu
Natalie Murphy
Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Natalie is originally from Virginia where she completed her bachelors degree at Virginia Tech studying biochemistry. She then completed two different post-baccalaureate research years in academic labs and spent some time as a barista before heading to UCSD to pursue a PhD. She is excited to now be in the Lukowski group investigating bile salt hydrolases and their various functions, host-associated and beyond. When not in lab or wrangling data, she enjoys surfing, roasting in the sun with a book, and yoga.
Email: namurphy@ucsd.edu
2026 - Present
Masters Students
Johnny Tran
Marine BiologyJohnny is a BS/MS student student studying Environmental Systems (with an emphasis in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution). He received his A.S. and A.A. degree from Orange Coast College where he found his passion for the ocean and environment researching bottlenose dolphin migration patterns. He joins the lab conducting his senior thesis on the potential natural products of coastal lichen. Outside of lab find him on the beach flying his jellyfish kite!
email: jot019@ucsd.edu
2025 - Present
J. Antonio Puron Guerrero
Antonio is a fourth-year undergraduate student from Mexico City studying Molecular & Cell Biology, with minors in Marine Science and Climate Change Studies. A passion for the interface between biology, physics and chemistry and an interest to apply them in ocean systems was met when he entered the world of Marine Natural Products research. He joins the lab as a prospective BS/MS student investigating structural drivers of substrate specificity in Flavin-Dependent Halogenase enzymes from marine cyanobacteria. Outside the lab, Antonio snowboards all winter and SCUBA dives all summer!
Email: jpuronguerrero@ucsd.edu
2026 - Present
Marine BiologyUndergraduate Students
Lauren Kaiser
UCSD MicrobiologyLauren is an undergraduate student majoring in microbiology and minoring in marine science. She is a transfer student from Bakersfield College and has previously researched the endangered San Joaquin Valley Kit Fox and biofilm dispersion. Lauren is currently researching the biodegradative properties of enzymes for potential use in bioremediation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE’s). Lauren’s goal is to earn a PhD and serve as a research professor. In her free time, Lauren enjoys the beach (obviously), coffee, volunteering, and flipping burgers.
Email: l2kaiser@ucsd.edu
2025 Present
Annette Ramos
2026 Present
Staff Scientists
Dr. Sheila Podell
Sheila is a senior bioinformaticist specializing in genomic and metagenomic analysis of large, complex data sets. She currently splits her time between the Lukowski and Moore natural product chemistry labs, providing one-on-one bioinformatics training for students and postdocs and developing new tools and pipelines for discovering novel biosynthetic gene clusters and enzymes with unusual chemical activity profiles in non-model eukaryotes, including algae, lichenous fungi, and marine invertebrates
email: spodell@ucsd.edu
2026 - Present
Visiting Scholars
Jirativat (Jam) Nanthachan
I moved from Thailand to San Diego, California, where I am currently a Ph.D. candidate conducting a research visit at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Biotechnology and enzymology are passions of mine, and I became interested in the "Waste to Wealth" initiative during my research at VISTEC, where I worked on the synergistic bioconversion. I am very excited for my research journey at SIO to develop the single-component halogenase AetF for biocatalytic applications, specifically focusing on improving enzyme stability for gram-scale transformations and designing automated high-throughput screening workflows. Beyond the lab, I enjoy cruising on my skateboard, following, and vibing with PC games.
Email: jnanthachan@ucsd.edu
2026
VISTEC, ThailandLab Pets!
Lab Alum
Postdoctoral Scholars
Dr. Robert Benisch
2025 - 2026Masters Students
Lisa Saxton
2024- 2025transition to PhD in 2025
Undergraduate Students
Johnny Tran
transition to MS in 2025
2024- 2025J. Antonio Puron Guerrero
transition to MS in 2025
2025 - 2026Matthew Lam
2024 - 2026Krystal Role
2025Cedrick Quiroz Zebada
20242024Veronica Chi
2025