Dr. Joseph DeRisi is recognized as an early pioneer in functional genomics. The DeRisi lab leverages various genomic technologies for the study of infectious diseases, including Plasmodium falciparum and RNA viruses. With regard to malaria, the DeRisi lab focuses on both the basic science of the parasite in addition to drug development and drug target identification. Recently, the DeRisi lab has also been exploring the etiology of meningitis and encephalitis through next generation sequencing. Joseph DeRisi received a B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University working with Dr. Patrick O. Brown. He is Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics here at the University of California, San Francisco, and he currently holds the Gordon Tomkins Chair. In 2004, he was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Dr. Wallace Marshall, a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, is interested in how cells solve geometry problems. Cells are not bags of enzymes, they have complex three dimensional structures. But where does the information come from that determines the structure of a cell? Why do different cell types have different architectures, and how does the structure of a cell affect its function? These are fundamental questions whose answers remain largely unknown. The lab's goal is to ask how cells solve specific types of geometry problems, focusing on the organelle as a fundamental unit of cellular organization. What determines the size, shape, number, and position of organelles? Answering these questions is what drives their science.

Dr. Geeta Narlikar is Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her lab explores the mechanisms of genome compartmentalization. They investigate the intrinsic biophysical capabilities of chromatin regulators so they can imagine and test how these capabilities are used in different genomic contexts.