Lab News
April 2023
New Faces: We welcome new graduate student Rochelle Lai to the lab. Rochelle is a first-year student in the UCLA MCIP Program. After less than a week she's already blowing things up the lab!
We are Established: Congratulations to Liz on being award a highly prestigious American Heart Association Established Investigator Award! Former Alumni from UCLA include Drs. Peter Edwards, Jake Lusis, Karen Reue, and DOM Chair Dale Abel. She's in excellent company!
March 2023
Publication Alert: After a GOLIATH amount of work, we are super exicted to see our publication in Circulation Research describing a new horizon for LDLR regulation. We discover the molecular mechanism underlying previously observed genome-wide associations in humans in the RNF130 locus. We found that RNF130, a unique membrane-bound E3 ubiquitin ligase, regulates LDLR abundance and availability at the plasma membrane. Also, our artwork was selected for the cover!
January 2023
Publication Alert: Excited for the first publication of 2023, a review on GM-CSF antibodies in Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis.
This is a BIG year for the ETV Lab! The ETV Lab is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year. The lab was established in January 2013 and we are excited for the next 10 years!
December 2022
Deck the Lab: The 4th Annual Deck the Lab contest is here! Check out this year's entries and winners!
Rounding out the year the right way: Excited to receive the NOA for an MPI R01 to study the gut-liver axis in cardiovascular disease!
November 2022
DOM Research Day: The ETV lab represented BIG TIME at the 2022 UCLA Department of Medicine Research Day. Congratulations to postdoc Dr. Kelsey Jarrett, and graduate students Gabriella Rubert, Alvin Chan, and Emily Smith on sweeping the awards! Also a shoutout to undergraduate researcher Min Jin Kim on presenting her research.
Onward to Candidacy! Congratulations to PhD Candidate Gabriella Rubert on successfully passing her Orals!
October 2022
CV Theme Symposium: The lab attended the 2022 UCLA Cardiovascular Theme Symposium. What a fun day! And congratulations to postdoc Dr. Kelsey Jarrett on being awarded 2nd place in the poster competition!
September 2022
From graduate student to PhD Candidate! Congratulations to PhD Candidate Emily Smith on successfully passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
July 2022
Fellowship Success #4! We are on a roll! Congratulations to our newest postdoc Heidi Schmidt who received a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Vascular Biology T32 Program!
June 2022
Traveling Science: Tom presents some new and exciting science at the 2022 Gordon Research Conference on Lipids and Lipoproteins - one of our favorite meetings!
Too many fellowships! Congratulations to undergraduate research Rodrigo Balthazar Nunez on being selected for a summer internship.
Fellowship Success #3: Three is the magic number! Congratulations to graduate student Emily Smith who received a Predoctoral Fellowship in the Cellular and Molecular Biology T32 Program.
ETV Beach Day: The ETV lab spent the day at the beach enjoying the SoCal Sunshine!
May 2022
New jackets, who dis? We are excited with our new lab jackets, courtesy of the Department of Biological Chemistry and UCLA...don't we look fancy!
Fellowship Success #2! Congratulations to graduate student Emily Smith who was selected for the prestigious Whitcome Fellowship.
Dean's Prize Winner! We are super proud of undergraduate research Maria Taveras for being selected as a Dean's Prize Winner!
March 2022
The end of an era! This month we said farewell to our first ever postdoc, Dr. Bethan Clifford. Bethan is moving on to bigger and greater things at Amgen, but at least she is not far away and is still available for happy hours! We wish her every success in her new endeavour!
Fellowship Success! Congratulations to graduate student Gabriella Rubert who received a Predoctoral Fellowship in the Genomics and Transcriptomics T32 Program!
February 2022
New Year, New Postdoc! We are excited to welcome our new postdoc Heidi to the ETV Lab! Heidi completed her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh and we are glad she moved from the East Coast to the Best Coast!
The legacy continues! Congratulations to Dr. Bethan Clifford on being selected as the 2021-2022 George J. Popjak Scholar for Outstanding contributions to the field of Atherosclerosis Research! This is especially meaningful as both Tom and Liz are past winners of this award. Huge congratulations Bethan, we are very proud of you!
Time to say goodbye: At the beginning of this month we said goodbye to postdoc Dr. Leslie Sedgeman, who has taken a position at LA startup Nuanced Health. We are excited to see what she gets up to!
December 2021
Christmas Decoration Competition! We continued our annual tradition of our Deck the Halls Lab Contest. This year we shook things up a little and challenged lab members to create a decoration that we can hang on our new Lab Christmas Tree. Check out our tree and this years' entries, runners up and overall winner!
We've HAD a GREAT year! What a way to round out 2021. Tom is named the Home Area Director for the MBIDP Gene Regulation, Epigenetics and Transcriptomics graduate home area in the UCLA Graduate Programs in Bioscience! Congratulations Tom!
November 2021
New Profile, Who Dis? We got ourselves a new lab profile pic.
Happy Birthday: Celebrating the Big Boss birthday in traditional ETV style. CAKE!
October 2021
In Person Interactions: Tom presents some of the lab's newest and greatest research at the UCLA Cardiovascular Theme Symposium, our first in-person event in almost 2 years!
August 2021
Opt Outside: Now that things are opening up a little, the lab got out for some much-needed fresh air and a bit of a break from the bench!
New Lab Member! We are super happy and exicted that Gabriella Rubert has decided to join the lab as a Ph.D. student!
May 2021
Research Publication: We are VERY excited that our studies on FXR agonists protecting against fatty liver disease have been accepted for publication in Cell Metabolism. Postdoc Bethan led these studies in collaboration with Leslie and Kelsey. Five years is a long time coming!
New Lab Member! We are excited that Emily Peluso Smith has decided to join the lab as a Ph.D. student!
April 2021
NOA! Excited to get the Notice of Award for (can you believe it) the first MPI R01 for Liz and Tom!
March 2021
Fellowship Success! Congratulations to postdoc Maddy Brearley-Sholto on being awarded an AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship!
Publication Alert! We're WRAPPED up! Excited to see our first publication from our collaboration with the Pellegrini Lab! Here our collaborators report the ultrastructural organization and dynamics of the inter-organellar contact established by sheets of curved rough endoplasmic reticulum closed wrapped around the mitochondria (wrappER). Check out the awesome videos and images demonstrating liver wrappER-mitochondria contacts participate in VLDL biology.
January 2021
Publication Alert! Another publication with our Australian Collaborators! Great to see this continuing despite the global pandemic!
Publication Alert! Congratulations to ETV Alumni Tim Yu on another paper published!
Research Publication: Congratulations to Research Fellow Alvin for his latest research on dietary trends in the rare pediatric disorder glucose galactose malabsorption.
We're Vaccinated! Excitement in the lab to get the first shots of our COVID-19 vaccines!
What a lotta Logos! We are kicking off 2021 in style with the release of our new lab logos!
December 2020
Goodbye 2020! Another first for the year, the lab hosted a virtual Christmas Party, complete with cookie decorating, mocktails, and our famous Christmas Decoration Competition!
Tenure Tom! Tom is promoted to Associate Professor, with Tenure! What an amazing achievement!
Our First Preprint! We are excited to share our latest research defining the role for the E3 ubiquitin ligase GOLIATH in regulating plasma LDL cholesterol and LDL receptor availability.
October 2020
Family ETV Grows! Liz, Tom, and Olivia welcome Baby Leo!!
Another Training Grant! Postdoc Leslie is awarded one of the first iCMB T32 postdoctoral training grants, bridging bioengineering and biomedical science! Well done Leslie!
September 2020
Hello Baby! Postdoc Leslie welcomes baby Sophia to the world! Congratulations Leslie, Carl, and Lucky the dog!
Just call me Dr. Dr.! In the lab's first ever Zoom Ph.D. Defense, MCIP graduate student Elinor successfully defended her thesis! Congratulations Elinor, we are so proud of you!
August 2020
Pandemic Rotation: We are very pleased and excited to welcome Gabriella Rupert as a Rotation student to Team CRISPR. Gabriella will working on designing guide RNAs to some of our newly identified metabolism targets.August 01, 2020
Research Fellow: We are excited to welcome Alvin Chan as a Research Fellow in Pediatrict GI. Alvin will be working on all things related to bile acids and absorption!
June 2020
And we're back! We are super thankful to be able to re-open the lab as part of UCLA's research ramp-up. Even if we are capped at 25% capacity we are back at full speed!
Renewal Success! Postdoc Kelsey successfully renews her T32 Vascular Biology Training Grant for another year. Well done Kelsey!
March 2020
Another Goodbye! This time we said Goodbye to Li, who is going back to NorCal to work in Industry. We didn't get to have a proper farewell thanks to Pandemic Restrictions and the Safer-at-Home order in Los Angeles, but we wish her all the best!
Virtual Rotation Anyone? As COVID-19 continues to impact our research, we are happy to welcome rotation student Kelly Kennewick to the lab for a virtual rotation. Kelly is part of the IMMP home area in the GBP at UCLA and will be working with Liz on analyzing lipidomic and FACS data in mice with disrupted lipid and immune homeostasis.
Goodnight Lab. Along with many other labs and research campuses across the country, we made the difficult decision to shut down our lab in mid-March as COVID-19 began to rage and Los Angeles issued an emergency Safer-at-Home order.
February 2020
Super-Tech! We are delighted to welcome Super-Tech Michelle Steel to Team ETV!
January 2020
Ending the month on a high! Yet another publication, this time from undergrad Tim's previous lab. This is Tim's first first author publication and preprint where they built and tested 8269 variations of the classic lac promoter where we reposition and tune the strengths of binding sites. This study shows new interactions between binding sites and how to build theoretically optimal inducible promoters. Read this cool story about promoter architecture here.
Doubling Down! What a way to ring in 2020 with not one, but two papers accepted from the lab! First, we performed silencing of microRNA-144 in pre-clinical models of atherosclerosis. Second, in collaboration with Jan Kornfeld, we discoverd a MAFG-lncRNA axis that links nutrient abundance and hepatic glucose metabolism.
December 2019
Ho! Ho! Ho! The lab were allowed to venture outside for the afternoon for our annual all-you-can-eat Brazilian Churrascaria BBQ at Fogo de Chao! Post-prandial studies followed of course!
November 2019
Friendsgiving 2019! The lab celebrated Thanksgiving with their annual Friendsgiving meal!
September 2019
Rotation, Rotation, Rotation! We are delighted and excited to welcome Angela Sun and Yifan Wang (Frank) to the lab for their fall rotation! Angela will be working with Liz on lipids and immune cells. Frank will be working with Tom and Kelsey following up on PSMD9, which we identified using systems biology tools.
August 2019
Milestone Birthdays! Today we celebrated postdoc Bethan and Kelsey's big summer birthdays!
CARE Summer Research Day! Our undergraduate Rachel who has been working over the summer as part of the CARE summer research program, presented her research! Well done Rachel!
Another chick has flown the coop! Today we said farewell to Postdoc Jenny Link, who is starting a faculty position at Whittier College. We will miss you and are very proud of you Jenny! Good luck in your next adventure!
Summer Bruins-In-Genomics Poster Day! Summer BIG students Tyler and Vivan present their work. Lots of fun talking science!
July 2019
Summer BIG! We are delighted and excited to welcome Tyler Laws and Vivian Iloabuchi, our Summer Bruins In Genomics (BIG) students to the lab!
June 2019
Farewell! We were sad to say goodbye to Elizabeth Vanderwall at the end of this month. Elizabeth is moving home to Seatle before embarking on the next chapter of her adventures and applying to Grad School.
Puppy Love. The lab made some furry new friends in what was possibly the best. day. in. lab. ever!
June 2019
From Bench to Bedside to the Community. Liz gives Medicine Grand Rounds with Dr. Tisha Wang discussing the progress they have made working on Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis!
Targeting microRNAs for Atheroprotection. Liz gives a talk at the Gordon Research Conference on Atherosclerosis at Sunday River, Newry, ME!
May 2019
Supporting STEM! We were visited by 64 middle school students from LAUSD Stephen M. White Middle School and their teach, former Tarling-Vallim Alum, Mrs. Tammy Kim!
Undergraduate Research Poster Day! Our bioinformatic undergrad Timothy Yu presented a poster on his exciting analysis of lipidomic profiling. Well done Tim!
Research Fellowship! Congratulations to Postdoc Kelsey Jarrett on being awarded the UCLA Vascular Biology T32 postdoctoral fellowship! Well done Kelsey!
February 2019
Grant Award! Congratulations to Tom and Dr. Peter Edwards on being awarded an NIH MPI R01 to study FXR and liver lipid metabolism!
Publication! In collaboration with colleagues at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, in Mebourne Australia, we performed a systems genetics analysis of mammalian lipid metabolism. Check out this report for more information.
January 2019
Publication! In collaboration with the Pamir Lab at Oregon Health and Sciences University we performed a large-scale genetic study of the HDL proteome.
December 2018
Another trip around the sun!
Another Christmas, another lab all-you-can-eat adventure. Thank you Fogo De Chao!
December 2018
New Lab Member! This month we welcome new postdoc Kelsey Jarrett to the lab! Kelsey did her PhD at Baylor College of Medicine in the lab of William Lagor.
Research Award! Congratulations Bethan! Bethan received a post-doctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association.
November 2018
New Lab Member! This month we welcome new postdoc Leslie Sedgeman to the lab! Leslie did her PhD at Venderbilt University in the lab of Kasey Vickers.
September 2018
Publication! In collaboration with the Christofk Lab at UCLA we helped identify the ZFP36 fmaily of RNA Binding Proteins as important regulators of cellular metabolism.
August 2018
New Lab Member! This month we welcome our new Lab Assistant Elizabeth Vanderwall! Elizabeth was an undergrad at UCLA and worked in the lab through the summer Bruins In Genomics program. Now she has joined the lab full-time!
Publication! We published some of our latest findings in Nature Communications on the use of Statins as a novel pharmacotherapy in the rare lung disease, Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinsis and had a featured news article.
July 2018
Promotion! Liz was promoted to Associate Professor! Congrats Prof!
May 2018
It's award time! Liz wins the Irvine H. Page Young Investigator Research Award at Vascular Discovery: From Genes to Medicine 2018 Scientific Sessions!
April 2018
Congratulations Joan! The lab recently got a big news: Joan got accepted in Graduate School and will soon leave to the University of Utah to start their graduate program. While it's a bit of a bummer for us to lose Joan, we couldn't be more happier for her, she worked hard and her hard work paid off! Congrats Joan! And yes, of course we had to party for the occasion, another fun night in Brazilian "All you can eat" pizza territory.
Peter's Birthday celebration! Happy Birthday to the #OG boss, Dr. Peter Edwards.
It's all about the mass. Hey, look what just arrived! The lab is now equipped with a brand new mass spectrometer. 2018 is going to be a data-driven year for sure!
Another year in the books! Christmas time is always a good excuse for a lab all-you-can-eat excursion. Thanks Fogo De Chao for hosting us!
November 2017
World Café! Did we tell you that each time the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars is holding a World Café event we never miss a chance to sample caffeinated drinks from all over the world? Well, guess what, there is even a video to prove it, featuring Pauline, Elinor and Joan!
Another Award for the lab! Is it Christmas yet? Congrats to the lab for the fantastic work that led to winning the Paul Dudley White award for highest scoring abstract at the AHA 2017 (Anaheim).
October 2017
One more year for Jenny! And just like that, it's time to eat another cake again, this time in honor to Jenny: Happy Birthday!
September 2017
Publication! We published a novel posttranscriptional mechanism for regulation of bile acid metabolism. A great excuse to gather the lab for another all-you-can-eat pizza party!
September 2017
Poster presentations. Adam and Elizabeth did a terrific job presenting their work at the UCLA Undergraduate Research Day. Thanks to everyone who came by to ask questions!
Award! Congrats to our own Bethan for winning the UCLA Cardiovascular Theme Research Day Poster Award! #GoBethan
August 2017
Award! Liz was awarded the David Williams Lectureship at the 2017 Kern Lipid Conference.
Eclipse! Look at those two, always upon us and always playing together! But when they meet, it's always a good enough reason to do a short break. Alright, now back to work, science awaits!
July 2017
Crushing it! Liz and Bethan run the The San Francisco Marathon and Joan completes her first half marathon!
June 2017
A new adventure for Sophia. It's time for Sophia to embark on her European journey. We are sad to see her leave but at least we got another cake by Chef Pauline. Thanks for everything Sophia, we wish you the best in your new adventure!
May 2017
New lab space! We have the grand opening of our newest Tissue Culture suite (aka Pauline's room!). After a long slog, we are finally open for business.
April 2017
Grant! Liz receives her first NIH R01 grant from the NHLBI.
Crushing it! Pauline just completed her first 50K trail race at the Gorges Waterfall 50k!
March 2017
Publication! We published our latest findings on pulmonary surfactant homeostasis, and had a featured news article in ASBMB.
New lab member! We welcome Sophia Franco-Castillo as our newest lab member. Sophia was an undergraduate in the lab, and graduated UCLA. She has now joined the lab full time!
New lab member! We officially welcome Pauline Morand to the lab.
February 2017
Grant! Tom receives his second NIH R01 grant from the NIDDK. Just another excuse for the lab to go to all you can eat pizza to celebrate.
January 2017
New lab member! Jenny Link, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow from UCLA joins the Tarling-Vallim lab. Welcome Jenny!
December 2016
Tenure track on track! Tom becomes a faculty member in the Department of Biological Chemistry at UCLA.
Party time! Lab Christmas party at Fogo de Chao!
October 2016
The lab brings it! The lab participates in the LA Cancer Challenege 5K/10K! (Liz – 1st place female age division; Bethan – 3rd place female age division)
August 2016
Award! Tom receives the David Williams Lectureship award at the Kern Lipid Conference 2016.
July 2016
New lab member! Tom and Liz welcome Bethan Clifford, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow from England to the lab.
June 2016
New lab member! Our latest lab member joins! Elinor Lee, M.D. who is in the STAR program at UCLA. Elinor will do her PhD in the lab focusing on lung lipid metabolism!
February 2016
Grant! Tom receives his first NIH R01 from the NHLBI.
August 2015
Science Travels! Tom presents his latest work, with fellow ATVB Council members at the Brazilian Atherosclerosis Society meeting in Campos do Jordao, SP, Brazil.
February 2015
Publication! The lab publishes our latest work in Cell Metabolism!
January 2014
The family grows! Tom and Liz welcome baby Olivia to the world.
January 2013
The lab is open for business! Tom and Liz become Assistant Professors in the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology at UCLA!