Ivan Chavez

Ivan is a first year PhD student in the Bioengineering Department. They graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Bioengineering. After completing their degree, they worked under Dr. JinSeok Park at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where they investigated how cancer cells interactions with the extracellular matrix influence cancer promoting phenotypes in rhabdomyosarcoma via oncogenic alteration. Currently, they are focusing on studying cell competition in osteosarcoma and how extracellular vesicle therapeutics can influence the direction of competition. When not in the lab, Ivan enjoys spending their free time playing video games with a particular interest in rhythm games (SDVX, Taiko, Project Diva, Guitar Hero, DDR, etc…).