Carina Tanaka
Graduate Student
Carina is a third-year PhD candidate in the UC Berkeley–UCSF Joint Program in Metabolic Biology. In Dr. Gregory Ku’s lab, she is conducting a CRISPR-based screen to identify genes involved in pancreatic beta cell proliferation. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of San Diego and conducted majority of her undergraduate research in Dr. Jerrold Olefsky’s lab at UC San Diego. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Carina has lived with type 1 diabetes for nearly 22 years, and her research interests are strongly motivated by her personal experiences with the disease. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, playing tennis, and traveling.