Ariel Kuan Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Research

My name is Ariel Kuan, an Assistant Professor of Research in the Chen Lab. I completed my Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of California, Riverside, where I studied how a virulence protein from the plant pathogen Phytophthora hijacks a host defense pathway through molecular mimicry. My postdoctoral training then took me across systems and questions: first at UC Riverside, where I developed CRISPR-based genome editing tools to study olfactory neurons in non-model insects, and then at New York University, where I investigated how cell cycle timing shapes stem cell identity and fate decisions during heart development in a basal chordate model.

Across these projects, I've been consistently drawn to using molecular, genomic, and imaging tools to understand how cells make decisions, whatever organism they happen to live in. In the Chen Lab, I'm bringing this interdisciplinary background in genome engineering and developmental biology to study the molecular mechanisms that guide neuronal development in Drosophila.

(Joined in May 2026)