Diana received her Bachelor of Science from Haverford College and subsequently worked with Dr. Jason Cyster at the University of California, San Francisco. She completed her doctoral training in the Yale Immunobiology Department with Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov under an NSF Graduate Fellowship where she studied epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms regulating immune response genes. She went on to focus on the SWI/SNF complex in her postdoctoral studies at Stanford University under Dr. Gerald Crabtree. During that time, she was the recipient of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Ann Schreiber Research Training Program of Excellence Award, and the K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. She joined the Salk Institute as an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory in 2015, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021, and Professor in 2025. She holds the Kieckhefer Foundation Chair. She is the recipient of the American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, the Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research Award, as well as the V Foundation Scholar and All-Star Awards.

Nasiha received her BA majoring in biology and anthropology from St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She completed her PhD from the University of Arizona in the lab of Dr. Jacob Schwartz, where she studied the role of intrinsically disordered proteins in the pediatric cancer Ewing sarcoma. She joined the Hargreaves lab in September 2020 and her work focuses on the ncBAF complex in macrophage activation. Outside of the lab, Nasiha enjoys creative writing and exploring the San Diego food scene.

Helen received her B.Sc (Hons) majoring in genetics from the University of Melbourne in Australia. She completed her PhD through the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne Australia in the laboratory of Anne Voss and Tim Thomas where she studied the in vivo role of PHF6 in haematopoietic development and leukaemia. Helen joined the Hargreaves lab in September 2019 and is investigating the role of BAF complex subunits in the tumour microenvironment. Outside of the lab, some of Helen’s favourite activities include running, karaoke and swimming in the ocean.

Steven grew up in Hunan, China, and moved to the United States in 2016 to pursue higher education. He graduated cum laude from UCSD with dual BS degrees in Bioengineering and Mathematics. As an undergraduate, he conducted research in the labs of Drs. Yingxiao (Peter) Wang and Stephanie Fraley, working on biosensor development and computational image analysis. After graduation, he joined Dr. Crystal Zhao’s laboratory at Sanford Burnham Prebys, where he studied the regulation and function of RNA m6A modifications.

Steven returned to UCSD in 2021 to pursue his PhD in Biological Sciences and joined the Hargreaves lab at the Salk Institute in 2022. His doctoral research investigates how disruption of SWI/SNF (BAF) chromatin-remodeling complexes alters tumor–immune interactions, interferon signaling, and responses to cancer immunotherapy. His work has also explored therapeutic vulnerabilities arising from the interplay between chromatin remodeling and oncogenic signaling in pancreatic cancer. In 2026, he joined Genentech Research Oncology as a PhD intern, where he studied treatment-induced cell-state plasticity and therapeutic vulnerabilities in colorectal cancer.

Outside the lab, Steven enjoys cooking—especially Hunan cuisine and Italian/Japanese fusion—travel and aviation, musical theatre, and discovering good food and wine.

During her undergraduate education, Hannah worked in Dr. Brian Livingston’s lab at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), where she studied sea urchin embryos as model organisms for biomineralization. She became interested in studying epigenetic regulation through UC Berkeley’s summer research program. There, she worked in Dr. Lin He’s lab studying the role of EZH2, the catalytic subunit of PRC2, in metastatic lung adenocarcinoma. Hannah graduated from California State University Long Beach with departmental honors and a Bachelor’s of Science in General Biology in 2020. Currently, Hannah is a 2nd year PhD student in UC San Diego’s Biological Sciences program and works at the Hargreaves lab at the Salk Institute, where she is studying the involvement of PBRM1 in alveolar macrophage development and function. In her free time, Hannah enjoys going to the gym, painting, and spending time with her dog.

Sam completed his B.S. in Biology at Boston College, where he studied cyclase signaling in Charles Hoffman’s lab. After graduation, Sam joined Mike Greenberg’s lab at Harvard Medical School as a research assistant, there he studied microglia-neuron interactions in experience-dependent synaptic refinement during development. Sam received an M.S. in Biotechnology from Northeastern University, where he became excited about immune-targeted cancer therapies. Driven by this interest he performed research in discovery groups at Takeda Oncology, on an iPSC-derived CAR-T program, and Oncorus, developing an oncolytic virus platform. Sam joined the Biological Sciences program at UCSD in 2021, and the Hargreaves Lab in 2022. Sam is interested in characterizing the effect of BAF complex mutations in tumors on infiltrating immune cell behavior, particularly in the context of immune-targeted therapies. Outside of the lab Sam likes to play soccer, ride his bike and go to the beach.