Yuko Koike

Yuko is a Bioengineering PhD student in the UC Berkeley–UCSF graduate program. She earned her BS in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, where she developed dynamic models of Alzheimer’s disease using red blood cell systems and automated the phenotypic sorting of cancer cells in 3D cultures. Following graduation, she transitioned to industry, focusing on laboratory automation and building predictive models for the mass spectrometry retention times of small molecules.

Her current research interests are: developing organoid-based disease models using patient-derived tissues, studying dynamic gene regulation in brain cancer, and building predictive frameworks for drug response and cancer recurrence.

Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking with her dogs, cooking, and tending to her edible garden.