Jon K. Akutagawa
PhD Student
Department of Biomolecular Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz
jon[dot]akutagawa[at]ucsc[dot]edu
Southern California is my home, but somehow I ended up getting stuck in the northern part of the state.
I studied bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
I worked at an immunotherapy startup immediately after graduation, focusing on improving downstream process development protocols.
UCSF was the next stop; there I studied the signaling networks of pediatric leukemias before returning to academia.
Not-so-academic interests
I spend way too much time thinking about athletics.
I support the Los Angeles Lakers, California Golden Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Galaxy, and Arsenal Football Club.
Haven't gone outside much since I started graduate school,
but I do enjoy rock climbing. Shoutout to my old gym.
Fig. 1 - Cleaning up at Fortress Wall, Red River Gorge, Kentucky.
Board games are fun, particularly long strategic ones. I haven't had much time to play recently, but my current choice is
Caverna. It's a farming simulation game starring cave dwarves.
I am also looking for a copy of Acquire, a much better hotel tycoon game than Monopoly (which is still quite entertaining).
Emilia's makes the best pizza in the Bay Area.
Golden Boy is pretty great too. Bantam and Mentone are my two favorite Santa Cruz
spots (albeit a bit pricey).
