Daphne is from Sherman Oaks, CA and spent the last nine years in Davis, CA. There, she completed her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at University of California, Davis. After graduating in 2020, she began her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering also at UC Davis. During her graduate career, she worked under the guidance of Dr. Nipavan Chiamvimonvat to study the role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease. Daphne's dissertation work revolved around generating engineered heart tissue from decellularized human atrial tissue and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) to model afterload-induced atrial fibrillation. Shortly after completing her Ph.D. in 2025, Daphne joined the Herman Antibodyomics Lab as a project scientist/lab manager. With previous experience with systemic inflammation in the context of cardiovascular disease, Daphne chose to dive deeper into immunology research after graduate school. She is excited to bring her bioengineering background to vaccine immunology research to develop novel disease models and assays to identify new therapeutic targets with the HALab. Outside of the lab, Daphne loves to hike, rock climb, and bike!

Contact: ddiloretto@mednet.ucla.edu