Applicants, SPA

  • Maya Kaul

  • César Aarón Villalobos

    I am a biotechnologist interested in bioengineering, especially the application of mathematical modelling to biomolecular systems and bacterial population dynamics. I work on plasmids, antibiotics, and genetic engineering.

  • Massimo Bellato

    I got my Master’s in Bioengineering at the University of Pavia – Italy, in the BMS lab headed by Prof. Paolo Magni, with a thesis on modeling metabolic burden in Synthetic biology. I then started a PhD in Bioengineering and Bioinformatics in the same laboratory, focusing on CRISPR interference genetic circuits and metabolic burden. I also spent a visiting period at the Del Vecchio laboratory – MIT.
    In the last years, I moved to the University of Padova where I’m starting in collaboration with other Professors a research line in medical synthetic biology, focusing on quorum quenching and phage engineering against AMR. I’ve also been PI for the Italian iGEM team 2023

  • Feilun Wu

    I received my BS in Biomedical Engineering from University of Virginia where I conducted research in systems biology, tissue engineering, and neuroscience. I joined Lingchong You’s Lab at Duke University for my PhD where I studied microbial community ecology using synthetic biology approaches, machine learning, and microfluidics. I am currently a research scientist working with John Glass at JCVI on expanding the toolkit for whole genome transplantation, which is a foundational technology that enabled the construction of the minimal cells.

  • Hajar Estiri

    I hold a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine and currently serve as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Synthetic Biology Group at JCVI. My career is defined by a deep commitment to leveraging synthetic biology to combat diseases and create a sustainable, secure environment for future generations and all life on Earth. This dedication drives me to seek innovative solutions for a healthier, safer world.

  • Aishwarya itra

    Sparky is a Master’s student at Columbia University. Her research at the J. Craig Venter Institute has focused on climate-related applications of synthetic biology and genetically engineering JCVI’s minimal cell. She fills her time outside of the lab as a writer and activist finding unexpected allies in unexpected spaces to develop unexpected solutions to problems, such as housing and gun violence, facing the community at-large.

  • Nathan Lanclos

    Hi, my name is Nathan! I am a PhD student in the joint UC Berkeley and UCSF bioengineering program. I study metabolic engineering and protein engineering for the production of various chemicals and products. I have a background in economics, and I’d like to pursue commercializing industrial bioprocesses in the future.

  • Laura Guerrero

    I am interested in using cell free systems to better understand peptide-level disease associations.

  • Nidhi Mehta

    Nidhi is a graduate student in the Chemistry department at the University of Washington under the supervision of Jesse Zalatan. She is working on engineering synthetic bacterial communication for applications in biosynthesis and therapeutics. She graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington. Outside of research, Nidhi will serve as the Mentee Recruiting chair for EBRC.

  • Samantha Dyer

  • Bojing Jiang

    I am currently a third-year PhD student in the field of Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to this, I completed my MPhil degree in Bioengineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. My primary research focus lies in the realm of materials synthetic biology.

  • Brian Darst

    Brian is a PhD student in the Carothers lab at the University of Washington, where he develops dynamic CRISPRa/i-based programs for metabolic engineering of non-model bacteria. He received degrees in Biochemistry and Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University. Prior to graduate school, he worked at a food technology startup leveraging synthetic biology to create dairy proteins via industrial fermentation. Brian is passionate about leveraging biology to help tackle environmental and ecological issues worldwide.

  • Zachary Harmer

    I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Utah in 2019. I joined the Cellular and Molecular Biology PhD program at UW-Madison in 2019 and joined the McClean Lab. I am interested in expanding the optogenetic toolkit by developing novel optogenetic actuators and combining optogenetics with laboratory automation techniques. I am developing methods for multiplexing optogenetic signals by taking advantage of the native differences in their kinetics and applying this to control microbial community structures.

  • Vincent Zaballa

    I work in systems biology and machine learning, with a focus on high throughput screening. If I’m not thinking about entropy reduction, I’m thinking about how proteins may fit together. Happy to talk probabilistic machine learning if anyone is interested!

  • Adjo Kadjo

    Elodie Kadjo is a Ph.D. candidate conducting research in Dr. Alessandra S. Eustaquio’s laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before that she obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is interested in microbial engineering and bioinformatic.

  • Nguyen Tran

    Nguyen Tran is a postdoc at Prof. Baetica’s lab at Drexel university. He studies systems and synthetic biology. He completed his PhD in biophysics from Swinburne University of Technology.

  • Biprodev Sarker

    I am a Ph.D. student at the Andrews Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst working on developing interspecies genetic circuits using E. coli and B. subtilis. I also am trying to develop modular genetic parts for B. subtilis that can be used in different genetic circuits. I am in general interested in Synthetic Biology, in particular developing and modeling genetic regulatory networks.

  • Sayandeep Gupta

    I am a skilled protein biologist who is highly equipped to investigate structure-function relationship of macromolecular assemblies by various biochemical and biophysical means. Currently I am working on engineering a platform for generating antibodies against all potential antigen targets in a library-on-library construction. Besides being passionate about harvesting synthetic biology for better sustainability and cheaper healthcare, I am an avid bookworm when it comes to historical and scientific non-fictions. Although, my hobbies are getting serious competition from my newfound interest in hiking after coming to Oregon.

  • Malyn Selinidis

    I am Malyn Selinidis, a 2nd year student in the Chappell and Silberg labs at Rice university. I did my undergraduate degrees in computational chemistry and honors biochemistry through the Dean’s Scholars program at the University of Texas at Austin. In undergrad, I researched chemical crosslinkers synthesis and analysis using mass spectrometry under Dr. Edward Marcotte and served as an undergraduate TA in several biology-related research courses for freshmen. I am particularly interested in working on environmentally relevant research and as such I am spending my thesis studying how environmental conditions impact the ability of bacteria to share genetic information in soils.

    • Back to top ⇑