Applicants, SPA

  • Victoria Yell

    I am in my fifth year of PhD research under the advisory of Dr. Sirius Li at North Carolina State University in the Department of Plant Biology. The focus of my research is understanding the genetic mechanisms that lead to detrimental growth effects in lignin bioengineered plants. While my main project is largely focused on basic science, I am very interested in the industrial applications, regulation, and deployment of bioengineered energy and bioproduct producing crops.

  • Christien Dykstra

    Ph.D. candidate working on receptor design for metabolic engineering. Instructor at the Canadian Synthetic Biology Education and Research Group (CSBERG) where we teach engineering biology principles to highschoolers and undergraduate students. My project focuses on opioid production and detection in yeast.

  • Vivian Hu

    I am a third year BME PhD candidate at Northwestern University at Neha Kamat’s Lab.

  • Taylor Gunnels

    I am a fourth year Ph.D. student interested in making smarter medicines. My passion for research began as an undergraduate at Boston University in Dr. Xue Han’s neuroengineering lab, and shortly thereafter I learned my affinity for translational spaces while I worked in industry supporting preclinical pharmaceutic science research. After spending several years as a leader and officer in the United States Air Force, it has been my privilege to return to the lab as a graduate student working under my advisors, Dr. Josh Leonard and Dr. Neha Kamat. I’m currently passionate about therapeutic applications of mammalian synthetic biology and extracellular vesicles.

  • Hossein Moghimianavval

    I am a PhD student with an engineering background, and I am fascinated by biology and how we can engineer it with synthetic biology tools. I am specifically interested in intercellular communication and how novel mechanisms can emerge using protein engineering techniques.

  • Elena Del Pup

    MSc in Plant Sciences at Wageningen University. Visiting student at the Rhee Lab at Carnegie Institution for Science on Stanford University.

  • Lucas Fluegel

    Born and raised 30 minutes south of Minneapolis, I migrated into the city to attend the University of Minnesota and study synthetic organic chemistry with Prof. Tom Hoye. It was there that I recognized the power of biological systems to perform difficult chemical reactions in remarkably sustainable and efficient ways. Inspired, I moved to Scripps Research in Florida to start my current projects investigating the biosynthetic enzymes that perform these transformations with Prof. Ben Shen. I am also privileged to be involved with multiple science outreach and communication initiatives.

  • Tommy Primo

    Graduated from the University of Utah with triple majors in Chemistry, Physics and Applied mathematics, and currently a First Year Ph.D Student at the University of Washington pursuing Synthetic biology and as well as Tissue engineering

  • Tirupathi Malavath

    I’m a PhD student working plant pigment protein complexes

  • Matthew Williams

    I am a Masters of Biotechnology student at Northwestern University with a bachelors degree in biology from University of Chicago. Before attending Northwestern I worked as a bioformulation scientist at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics and a clincal lab associate at Tempus. I worked in a gut microbiome lab studying hsp25 expression during my undergraduate years.

  • Muhammad Sajjad

    I have done my Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with specialization in Microbial Biochemistry.
    My research interest includes protein/enzyme engineering through combinatorial approach or directed evolution for industrial applications

  • Matthew Lima

    Driven by the power of engineering biological systems to tackle societal problems with a focus on health focused applications. Master’s student at Washington University in St. Louis that sees synthetic biology as the way of the future. Always looking for ways to expand the reach of science and bring new and creative perspectives into the fold.

  • Nicole Siguenza

    I am a PhD student in Biomedical Sciences at UCSD. I genetically engineer native bacteria to knock-in functions to the gut microbiome. My research focuses on understanding the implication of microbiome functions on human health and the development of native bacteria as live bacterial therapeutics.

  • Anthony Stohr

    Anthony is a NDSEG Fellow in the Blenner & Chen Labs at the University of Delaware. His present work focuses on the design of dynamic and logic-based control of cellular metabolism in non-model yeast. Prior to graduate school, he graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2021, where he researched synergistic microbial communities for the conversion of industrial waste gases into useful biochemicals.

  • Cirstyn Michel

    I am a rising second year PhD student in the bioengineering department at the University of Washington, coadvised by Eric Klavins and Georg Seelig. My research is mainly focused on integrating automation with synthetic biology workflows to increase throughput and robustness. Before starting my graduate degree, I worked as a research associate for two years at biotechnology startups in the San Francisco Bay area focusing on developing high throughput methods for strain engineering and screening.

  • Hossein Moghimianavval

    I’m a Phd student in mechanical engineering working on creating synthetic cells using cell-free expression (CFE) systems and engineering E. coli. I work on encapsulated CFE systems to reconstitute membrane proteins and probing channel function for synthetic cell activity and communication.

  • Jinyoung Kim

    Jinyoung is currently a PhD candidate in the Ingolia lab at UC Berkeley, where she uses high-throughput measurements of barcoded RNA reporters to study and engineer gene regulation. She is broadly interested in biotech, particularly in gene and cell therapy, microbial therapeutics, and genomics. In her free time, Jinyoung enjoys trying new restaurants, playing board games, and hiking.

  • Alison Hung

    Allison is a PhD candidate in the Arkin Lab at UC Berkeley, where she uses barcoded gain-of-function libraries to study gut microbial adaptation. She is broadly interested in the biotech startup space, and in applying synthetic biology towards innovative solutions. In her free time, Allison enjoys clever wordplay and excellent cuisine.

  • Charlie Johnson

    Charlie is graduate student in the Ellington Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Charlie’s research focuses on engineering transcription factors to act as biological sensors for the rapid validation of engineered enzymes and as diagnostic tools. Before graduate school, they received their B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University with a focus in cellular engineering. Outside of the lab, Charlie likes to play Dungeons & Dragons with their fellow Ph.D. students.

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