PhD Program

Anna is passionate about advancing clean energy technologies and is particularly interested in how data science and machine learning can accelerate discoveries in this field. She hopes to apply computational and experimental approaches to address challenges in energy storage and conversion, thereby developing more efficient and sustainable solutions. She aims to build a strong foundation in molecular engineering while contributing to impactful research that bridges advanced data-driven methods with clean energy innovation. She has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering (Data Science Option), from the University of Washington.

Karl’s interests span synthetic biology, metabolic engineering and their applications in bioproduction. During his undergraduate years, he delved into enzyme engineering research. Following graduation, he contributed to the development of T-cell therapies for cancer treatment at Bristol Myers Squibb. He holds a B.S. in biology and chemistry from the University of Washington.

Madelyn is interested in utilizing biomaterials and synthetic biology for drug delivery and therapeutic applications. As an undergraduate at the University of Kansas, she researched the impact of vape additives on the viscoelastic properties of model lung surfactants in Dr. Dhar’s lab. She has her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and is a College of Engineering Dean’s Fellow.

Gaby is interested in protein engineering applied toward improving cancer therapeutics, including cellular therapies and antibody-drug conjugates. Through her work, she aims to expand her expertise in immunology and explore ways to harness the immune system’s power to treat cancer. In line with her passion for immunology and protein engineering, she is also interested in vaccine design. Gaby has a College of Engineering Deans Fellowship and a Hispanic Scholar Fund Scholarship. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Reagan is a graduate student in Jessica Ray’s Aquatic Innovation in Materials Science lab. Her research focuses on synthesizing and characterizing a novel nanomaterial for degradation of persistent drinking water contaminants. Reagan is a recipient of the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute Director’s Fellowship for 2022. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from University of California San Diego.

Riti is a bioengineering graduate from the University of Washington, is focused on utilizing computational protein engineering to accelerate bottlenecks in therapeutic biologics research. During her time as an undergraduate, she developed small tool proteins using Rosetta. She later contributed to protein engineering at Amgen by analyzing antibody protein structures and interfaces using computational tools like Rosetta, aiding research choices.

He/Him/His

Justin is interested in protein design and synthetic genomics to design and manipulate cells, particularly for applications in synthetic biology, biocomputing and astrobiology. As an undergraduate, he conducted astrobiology research in human space health and plant computational genomics — as well as projects in cell biology, analyzing the cell cycles of cnidaria and biotech stem cell separation methods. He earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Florida.

Samantha is working with Georg Seelig and Jeff Nivala as part of the Molecular Information Systems Lab. With Georg, she is working on scaling up DNA strand displacement circuit architectures for more complex computations. With Jeff, she is developing a CRISPR-based system for in vivo neural network computation. Both projects have potential applications in diagnostics and environmental monitoring as well as synthetic biology. She holds a B.A. in Molecular Biology from Pomona College, where she previously worked on chemical synthesis and synthetic biology.

Rafi is interested in developing deep-learning methods to facilitate protein design, including novel enzymes, targeted binders, exciting nanostructures, and more. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on machine learning models for binding affinity estimation and small-molecule library generation. He has a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University.

She/Her/Hers

Katelyn is interested in developing and applying tools for both translational impact and understanding biological systems. She worked as a researcher in the Bhardwaj lab at the Institute for Protein Design developing and improving computational methods for cyclic peptide design. Katelyn earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Music from the University of Washington.

Jacob aims to employ computational and experimental methods to construct comprehensive models of cell and molecular networks. Their goal is to utilize these insights to manipulate the behaviors of biological networks. During their undergraduate studies, they secured an NIH IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence grant, supporting their investigation into a group A streptococcus (GAS) virulence factor protein. Following graduation, they furthered their GAS research, playing a pivotal role in developing a novel intranasal infection mouse model. A recipient of the UW College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship, Cavon holds a B.S. in cell biology and neuroscience from Montana State University, Bozeman.

He/Him/His

Pruthviraj’s research interests lie at the intersection of de novo protein design, mRNA therapeutics and cancer immunotherapy. He is particularly interested in using de novo protein design to engineer immunogens and functional proteins that can elicit robust and precisely directed immune responses against pathogens and cancer — along with engineering self-assembling protein nanostructures as programmable platforms for the targeted delivery of therapeutic molecules, and developing personalized medicines and exploring the emerging field of de novo genome design. Previously, Pruthviraj worked with Chandipura virus and Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus, both of which are highly fatal viruses endemic to India. He contributed to the development of a replication-incompetent, single-cycle vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-based pseudotyped vaccine expressing the Chandipura virus glycoprotein. He also contributed towards the establishment of a reverse genetics system for Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus. Pruthviraj earned a B.Sc. in Agriculture from Mahatma Phule Agricultural University and a M.Sc. Biotechnology from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal.

He/Him/His

Alejandro is interested in integrating computational modeling and protein design to increase our understanding of immune systems and develop novel immunotherapies. As an undergraduate, he studied the evolution of the outer membrane in diderm bacteria at the Institut Pasteur in France. As a postbac at University of California, San Francisco, he developed next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for solid tumors in the Roybal Lab. Alejandro earned a B.S. in Biotechnology Engineering from the Costa Rica Institute of Technology.

Louis is interested in polymer science, smart biomaterials and tissue engineering. As a member of the Ratner Lab, Louis’ research focuses on developing engineered polymeric biomaterials for multiple applications. One of his projects involves synthesizing materials to prevent biofilm formation through surface modifications. He is also developing a biomaterial scaffold for better kidney organoid integration. He holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Washington.

He/Him/His

Liangyu is interested in developing programmable biomaterials and high-throughput single-cell technologies to study cellular heterogeneity in complex biological systems. He is particularly interested in engineering dynamic hydrogels and protein-based biomaterials, as well as using single-cell approaches to investigate rare bacterial subpopulations and their roles in biofilm behavior. As an undergraduate, Liangyu studied emerging technologies for diabetes treatment, including glucose biosensors, continuous glucose monitoring, and insulin delivery systems. He also gained research experience in microbiology and mammalian cell culture. During his graduate studies, he investigated how septal inhibitory circuits regulate alcohol reward and the effects of liraglutide. Liangyu earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from University of California, Davis, and an M.S.E. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Juyoung is interested in understanding and designing biological mechanisms through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates deep learning with life sciences. He is particularly excited about creating new enzymes or developing tools to model and engineer biological networks and signaling pathways. He has a Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS) fellowship. He holds a B.S. in Life Sciences, a B.S. in Mathematics, and a B.S. in Chemical and Physical Biology, which integrates physics and chemistry. Additionally, he completed the MIT MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science.

Maggie is a graduate student in James Carothers’ lab. She is working on the cell-free bioconversion of carbon dioxide to high-value chemical commodities. This research will help enable the bioproduction of metabolically burdensome compounds and establish a new paradigm for the use of sequestered carbon as a biofeedstock. Maggie is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. She received a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University.

As a student in the Carothers lab, Brian is developing tools and uncovering design rules for metabolic engineering in non-model bacteria. Brian is interested in leveraging this research to help address ecological issues ranging from chemical production to water pollution. Brian holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University.

He/Him/His

August is interested in applying protein design to the development of low-cost, environmentally-sustainable catalysts and therapeutics. His first exposure to research was through a project in enzymology, where he studied the reaction mechanism of a thiyl radical enzyme under Prof. Brandon Greene at University of California, Santa Barbara. Later, he transitioned to a project in protein engineering where I initiated the design of a virus-like particle vaccine scaffold under Prof. Carolyn Mills. August earned a B.S. in chemistry from University of California, Santa Barbara. He is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

As a graduate student in the labs of Dr. Kelly Stevens and Dr. Cole DeForest, Olivia is developing a new 3D printed biomaterials that can serve as mechanically tunable and functional liver tissue to trigger regeneration in an injured or diseased liver. This research will offer a novel therapy to treat liver disease and advance the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She holds a B.S in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Alyssa is a graduate student co-advised in Dr. Sean Gibbon’s microbial ecology lab at the Institute for Systems Biology and Dr. Abbie Schindler’s trauma and stress lab at VA Puget Sound. She is using data science to study the molecular gut-brain axis and how this system is impacted by trauma, stress, and aging. She is an NIH T32 Fellow in the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Training Program. Alyssa holds a B.S. in Biological Engineering with a concentration in Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering from Purdue University.

She/Her/Hers

Azka’s primary research interests are in the molecular engineering of functional materials for clean energy technologies. She is interested in understanding how nanoscale structure, interfaces, and defects influence material performance and using these insights to design next-generation materials for sustainable energy applications. During her undergraduate and master’s studies she conducted research on nanomaterials for sustainable energy applications. Her undergraduate research focused on the development and fabrication of Laser-Induced Graphene (LIG)-based nanocomposites for energy-related applications. Her master’s research focused on the design and electrochemical evaluation of sulfur-engineered TiO2 nanomaterials for water splitting, exploring the influence of sulfur incorporation on the electrocatalytic performance of TiO2 toward hydrogen evolution. In addition, she contributed to collaborative research on photocatalytic materials, solar paints and nanocomposites for sustainable energy applications. Azka earned an M.Sc. in Materials Science & Engineering, and a B.Sc. in Materials Science & Engineering from the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Mirina is interested in developing better-performing and more sustainable materials for energy storage and conversion. Whether by developing methods of recycling materials, improving longevity of materials, or using less toxic materials to begin with, I intend to understand and develop solutions through the development of the nano materials that make up energy storage and conversion devices. She has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Stephen is interested in using single-cell transcriptomics to characterize synthetic biology systems. During his undergraduate years, he contributed to characterizing initiation factors in the non-canonical translation initiation process (RAN) linked to repeat-expansion disorders. Following graduation, he engaged in gene editing at 2seventy bio. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.

She/Her/Hers

JiaJia is a graduate student in Baker Lab and passionate about applying computational enzyme design and synthetic biology to tackling sustainability problems. Her undergraduate work spanned HIV glycan shield molecular dynamics, de novo metamorphic protein design and microbial engineering for plastics biorecycling. JiaJia earned a B.S. in Bioengineering from Northeastern University. She is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and received a University of Washington College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship.

Patrick is a graduate student in Dr. Patrick Stayton’s lab. He is developing polymeric drug delivery platforms, with a particular interest in delivery systems that target specific tissues or cell types. This research will improve the stability and delivery efficiency of drug cargo, as well as reduce off-target effects. In his previous work, Patrick investigated the impact of intermolecular interactions between drugs and polymers on their loading, as well as drug release from polymer scaffolds. Patrick received his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Mia is interested in designing synthetic biological circuits and in their many applications. As an undergrad she did research on transcription/translation circuits in E. Coli to better understand both positive and negative feedback control within a bacterial system. She has a BA and BE in Biomedical Engineering from Dartmouth College

Marc is interested in using genetic engineering and computational biology approaches to increase our understanding of biological systems and precisely engineer new biological functions. His previous research experience includes both molecular biology work to accelerate the development of rapid antigen tests for emerging viruses (Gehrke lab, MIT) and dry lab experience in using machine learning to predict the outcomes of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing (GÃell lab, UPF). He also started a team to develop a gluten sensor for people with celiac disease, which was presented in the 2018 iGEM competition. He holds a B.S. in Biotechnology from University of Girona, a M.Sc. in Bioengineering from IQS School of Engineering, and a M.Sc. in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics from Open University of Catalonia.

As a graduate student in Anna Kuchina’s lab at the Institute for Systems Biology, Anika is utilizing microbial split-pool ligation transcriptomics to study host-pathogen interactions. Transcriptomic analyses of single bacterial cells allow for high-resolution profiling of gene expression within systems where bacteria may act and exist as both a host for bacteriophages and pathogens against eukaryotic cells. Anika received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and enjoys hiking, road biking, and dancing in her free time.

Arielle’s passion lies in engineering therapeutics, particularly targeting chronic diseases. During her undergraduate years, she dedicated her research to the field of cardiac tissue engineering. Following graduation, she delved into the realm of neuropharmacology research. Recognizing her potential, she was honored with an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Her academic journey culminated in a B.S. in bioengineering from UC San Diego.

Lay is interested in researching the immune system to learn how to effectively harness it for the development of new medicines and treatments. As an undergraduate, she studied human neutrophil phagocytic spreading on pathogenic surfaces, which introduced me to the field of immunology. Then she worked as a research specialist at Emory University, where she studied how motor neurons in songbirds communicate with each other and assembled electrode arrays. Afterwards, she worked as a medical device engineer where she helped develop implantable devices to treat central nervous system disorders. She has a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.

As a graduate student in the Lutz lab, Josef is developing next-generation diagnostic tests for upper respiratory infections and HIV. Josef’s research focuses on using advanced molecular diagnostics on paper microfluidics to produce rapid, inexpensive, and highly multiplexed point-of-care diagnostics. His research will help to make diagnostic testing more accessible and comprehensive. He holds a B.S. in Bioengineering and Nano-Molecular Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington, and certificates in nanotechnology and data science.

Melissa is interested in synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and HTP technology development. As an undergrad, she worked with halophiles. After graduating, I worked to improve HTP covid-19 sequencing, as well as protein engineering in yeast. She has a BS in Biochemistry from UC San Diego.

Jihun explores sequence-structure-activity relationships in proteins and applies computational methods to biocatalyst design and protein-based drug development. Formerly, he employed bioinformatics and deep learning for multi-omics and drug target discovery. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in life science from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea.

Paul is a graduate student at the Baker Lab, working on development of novel deep learning methods for protein design. Specifically, he is working on methods for generation of novel DNA binding proteins. Previously Paul worked at Bayer (Berlin) and the Simons Machine Learning Center (New York) in machine learning research and development roles. Paul received a B.A. in Statistics from UC Berkeley.

Jordan is interested in researching novel drug-delivery methods and vaccine components, mainly targeting infectious diseases. She aims to develop more accessible, effective, and safe vaccine technologies. She has conducted immune engineering research that has contributed to developing a more effective, universal flu vaccine by investigating the structure and binding of influenza antibodies and has a B.A. degree in Engineering Sciences and a B.Eng. degree in Biochemical Engineering Dartmouth College.

Andrew’s focus is on utilizing deep learning and generative models to create novel proteins, including enzymes for plastic degradation, molecular sensors and mechanical proteins. During his undergraduate studies, he explored the use of ultrasound images for polymerization monitoring and developed software to control lab photoreactors. He also conducted image analysis on the collected data. He holds a B.S. in chemistry and computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

She/Her/Hers

Paridhi’s masters thesis focused on DNA LLMs for human genome discovery. Her research explored evolutionary diversity of protein through computational mining at the Feng Zhang Lab at the Broad Institute. She worked on AI/ML for molecular design at Langer/Traverso Lab at the Koch Institute. Paridhi previously interned at Eli Lilly, MD Anderson and Danish biotech startup. Pari earned an M.Eng. in Computer Science and Molecular Biology, and a B.S. in Computer Science and Molecular Biology with a Minor in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

Bonni is a PhD student in the Asbury laboratory in the Physiology and Biophysics department. She studies microtubules (MTs), which are long, hollow cylinders of repeating protein subunits that switch stochastically between phases of lengthening and shortening. In most eukaryotic cells, bundles of several MTs drive cell division by synchronously lengthening and shortening to align and segregate chromosomes. Uncovering how MTs remain synchronized to correctly separate the cells’ genome is critical to understanding how cell division goes awry, as in many cancers. Bonni’s thesis work will use optical trapping and Monte Carlo simulations to examine the role of mechanical coupling in MT coordination.  In addition to providing pathological insights, understanding MT mechanics will instruct the design of sophisticated synthetic nanomachines, which thus far cannot recapitulate naturally occurring protein nanomachinery. Bonni earned her B.S. in Bioengineering at the University of Washington in 2019.

Annie is interested in combining my interests in biomedical engineering and social justice to improve health care for all. Specifically, she is interested in designing equitable diagnostics, preventive measures, and treatments for infectious diseases. As an undergraduate, Annie explored different ways to meet societal needs through research, from genome and epigenome-wide association studies to analyze asthma health disparities, to developing translational theranostics involving dynamic immune modulating materials. She received her B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

As a graduate student in Professor Ashleigh Theberge’s group, Ariel is working on developing and applying 3D cell culture platforms by utilizing open microfluidic principles to manipulate cell-embedded hydrogels. These platforms enable tissue models with multiple cell types, tunable stiffness, and a defined extracellular matrix, allowing for a more biologically relevant in vitro tissue culture method than the conventional 2D cell monolayer method. Ariel received her B.S. in Biochemistry from California State University, San Bernardino, and enjoys lifting and going to concerts in her free time.

Peik is a graduate student in David Baker’s lab, where he is designing novel proteins for light-driven catalysis and electron transport in artificial photosynthetic systems. This research could enable them to harness light energy to produce fuels, fix CO2, and synthesize other chemical products. He holds a B.S in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Idaho.

Rory is advised by Jeff Nivala, an assistant research professor in the Molecular Information Systems Laboratory in the Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. He is investigating digital microfluidics as a tool for automating bacterial and cell-free synthetic biology. The result of this research will be a versatile, high-throughput, and entirely open-source platform for automating and tuning synthetic biology experiments. He holds a B.S. in Biological Science from Cornell University, where he focused on microbiology research.

Daniel is interested in synthetic biology, specifically in molecular logic, designing small molecules to have predictable, repeatable, and orthogonal input-output relationships. For his Ph.D., he is focused on increasing system complexity, reducing leaky signals and crosstalk, designing dynamic materials with proteins and nucleic acids, and developing systems for applications in biosensing, environmental monitoring, drug delivery, and precise spatiotemporal control of gene expression.

Abdul Moeez is working in the Pozzo Research Group and focuses on the development of high-throughput workflows for molecular engineering of materials by leveraging Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS). The research will enable structural optimization for different classes of materials including lipid nanoparticles, quantum dots, photovoltaic materials to achieve desired properties. Abdul Moeez is one of the Clean Energy Institute Fellows for 2023-2024. He is a Fulbright and Global UGRAD alumnus. He holds a MS in Materials Science and Engineering (MS&E) from University of Washington and BS in MS&E from the Institute of Space Technology, Pakistan

Arnav is interested in applying machine learning to protein design. He has worked on classifying protein folds in AlphaFold predictions and developing graph neural network-based force fields. He has his B.S. in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley.

As a graduate student in Dr. Frank DiMaio’s lab, Davi is developing machine-learning methods for modeling proteins and their interactions with other molecules. This research will enable new ways of analyzing and designing biomolecules. He holds a B.Sc in Computer Science with a Minor in Biochemistry from Georgia Tech. He was awarded the UW’s College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship.

She/Her/Hers

Nicole’s research focuses on engineering light-responsive protein systems that direct de novo DNA synthesis within living cells, combining generative design with optogenetic control to develop programmable nanopore variants that overcome the scale, complexity and environmental limitations of current technologies. During her master’s (Rondelez lab, ESPCI-PSL), she combined in silico structural engineering of DNA polymerases with high-throughput sequencing and machine-learning optimization for improved DNA data storage solutions. Her earlier training includes developing CRISPR-based tools, telomere biology, onco-immunology, and organoid research, as well as engineering microalgae for PET bioconversion for the 2024 iGEM competition. Beyond the lab, she founded NivoCell, for in vivo nanopore DNA synthesis, and co-founded Raphelion, for generative mRNA design for next-generation cancer vaccines. Nicole earned a B.S. in Life Sciences and an M.Sc. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Sorbonne University. She received a University of Washington College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship.

He/Him/His

Jared is interested in developing predictive models of biomolecular systems at multiple scales to understand how complex biological behaviors emerge. As an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas, he advanced a myocardial signaling network model by incorporating graph neural network components to predict patient-specific fibrotic responses to drug perturbations in William Richardson’s lab. Jared earned a B.S.Ch.E in Chemical Engineering and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arkansas. He is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

Anika is interested in working with proteins and using the newest developments in machine learning algorithms to accelerate discoveries in this field. She is interested in synthetic biology, protein engineering, and collaborating across disciplines to develop novel solutions that address pressing challenges in healthcare and sustainability. She conducted research as an undergran on enhancing protein crystal stability through rational design and introducing disulfide bridges. She has a BS in Chemical and Biological Engineering and a BS in Biomedical Engineering.

Jointly advised in the Carothers and Zalatan lab, Kira is developing tools for gene activation, inhibition, and base editing in bacteria. She is applying this work in metabolic engineering to rewire bacteria for bioproduction. She holds a B.S. in Bioinformatics from Wheaton College (MA) and previously worked as a computational biologist in cancer immunology at the Broad Institute.

Riya is interested in leveraging synthetic biology and metabolic engineering tools towards enabling more efficient bioproduction platforms for desirable compounds or therapeutic products. After graduating with a B.E. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Vanderbilt University, Riya spent three years working in Cell Culture Process Development at Gilead Sciences, where she developed and optimized mammalian cell culture biomanufacturing processes for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).

As a graduate student in the Baliga Lab at the Institute for Systems Biology, Evan is researching the emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens and looking to reveal the mechanisms that facilitate this phenomenon. Through a systems biology perspective, Evan hopes to understand how to exploit new transcriptional or metabolic vulnerabilities in clinical pathogens that have evolved to resist a specific type of antibiotic. Evan holds a B.S. in Biomolecular Engineering from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Crystal is a graduate student in Professor Sean Gibbon’s Lab at the Institute for Systems Biology. She is interested in studying the various ways in which microbially produced metabolites from the human gut microbiome influence health outcomes (i.e., contributing to disease pathology or altering response to medications). Prior to graduate school at UW, Crystal obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology from Stanford University. 

She/Her/Hers

Jimena’s research interests lie in immunoengineering and synthetic biology. During her undergraduate studies, she utilized molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate liposome mechanical properties and cellular uptake for drug delivery. She is also an alum of the Fred Hutchinson Summer Undergraduate Research Program, where she studied HER2+ breast cancer recurrence in the Dr. James Alvarez Lab. Jimena earned a B.S. in Bioengineering from Northeastern University. She received a University of Washington College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship.

Annika focuses on developing environmentally friendly polymers from renewable sources and creating custom-designed proteins for eco-friendly purposes like sustainable nanocomposite materials and bioplastics synthesis. During her undergraduate studies, she specialized in designing novel proteins that alter oligomeric states upon peptide binding. She also contributed to the structural analysis of these proteins using nsEM and cryoEM techniques. Philomin holds a B.S. in biochemistry from the UW

Tingli is interested in developing and applying computational tools for molecular design, with the goal of creating therapeutic molecules for the treatment of diseases. She is also passionate about understanding biomolecular mechanisms through computational methods. As an undergraduate, she conducted research at the intersection of computational biology and pharmaceutical chemistry, working on multiple projects that employed data science approaches and computational modeling. She has a B.S. in Bioinformatics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

Shawn is interested in de novo enzyme design for applications in sustainable chemical bioproduction. Specifically, he aims to develop methods for the efficient generation of novel protein catalysts that can accelerate the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy and reduce the environmental impact of industrial chemical processes. He has a B.S. in Chemical Biology from UC Berkeley.

Katerina is interested in applying synthetic and genetic engineering to immunology applications, such as T-cell therapies. She has worked on CAR-T cell engineering and high-throughput T-cell discovery and engineering. She has her B.S. in Bioengineering from Northeastern University.

Christina is a graduate student in David Bakerss lab at the Institute for Protein Design as well as a trainee in the University of Washington’s Medical Scientist Training Program. She aims to use computational methods to design new therapeutics that will more precisely modulate the immune system. Christina holds a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University.

Eshwa is excited to utilize computational approaches to accelerate the discovery of new treatments. She has worked on stem cell research, protein engineering, and therapeutic discovery. She has a B.S. in Bioengineering and Materials Science Engineering, UC Berkeley.

Enisha aims to use synthetic biology and protein engineering for a sustainable future. With a passion for collaborative molecular engineering, she looks forward to addressing sustainability challenges through innovative projects at UW. During her undergraduate years, she led structural biology research in her lab, pioneering cryo-EM sample preparation protocols and obtaining novel ribosome complex maps. Sehgal, a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, holds a B.S. in molecular, cell and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Zach is interested in studying nucleic-acid and protein sequencing, single-molecule enzymology, and single-molecule thermodynamics using nanopore tweezers. As an undergraduate, he worked with DNA origami to develop novel methods for studying biomolecular interactions. He has a B.S. in Physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Alex is a graduate student in David Baker’s lab as well as a trainee in the University of Washington’s medical scientist training program. He aims to utilize de novo protein design to elucidate the underpinnings of complex biological mechanisms. He holds a B.S. in Quantitative Biology and an M.S. in Quantitative and Computational Biology from the University of Southern California

Ria is focused on cell-free CO2 bioconversion, innovative drug delivery and molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases. Her experience includes yeast evolutionary genomics and creating an HIV drug resistance diagnosis algorithm. She holds a B.S. in biochemical engineering and biotechnology, along with an M.S. in biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi.

Jay is interested in using protein engineering and computational techniques to develop novel protein therapeutics. As an undergraduate researcher, he explored the development of nanobodies that bind tau with conformational specificity and lytic enzymes that act against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. He has BS in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Georgia Tech.

Mattias is a graduate student in the Molecular Information Systems Lab (MISL), in Jeff Nivala’s group. He is interested in developing new techniques for recording the inner workings of cells. He is currently working on leveraging synthetic biology tools to develop a molecular recording device that can measure the age of important enzymes and proteins within cells. Mattias is an avid skateboarder and runner and received a B.S. in Mathematics and Biotechnology, a Bachelor of Biomedical Science in Pharmacology & Medicinal Chemistry, and a B.S. with first class honors in Biotechnology from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington. He is on a Fulbright Science and Innovation Graduate Award.

Elena is interested in advancing the national energy landscape. Her work has spanned the development of materials for Li-ion batteries to data-driven approaches for improving battery maintenance in public transportation. She has also worked on novel heterogeneous catalysts for converting greenhouse gases into renewable fuels. She has her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of New Orleans and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from UW.

Quoc is developing high-throughput technologies in Georg Seelig's lab to construct and characterize biological networks. This work could one day enable scientists to implement complex, programmable control of gene expression in live cells for applications in disease therapeutics or metabolic engineering. Outside of the lab, Quoc invents foods and develops riddles. He holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from UC San Diego.

Jordan is interested in cellular signaling and the regeneration of tissue after injury, particularly in understanding how receptor responses may elicit the transcription of genes related to healing. As an undergraduate, Jordan worked as an REU student in Dr. Jennifer Robinson’s Lab, focusing on characterizing surface marker proteins that may have regenerative potential in the meniscus tissue.

Roni’s focus lies in drug delivery systems and immunoengineering. During her undergraduate studies, she concentrated on SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A Virus research. More recently, she contributed to the development of virus-like particles mimicking IAV for targeted genetic therapy delivery to challenging cells. Acknowledging her achievements, Weissman was awarded the MolE Director’s Fellowship. She holds a B.S. in bioengineering from UC Berkeley.

She/Her/Hers

Waverly is excited to be conducting environmental conservation research with a synthetic biology and chemistry focus. As an undergraduate, she was a member of Dr. Parisa Hosseinzadeh’s Lab pursuing research on the computational design of protein pathway inhibitors to understand a protein pathway during a disease state. Waverly earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Oregon.

Kingsley aims to utilize DNA for data storage and molecular computing, employing computational techniques to design specialized molecular structures and strategies for DNA synthesis and sequencing. Previously, he focused on silicon-based DNA synthesis for data storage applications. During his master’s studies, Wong developed conductivity measurement devices for engineered proteins using micro- and nano-fabrication tools. He holds a B.A. in nanotechnology engineering from the University of Waterloo and an M.S. in chemical engineering from McGill University.

He/Him/His

Ethan’s research interests lie in supramolecular chemistry and organic materials. He’s passionate about using molecular-level design to create functional materials with precisely controlled properties. Under Professor Sheng-Hsien Chiu’s guidance, his research focused on designing new supramolecular systems based on mechanically interlocked molecules and molecular self-assembly using dynamic covalent chemistry. Ethan earned an M.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan University and a B.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan Normal University.

She/Her/Hers

Brenda is interested in using computational protein design towards developing enzymes to enable challenging chemical reactions. Her background is largely in synthetic organic chemistry, leveraging transition metal catalysis to mediate enantioselective carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. Brenda earned a B.S. in Chemistry from California Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Chemistry from Stanford University.

Avery interested in coupling computational enzyme design with high-throughput microfluidic assays to understand the principles of engineering dynamics in proteins. In particular, she plans to use these methods to improve enzymes that catalyze challenging reactions such as carbon capture, nitrogen fixation, and plastic degradation. She worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Michelle Chang Lab, where she structurally characterized and engineered several Fe(II) aKG-dependent radical amino acid halogenases to understand their mechanism better and expand their substrate scope. She has a B.S. in Chemical Biology and a B.A. in music from the University of California Berkeley.

She/Her/Hers

Thea’s research interests lie at the intersection of protein structure, molecular mechanism and therapeutic design. She is particularly interested in understanding how molecular structure governs protein function. She comes from professional work in both academic and biotech settings in San Diego. She investigated antibody effector functions for viruses such as HIV and Malaria at Scripps Research Institute. Following this, she worked at Valora Therapeutics on cancer-targeting antibody chimeric therapeutics, contributing to the Protein Engineering team. Thea earned a B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry from University of California, Santa Barbara.

As a graduate student in the Pfaendtner Research Group, Marlo uses molecular dynamics simulations to investigate protein dynamics at interfaces. He works closely with experimentalists to characterize the structure-function relationships that dictate protein roles, and hopes to contribute to protein design methodology. Marlo holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Vermont.