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People
The program is limited to approximately 30-40 students per year who progress through the program as a group. This ensures that students receive a high level of instructor attention and also creates the opportunity to form close bonds with their fellow classmates, which often transcend academia and continue into the workplace.
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Class of 2019 - 2020/21

Bisma Ajaz
- BS Biochemistry and Cell Biology (Certificate in Quality Assurance and Control), University of California - San Diego, California

Arnau Argemi
- BS Biological Sciences, University of Chicago - Chicago, Illinois

Hunter Brown
- BA Biology, Carleton College - Northfield, Minnesota

Federico Cammarata
- BS Management and Technology (Specialization in Technology Chemistry), Technical University of Munich- München, Germany

Jonathan Chen
- BS Chemical Engineering, University of California - Berkeley, California

Leo Chen
- BS Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University - Taipei, Taiwan

Maxine Faass
- BS Chemistry, Emory University - Atlanta, Georgia

Nupur Goswami
- B.Tech Biotechnology, Amity Institute of Biotechnology - Raipur, India

Nana Ingram
- BS Biology, Illinois Wesleyan University - Bloomington, Illinois

Alexander Jackson
- BS Biochemistry, University of Denver - Denver, Colorado

Ishi Jain
- B.Tech Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology - Jaipur, India

Clarens Jarbath
- MS Public Health (Epidemiology Concentration), Florida State University - Tallahassee, Florida
- BS Biology, Florida State University - Tallahassee, Florida

Seok Won Jee
- BS Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Wisconsin

Khak Khak Khayi
- BA Biochemistry, University of Washington - Seattle, Washington

Amy Lee
- BA Genetics, Rutgers University - New Brunswick, New Jersey

Victor Li
- BS Pharmacy, Xinhua College of Sun Yat-sen University - Guangzhou, China

Lena Licht
- BS Biochemistry, University of California - Los Angeles, California

Siran Liu
- BM Basic Medical Science, Capital Medical University - Fengtai, China

Anna Lu
- BS Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto - Ontario, Canada

Lila Lu
- BS Viticulture and Enology, University of California - Davis, California

Haocong Ma
- BEng Bioengineering, China Agricultural University - Beijing, China

Prerana Mantri
- BS Biomedical Science, Florida Institute of Technology - Melbourne, Florida

Manaswini Mattegunta
- BS Biotechnology, University of Houston - Houston, Texas

Kyssia Mendoza
- BS Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst - Amherst, Massachusetts

Shruti Narayan
- B. Tech Biotechnology, Vellore Institute of Technology - Vellore, India

Bhavin Patel
- MS Biology (Specialization in Regenerative Medicince), California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, California
- BS Neuroscience, University of California - Santa Cruz, California

Stephanie Shee
- BS Biological Sciences, University of Illinois - Chicago, Illinois

Jonathan Timbrell
- BSc Honors Specialization in Genetics, University of Western Ontario - Ontario, Canada

Jessi Toumeh
- BS Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas - Arlington, Texas

Nish Trivedi
- Double BA Biological Sciences, Northwestern University - Evanston, Illinois

Yuwei Yang
- BS Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of California - San Diego, California

Mengting Ye
- BS Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of California - San Diego, California

Zihao Yu
- BS Biology, Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, Ohio

Chenlin Zhao
- BEng Biological Engineering, Ocean University of China - Qingdao, China

Alison Zhou
- BS Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, Illinois

Sherry Zhou
- BS Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University - Guangzhou, China
Class of 2018 - 2019/20

Giancarlo Balangue
- BS Life Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University - Manila, Philippines
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. David Giljohann
- MBP Research Project: Investigation of bispecific spherical nucleic acids for treatment of inflammatory skin pathologies
- Internship: Exicure

Wenhao Cao
- BS Biochemical Engineering, University of Leuven (KU Leuven) - Leuven, Belgium
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Ravi Allada
- MBP Research Project: Screening and characterization of novel modulators of mHtt-induced behavioral arhythmicity

Mary Cassidy
- BS Engineering Mechanics (Biomechanics), University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Nathan Gianneschi
- MBP Research Project: Enzyme responsive progelator biomaterials as therapeutic scaffolds for negative left ventricle remodeling post myocardial infarction
- Academic Internship: Dr. Nathan Gianneschi's lab

Laura Cook
- Molecular Genetics, Ohio State University - Columbus, OH
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Danielle Tullman-Ercek
- MBP Research Project: Development of a safe compartment-forming strain of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2
- Internship: Eli Lilly

John Docter
- BS Zoology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. George Wells
- MBP Research Project: Mainstream shortcut biological phosphorous and nitrogen removal

Tim Earl
- BS Biological (Biomedical) Sciences, Arizona State University - Phoenix, AZ
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Ravi Allada
- MBP Research Project: Sleep and circadian rhythms in fragile X mutant Drosophila

Connor Forsyth
- BS Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Chad Mirkin
- MBP Research Project: Intracellular trafficking of structurally distinct immunostimulatory spherical nucleic acids
- Academic Internship: Dr. Chad Mirkin's lab

Pan Gao
- BS Biological Science, University of California - Irvine, CA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Jelena Radulovic
- MBP Research Project: Tracing of glutamatergic afferents and efferents of dorsal hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex

Yue Gao
- BS Food Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University - Hong Kong Baptist University, United International College - Zhuhai, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Ramana Davuluri
- MBP Research Project: Bioinformatics methods for analysis of RNA-seq (transcriptome) data

Weijian Huang
- BS Biological Engineering, Hunan Agricultural University - Changsha, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. William Klein
- MBP Research Project: The investigation on the promising membrane surface protein receptor Na/K ATPase alpha 3 that triggers a "signaling cascade" with its ligand --- ABO

Yu-Hsin (Anita) Huang
- BS Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, University of Washington - Seattle, WA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Erik Andersen
- MBP Research Project: Molecular genetic characterization of beta-tubulin function in benzimidazole drug resistance
- Internship: UCB

Hannah Klaeser
- BA Biology, Whitman College - Walla Walla, WA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. David Giljohann, Exicure
- MBP Research Project: Investigating the effect that stepwise changes in the oligonucleotide chemistry and sequence have on the efficacy of RNase H mediated SNA compounds
- Internship: Exicure

Aderonke Koya
- BA Anatomy, Babcock University - Ilishan Remo, Nigeria
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Evan Scott
- MBP Research Project: Role of polypropylene sulphide (PPS) nanoparticles as redox scavengers

Yuyao Kuang
- BS Engineering, Bioengineering, East China University of Science and Technology - Shanghai, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Vinayak Dravid
- MBP Research Project: Synthesis and functionalization of "theranostic" magnetic nanostructures for MRI contrast enhancement

Keyin Li
- BS Biological Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University - Guangzhou, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Ravi Allada
- MBP Research Project: RNAi screening for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Drosophila

Zongru Li
- BS Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester - Rochester, NY
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Evan Scott
- MBP Research Project: Design and synthesis of new types of nano-vehicles for MRI imaging

Ryan Mayers
- BA Biology, University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Evangelos Kiskinis
- MBP Research Project: ALS-related NEK1 loss of function disrupts nucleocytoplasmic transport via the microtubule cytoskeleton

Hannah McDowell
- BS Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Anat Tambur
- MBP Research Project: Studying the immunogenicity of HLA-DQ in solid organ transplantation
- Internship: Merck

Kamron Mehrayin
- MS Business, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, IL
- BS Chemistry, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Arthur Felse
- MBP Research Project: Patient safety and economic implications of underrepresentation in clinical trials

Chinmay Menon
- BS Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Economics, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, MA
- BA Economics, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, MA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Vinayak Dravid
- MBP Research Project: Magnetic nanostructures for therapeutic and diagnostic action

Krista Meuli
- BA Neuroscience, Lake Forest College - Lake Forest, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. David Giljohann
- MBP Research Project: Oligonucleotide synthesis time optimization
- Internship: Exicure

William Minor
- BS Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. William Klein
- MBP Research Project: Elucidating the AβO- NKAα3 initiation complex: a path to new Alzheimer’s Disease therapeutics
- Internship: Amicus Therapeutics

Luke O'Donnell
- BS Biomedical Engineering (Biomechanics), Marquette University - Milwaukee, WI
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Arthur Felse
- MBP Research Project: Quantifying chaos in cancer clinical trials

Yuting Pan
- BS Medicine, Capital Medical University - Beijing, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Changiz Geula
- MBP Research Project: Detection of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 3 (MAP2K3) immunoreactivity in the human cerebral cortex
- Internship: Catalent

Nathaniel Polley
- BS Bioinformatics, computer science, and biology, Loyola University - Chicago, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Keith Tyo
- MBP Research Project: Development of metabolic ensemble modeling software for enzymatic pathway kinetics
- Internship: Exicure

Sanjana Prakash Rao
- BS Engineering (Biotechnology), NMAM Institute of Technology - Nitte, India
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Danielle Tullman-Ercek
- MBP Research Project: Creating a safe strain of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to be used for type III secretion studies
- Internship: UCB

Ruojia Shi
- BS Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Iowa - Iowa City, IA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Richard Silverman
- MBP Research Project: Inhibitors of nNOS design for neurodegenerative disorder

Taeyil Son
- BS Biology, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, MA
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Jason Wertheim
- MBP Research Project: Differentiation and characterization of specific endothelial cell types from human pluripotent stem cell

Nanjia Song
- BS Life Science, Central South University - Changsha, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Ravi Allada
- MBP Research Project: Identification of novel circadian genes using a luciferase enhancer trap screen

Yanfang Song
- BS Medical Inspection Technology, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine - Wuhan City, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Derk Joester
- MBP Research Project: VEGF secreting PMC

Michael Stec
- BS Biology, Loyola University - Chicago, IL
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Arthur Felse
- MBP Research Project: The utilization of inspection citations as an indicator of recall events

Yueyang Wang
- BS Biology, Wake Forest University - Wake Forest, NC
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. David Giljohann
- MBP Research Project: Efficacy of antisense SNAs in STAT3 splicing modulation
- Internship: Exicure

Meng Wang
- BS Biotechnology, Anhui University - Hefei, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Congeong He
- MBP Research Project: Discovery of receptor proteins for the autophagic clearance of toxic amyloids

Sara Wixon
- BS Microbiology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities - Minneapolis, MN
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Keith Tyo
- MBP Research Project: Prospecting thiamine diphosphate-dependent carboligases and characterizing their promiscuity to create novel metabolic pathways from primary metabolites
- Internship: LanzaTech

Yongzhan Zhang
- BS Aquaculture Science, Hunan Agricultural University - Changsha, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Lihua Zou
- MBP Research Project: Distinct genomic features in mucosal, acral and vulvar melanomas

Zhongyao Zhang
- BS Biological Sciences, Xiamen University - Xiamen, China
- MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Pablo Penaloza
- MBP Research Project: Characterization of novel lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus vectors expressing HIV-1 antigens