People

Current Students

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.

Student demographics

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• Class of 2019 - 2020/21
• Class of 2018 - 2019/20

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

Yibo Zhu

• BS Chemical Engineering, University of California - Davis, CA
• MBP Research Preceptor: Dr. Samuel Stupp
• MBP Research Project: Protein kinetics in nanofiber matrices of peptide amphiphiles