Postdoctoral Researchers
Abbas Ghaddar, Ph.D
Engineering gut bacteria to modulate host metabolism
Cristina Palma, Ph.D
Wihuri Foundation Fellow
Decoding bacterial stress response pathway dynamics
Bryan Lakey, Ph.D
Synthetic biology of anaerobic bacteria
Ya Zhang, Ph.D
Structure and function of bacterial sensors of host metabolites
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow
Rosa Vincent, Ph.D
Baylor College of Medicine
Cancer Research Institute Fellow
Engineering synergy between CAR-T cells and therapeutic bacteria for cancer treatment
Ph.D. Students
Mitch Syberg-Olsen
Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Ph.D. program
Enzymatic DNA synthesis
Daniel Haller
Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Ph.D. program
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Understanding sporulation in Bacillus subtilis through optogenetics
Gayathri Prakash
Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Ph.D. program
Optical control of enzyme function
Jeffrey Alejandro Vanegas
Bioengineering Ph.D. program
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
GEM Fellow
Engineering bacteria to sense chemical contaminants
Hasani Everett
Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Ph.D. program
GEM Fellow
Engineering DNA polymerases for novel nucleotide specificities
Undergraduates
Kevin Yang
Rice Chemistry, ’26
Jacob Lei
Rice Bioengineering, ’26
Previous Post-Docs
Sebastian Schmidl (2011-15; DFG Fellow). Associate Professor, Texas A&M
Eric Wold (2021- 24). Research Biologist. Navy Research Laboratory
Moshe Baruch (2018-20). Senior Scientist, Pana Bio
Kristina Daeffler (2014-18; Rice BioE Fellow). Chemist, M-I SWACO
Matt Kotlajich (2015-16). Sales Manager, Namocell
Hyo Kyung Kim (2017-18). Senior Researcher. CJ Cheiljedang
Shridhar Jayanthi (2012-15). Law Clerk, White & Case LLP
Chandra Jack (2011-13). Assistant Professor, Clark University
Previous Ph.D. Students
Elena Musteata. SSPB (2019-2025)
Maxwell Hunt. SSPB (2020-2025). Scientist, Merck
Caleigh Roleck. SSPB (2019-24). Postdoc, Army Research Laboratory
Kevin Lorch. BioE (2019-24; NSF GRFP Fellow). Medical Science Liaison. New Amsterdam Genomics
John (Tyler) Lazar. ChBE (2018-23; NDSEG Fellow). Postdoc, Stanford University
Ryan Butcher. BioE (2017-22). Scientist, Innovation Group. Nikon
Kathryn Brink, SSPB (2016-21; Autrey Fellow). Associate Director. BioMADE
Felix Ekness, SSPB (2013-19). Director of R&D, Quorum Bio
Karl Gerhardt, BioE (2011-19). Senior Scientist, Bond Pet Foods
Sebastian Castillo-Hair, BioE (2012-19). Research Assistant Professor. U. Washington
John Sexton, BioE (2012-19; NSF Fellow). Scientist, Strand
Lucas Hartsough, BioE (2011–18; NASA NSTRF Fellow). Ginkgo Bioworks
Brian Landry, BioE (2012–18; NDSEG Fellow). Principal Scientist, BillionToOne
Nicolas Ong, BioE (2012–17; A*Star Fellow). Scientist, Oxford Nanopore.
Prabha Ramakrishnan, BioE (2010-16). VP Partnerships & Strategy, Invert
Evan Olson, Applied Physics (2010-16). Chief Operating Officer, Naialabs
Previous undergraduates
Ravi Sheth (2011-15; Hertz, Goldwater Fellow). Founder, Kingdom Superfoods
Ken Groszman (2013-15; Goldwater Fellow). Head of iOps, British Airways
Rohan Palanki (2015-17; Goldwater Fellow). U. Penn M.D./Ph.D. Program
Constantine Tzouanas (2015-16; Goldwater Fellow). Harvard/MIT Ph.D. student
Kat Sofjan (2014-17; NSF GRFP). Project Manager, Takeda.
Calvin Tsay (2011-12). Lecturer, Imperial College London
Hannah Li (2021-24), Rice BioE. Postbac Researcher in Francis Collins’ lab, NIH
Rachel Wurmbrand. Rice Computer Science (2019-23). Software Engineer, Meta
Raghav Shroff (2011-12). Research Scientist. Houston Methodist Research Inst.
Jae Kim. Rice Bioengineering (2021-23). Policy Research Intern, Urban Institute
Chad Fisher (2016-19). Geospatial Data Scientist, Charles River Watershed Association
Elliot Baerman (2015-18). M.D. Student. Baylor College of Medicine
Devon Stork (2013). Principle Scientist, Tenza
Andrew Mu (2017-2021). Harvard Medical School student, Boston, MA
Shobhit Patoria (2015). Senior Research Associate. Gilead Sciences
Paulina Popek (2013). Advanced Mfg Engineer III at LivaNova
Zaid Haque (2012-13). Executive Manager, Nanobiotix
Keshav Rao (2015-16). Associate, Oliver Wyman.
Shelby DesRoches (2020-21). Yale University Master’s Student in Personalized Medicine
Nikola Dyulgyarov (2015-16). Engineer. Sofia, Bulgaria
Nikitha Cherayil (2014-15). M.D. student. UT Health McGovern Medical School
Daniel Zhong (2019-20). M.D. Student. Long School of Med.
Grace Wickerson (2016-17). Ph.D. student. Northwestern. U. (NSF Fellow)
Anita Alem (2015). J.D. candidate. Harvard Law School
Crystal Lin (2014). M.D. student. University of Chicago
Vedha Penmetcha (2021-24). Rice Biosciences
Akshay Shyam, (2022). Rice BioE
Patrick Young (2022). UC Berkeley Bioengineering
Uma Dharba (2022). U. Toronto
Ji Yoon Joung. (2021). Rice BioE
Bhavya Gopinath. (2019-2020) Rice BioE
Christopher Bi. (2019-20) Rice BioE
Cory Pan. (2018) Rice BioE
Ancith Kota (2017-18). Rice BioE
Stephanie Yang (2016-17). Rice BioE
Puja Tripuraneni (2016-17). Rice BioE
Sean Dillard (2014). Rice ChBE
Nico Medellin (2014). Rice BioE
David Wang (2012-13). Rice Biosciences
Andrew Wu (2011-13). Rice BioE
Michael Powers (2011-12). Rice Political Science