PEOPLE

Minjong received both his B.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). His Ph.D. research focused on enhancing the synergistic interplay between two distinct sequence-controlled biopolymers—peptides and nucleic acids—along with their biomedical applications. Outside of the lab, Minjong enjoys working out, exploring nature, and discovering good restaurants.

Jed has a B.S in Chemistry from University of Delaware. He has previously worked under professor Zhihao Zhuang in developing activity-based ubiquitin probes to study deubiquitinase activities in cells. Outside labs, he enjoys very enthusiastic walks.

Caleb has a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an undergraduate, he worked with Professor Abigail Knight synthesizing peptide-polymer amphiphiles and studying structural changes due to self-assembly. In his free time, Caleb enjoys cooking, playing video games, and hiking.

Sifei got his B.A. in Chemistry from University of Minnesota Twin Cities. During this time, he worked on utilizing photo-cleavable protecting groups to study intermediate states of biological processes and to spatial-temporal control drug releasing using two-photon irradiation. When Sifei is not in the lab, he likes to be a Pokémon trainer and a competitive Pokémon battler.

Ethan received his B.S. in chemistry from Washington and Lee University. His undergraduate research focused on examining the process of RNA translation in yeast. He also spent a summer REU at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign doing organic synthesis. Outside of lab, Ethan enjoys going to various Badgers sporting events on campus especially wrestling.

Andres received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California Davis where he worked with Dr. Justin Seigel characterizing β-Glucosidase mutants for benchmarking Rosetta stability predictions. He has enrolled as a post-baccalaureate at Northwestern University under Dr. Gabriel Rocklin where he benchmarked protein fold stability to Rosetta protein stability predictions. He then enrolled in the Biophysics graduate program and joined Dr. Philip Romero’s lab where he worked on prototyping the use of Rosetta docking data for machine-learning guided protein engineering from 2022-2024. Outside of lab, Andres enjoys backpack camping, fishing, and video games.

Eli received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University. His undergraduate research focused on phase-separating proteins and methods to detect liquid-liquid phase separation in cells. Outside of the lab, he enjoys rock climbing, listening to music, writing, and exploring the surrounding area.

Jingfei has a B.S in Chemistry from Southern University of Science and Technology. She has previously worked under professor Xumu Zhang in developing ligands for gold-catalysis and optimizing the synthetic route for anti-virus drug production. When Jingfei is not in the lab, she enjoys painting and reading books.

Zach has a B.S. in Chemistry from The College of New Jersey. As an undergraduate, he worked with Dr. Levi Ekanger designing an inhibitor assay for a key bacterial stress response metalloprotein and synthesizing model complexes to study the iron coordination chemistry of cysteine analogues. In his free time, Zach likes to play video games, make music, and spend time with friends.

Sasha is an undergraduate working towards her B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology. She is currently working with her graduate student mentor Sifei Fang on directed evolution of enzymes. During her free time, Sasha enjoys playing music, traveling, and playing pickleball with friends and family.

Mia is an undergraduate working towards her B.S. in biochemistry and computer science. During her free time, she loves playing her viola, baking, and (making very poor attempts at) playing tennis.

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Nanjing University

Current Position: Postdoc, University of Chicago

Current Position: Postdoc, Stanford University

Current Position: PhD student, Duke University, Department of Chemistry

Current Position: Graduate Student, University of Washington

Current Position: Associate Scientist, Bioconjugation at Arrowhead Pharmaceutical

Current Position: MD student at Medical College of Wisconsin

Current Position: DVM/PhD student at UW-Madison

Current Position: PhD student at University of Michigan in the Department of Chemistry

Current Position: Assistant scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific