- 2020
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Ananya Sen earned her BS degree in chemistry, zoology, and microbiology, and her master's degree in biology, at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, India. Ananya studied how Escherichia coli responds to hydrogen peroxide stress, completing her PhD in microbiology in 2020. Ananya became an IGB Science Writing Fellow in 2020, working on print and online publications, press releases, and providing writing and editing support for all IGB endeavors. She then joined the IGB as a Research Communications Coordinator.
- 2019
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Alisa King-Klemperer completed her bachelor’s degree in microbiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012. She focused her thesis research on the improvement of small RNA (sRNA) target prediction and validation in Escherichia coli, resulting in a computational pipeline called the sRNA-target Prediction Organizing Tool (SPOT) and obtained her PhD in microbiology in 2019. King became an IGB Science Writing Fellow in 2019, contributing to print and online publications, reporting on IGB research developments, designing outreach content, and providing writing support for all aspect of IGB endeavors. King became the Communications Manager at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center.
Bin Zhao obtained his B.S. degree from Shandong University in 2008 and PhD degree from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences under the direction of Professor Chunhai Fan in 2014. His PhD research focused on developing novel DNA-based functional nanostructures and their applications in biosensing, bioimaging and nanomedicine. He has conducted postdoctoral research for electrochemical DNA biosensors, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based analytical techniques, and DNA/RNA-based sensors for biosensing and cellular imaging in Germany and the United States (2014-2019). Bin joined the Center for Genomic Diagnostics (CGD) research theme in November 2019 under the supervision of Professor Brian Cunningham, where he worked on the development of novel biosensors for digital assay of tumor biomarkers based on photonic crystal and nucleic acid nanotechnology.
- 2018
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Rebecca Batstone received her BSc (Honours) and MSc from Memorial University in Newfoundland, where she conducted research on a variety of marine systems. For her PhD research she focused on the legume-rhizobium system to study how symbiosis evolves and is maintained over evolutionary time. She became an IGB Fellow in September 2018 in Infection Genomics for One Health (IGOH) theme researching how beneficial symbiotic bacteria adapt to changing environmental conditions, combining experimental evolution approaches with whole-genome resequencing to understand the underlying genetic mechanisms governing such adaptation, especially the role of horizontal gene transfer. Batstone became a Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University.
Steven J. Burgess received a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh (2007) and completed a PhD in molecular biology at Imperial College London, investigating metabolic engineering of green algae for biohydrogen production (2011). Burgess’ interests are in plant synthetic biology and genomics, with a view to improving photosynthesis as part of combined scientific, social and political approaches for sustainable boosting of crop yields. He joined IGB as a Fellow in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change (GEGC) theme in 2018, before becoming an Assistant Professor of Plant Biology in the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Mohea Couturier completed her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Versailles in 2008, and her PhD in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Evry Val d’Essonne, in collaboration with the University of Paris Sud 11, in 2013. She developed an interest in the adaptation of microorganisms to their environment, especially in cellular responses involving changes into the structure of the DNA molecule. Couturier became an IGB Fellow in the Biocomplexity (BCXT) theme in 2018, investigating the involvement of DNA methylations in the spatial organization of the archaeal genome. She became a Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Bioengineering Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Bioengineering Sciences at Vrije University Brussel.
David Krist obtained a Chemistry PhD under the direction of Alexander Statsyuk at Northwestern University where he designed chemical crosslinkers and assay reagents to identify potential small molecule therapeutics targeting the human ubiquitin proteasome system. In 2018 he joined the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme and studied enzyme mechanistic aspects of host-pathogen interactions. David utilized protein chemistry, structural biology, enzyme kinetics and bioinformatics to better understand how microbes populate human hosts.
- 2017
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Taylor Canady received his B.A. at University of New Mexico before completing his PhD in chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. His dissertation research focused on developing nucleic acid probes/systems for high affinity and selective hybridization between the designed probe/systems and target molecules of interest. He became an IGB Fellow in the Omics Nanotechnology for Cancer Precision Medicine (ONC-PM) research theme in 2017, developing technologies to detect and screen nucleic acid cancer biomarkers in blood. His aim was to develop an impactful “liquid biopsy” to detect nucleic acid cancer biomarkers early on in tumor progression, to provide a “real-time” snapshot of the cancer type, stage, and evolutionary response to treatment. Canady became a Patent Agent with Cooley LLP.
Daniel Ryerson received his PhD in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2017 with a dissertationon understanding how bile acids and other fed state signals regulate metabolism in the liver. Danny became an IGB Outreach fellow in 2017, managing IGB programs such as Pollen Power, Genome Day, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Citizen Scientists. Danny went on to become an Outreach Coordinator at the IGB.
- 2016
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Will Montgomery received his Ph. D. in Chemistry for the University of Texas in 2016. His dissertation research was focused on the synthesis of novel tetracyclic indole containing compounds as potential cancer therapeutics. Will joined the Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People (ACPP) theme in 2016, where he worked to develop novel chemotherapeutics for the treatment of companion animals (dogs and cats) with cancer.
Priya Pantham received her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2014. Her dissertation utilized an integrated –omics approach - transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics - to identify molecular mechanisms of increased placental death in response to antiphospholipid antibodies, a risk factor for the obstetric syndrome preeclampsia. She became an IGB fellow in the Computing Genomes for Reproductive Health (CGRH) theme in 2016, where she used high-throughput approaches to test hypotheses and identify genes involved in the pathophysiology of major obstetrical syndromes, such as preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM).
Daniel Urban received his PhD in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016 under the direction of Professor Karen Sears with research focused on the evolutionary transition of postdentary elements in the reptilian jaw into the middle ear of mammals. He became an IGB outreach fellow in 2016 where he collaborated on such projects as the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Citizen Scientist Program, Art of Science exhibitions, and summer and after school outreach activities while continuing research in the Sears Lab on uncovering developmental mechanisms in the membranes of bat wings. Dan continued on with the Sears Lab when it moved to UCLA as well as the American Museum of Natural History in New York before returning to the IGB as an Sr. Outreach Activities Coordinator.
- 2015
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Courtney Fenlon received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2015 under the direction of Douglas Mitchell. Her dissertation research was focused on creating a method to quickly identify and isolate interesting bacterial produced antibiotics. Using this novel method, Courtney discovered an antibiotic called cyclothiazomycin C. She became an IGB fellow in the administration theme in August 2015 and worked to develop and implement outreach opportunities at the IGB, later becoming the IGB Outreach Activities Manager. After leaving IGB Courtney became Assistant Professor of Biology at Salt Lake Community College.
Justin McGrath received his Ph. D. in Plant Biology from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 2009 under the direction Elizabeth Ainsworth. His dissertation research was focused on the effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone concentrations on leaf growth and canopy architecture in crop species. He became an IGB fellow in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change (GEGC) theme in 2015, providing guidance developing a high-throughput mobile crop-phenotyping robot, and crop models to identify high-yielding genotypes.
- 2014
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Seema Ehsan received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine in 2014. She became an IGB fellow in the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering (RBTE) theme in November 2014. Her research focused on tumor engineering, and at the IGB she worked on models for glioblastoma multiforme, a particularly aggressive tumor. She moved on to become the Associate Program Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Genentech.
Brian San Francisco received his PhD in Plant and Microbial Biosciences from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013 under the direction of Robert Kranz. He became an IGB fellow in the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme in 2014 and worked alongside members of the Enzyme Function Initiative (EFI), a large collaborative consortium funded by NIH that includes the University of California-San Francisco and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He moved on to become Senior Consultant at Navigant in Chicago, Illinois.
Michael Saul received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May of 2014 under the direction of Stephen Gammie. He joined the Gene Networks in Neural & Developmental Plasticity (GNDP) theme as an IGB Fellow in 2014 to determine what happens to the genomics inside the brain during or shortly after certain social circumstances–specifically, social challenge and social opportunity for honeybees, mice, and stickleback fish. He went on to take a role as a Computational Scientist at The Jackson Laboratory.
Tong (Tony) Si received his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2014 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Professor Huimin Zhao. He became an IGB fellow in September 2014 in the Biosystems Design (BSD) theme, working on the automated genome engineering platform using the Illinois Biological Foundry for Advanced Biomanufacturing (iBioFAB). His dissertation was focused on the development of metabolic and genome engineering tools in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) for biotechnology applications, and he developed the RNAi-assisted Genome Engineering (RAGE) method to construct comprehensive genome-scale libraries for continuous improvement of yeast strains. He continued his research under Prof. Zhao, Prof. Jonathan Sweedler, and Prof. Wilfred van der Donk.
- 2012
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Farhan Chowdhury received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Professor Ning Wang. His dissertation was focused on force directed fate decision making of embryonic stem cells. He became an IGB Fellow in May 2012 working closely with Professor Taekjip Ha and members of the Cellular Decision Making in Cancer (CDMC) research theme investigating the underlying molecular mechanism of cell fate decisions using single molecule approaches. Farhan became an Associate Professor and Interim Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, Computing, Technology, and Mathematics at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Melissa Cregger received her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the summer of 2012 from the University of Tennessee under the direction of Aimée Classen. Her dissertation was focused to understand how climatic change factors, precipitation change and increased temperature, altered bacterial and fungal community structure and function. Melissa joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in August of 2012, where she worked as an IGB Fellow in the Host-Microbe Systems theme before joining the Biocomplexity theme as a Fellow in June of 2013. Melissa then joined Oak Ridge National Lab.
Qiuhao Qu received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the Konstanz University in Germany under the direction of Dr. Winfried Boos. She then became a research associate in the Departments of Cell and Developmental Biology and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, where she worked to develop human neuronal differentiation models from hESCs and hiPSCs. She served as an IGB Fellow in the Genomics of Neural and Developmental Plasticity Research theme (now Gene Networks in Neural & Developmental Plasticity) in 2012.
Scott Woolbright received his PhD in Biology from Northern Arizona University under the direction of Tom Whitham. His dissertation research involved QTL mapping and candidate gene identification of cottonwood (Populus) leaf chemistry traits as part of a highly collaborative “genes to ecosystem” approach aimed at investigating the community and ecosystem consequences of trait variation in foundation species. He also conducted population genetic surveys of highly isolated and potentially relict stands of cottonwoods from “sky island” mountain ranges of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts. As a 2012 fellow in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change (GEGC) theme, Scott’s research was focused on climate related gene expression profiling. Scott moved on to become an Assistant Professor of Biology at University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
- 2011
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Noah Reynolds received his PhD in Microbiology from The Ohio State University under the direction of Michael Ibba. His dissertation research focused on comparative studies of translational quality control mechanisms. As a 2011 IGB Fellow, he worked in the Biocomplexity (BCXT) theme, before becoming a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University.
Bo Wang received his PhD in Materials Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011 under the direction of Steve Granick. His dissertation was focused on using single molecule/particle imaging to elucidate transport phenomena in complex fluids ranging from entangled polymers to living cells. He became an IGB fellow in August 2011 and has worked with members of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering (RBTE) theme to understand the cellular organization and decision making in regeneration and development. Specifically, his research has focused on stem cells in two types of flatworms, the free-living planarian and the parasitic schistosome. Bo became an assistant professor in the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford University.
Hsiao-shan Yang received her PhD in Economics from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, under the direction of Zhiqiang Liu. Her dissertation research focused on the effects of productivity and industry evolution on manufacturing firms’ product diversification decision. She joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in October 2011 as an IGB Fellow in the Business, Economics, and Law of Genomic Biology theme, where she worked with theme members to explore issues in university-industry technology transfer, industry evolution, and the growth and regulations in biotechnology industry. She remained at Illinois to work as postdoc with the Energy Biosciences Institute before becoming an Economist/ Data Scientist at Reis.
- 2010
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James Davis earned his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Gary Olsen. His dissertation was focused on using codon usage to study horizontal gene transfer. He was an IGB Fellow from August 2010 through August 2013, working closely with Carl Woese and members of the Biocomplexity theme to elucidate the patterns that characterize early evolution. Davis then became a Research Assistant at the University of Chicago Computation Institute and Argonne National Lab.
James Doroghazi received his PhD in Microbiology from Cornell University in 2010 under the direction of Dan Buckley. For his dissertation work, he studied the population genetics and evolution of Streptomyces. He joined the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme in December 2010 as an IGB fellow, to work closely with MMG theme members to discover novel natural product genetic diversity and to elucidate common themes in secondary metabolite evolution. James became part of the Computational Life Science Portfolio group at Bayer CropScience.
Nathan Gabrielson received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2009. He then became a postdoctoral research associate in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Illinois, where he worked to develop materials for gene and drug delivery applications. He was awarded an IGB postdoctoral fellowship in 2010 where he worked with members of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering (RBTE) theme, before becoming a lecturer for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Illinois.
Juntao Tony Gao received his PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany in 2005. In 2006, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Stower’s Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri and studied the dynamics of polarity proteins in budding yeast. He joined the Cellular Decision Making in Cancer theme in December 2010 as an IGB fellow. He went on to become a Research Assistant Professor at Tsinghua University.
Sarath Chandra Janga received his PhD in Molecular Biology from MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge in 2010. He became an IGB Fellow in 2010 working with members of the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme to discover principles governing the function and evolution of antibiotics and natural products. He became an Assistant Professor at the School of Informatics at Indiana University and Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) at the Center for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics.
Jaebum Kim received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in 2010. He joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in August 2010 as an IGB Fellow and worked closely with the members of the Cellular Decision Making in Cancer theme. He then accepted a position as Assistant Professor of the Department of Animal Biotechnology at Konkuk University.
Christopher James Thibodeaux received his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas, Austin, in 2010, where he studied the chemical and kinetic mechanisms of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. As a 2010 Fellow with the Cellular Decision Making in Cancer theme, he worked closely with the Taekjip Ha group to apply advanced cellular and molecular imaging techniques to investigate outstanding problems in cancer biology. Thibodeaux moved on to become an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department at McGill University in Montreal.
- 2009
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Christopher Fields received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois in 2008. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Genomic Biology where he studied global gene expression in spermatogonial stem cells. He was an IGB Fellow in 2009 and worked in the Genomics of Neural and Developmental Plasticity Research theme (now Gene Networks in Neural & Developmental Plasticity). Chris became the Technical Lead in Genome Informatics within the HPCBio group at the IGB.
Sua Myong received her PhD in Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. She served as an IGB Fellow in the Precision Proteomics theme from 2007-2009, using imaging techniques to investigate various cellular processes at the single molecule level. She then joined the University of Illinois Department of Bioengineering faculty in 2009 as an Assistant Professor, as well as becoming a member of the IGB's Cellular Decision Making in Cancer research theme. Sua then moved on to become an Associate Professor in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University.
- 2008
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Christopher Balakrishnan received his PhD in Biology from Boston University in 2005. He then moved on to Harvard University as a postdoctoral fellow under Dr. Scott Edwards. Chris' early work emphasized studies of evolutionary biology in birds. He used a combination of field studies and population genetics to study the mechanisms of diversification. He moved to the University of Illinois in 2008. As postdoctoral fellow and then research scientist in Dr. David Clayton's group he has been integrating his background in evolutionary biology with the behavioral and neurogenomic studies that are the focus of the Clayton Lab. Chris served as an IGB Fellow with the Genomics of Neural and Developmental Plasticity theme (now Gene Networks in Neural & Developmental Plasticity). He moved on to become an Assistant Professor at East Carolina University.
Nicholas Chia received his PhD in Physics from Ohio State University in 2006. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the labs of Nigel Goldenfeld and Carl Woese at the Institute for Genomic Biology, where he examined the role of collective effects and emergent properties in biological systems. In 2008, he was named an IGB postdoctoral fellowship and worked with members of the Biocomplexity theme. Chia then became an Assistant Professor of Biophysics at Mayo Clinic.
Pan-Jun Kim received his PhD in Physics from KAIST (South Korea) in 2008. He joined the IGB in October 2008 as an IGB Fellow working closely with members of the Molecular Bioengineering of Biomass Conversion Research Theme. His research focused on systems and synthetic biology, especially with genome-scale biochemical networks. He went on to become Adjunct Professor of Physics and Leader of the Junior Research Group at the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP).
Shobha Sharma received her PhD in microbiology from the University of Innsbruck in Austria in 2000. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto before being named an IGB Fellow in the Host Microbe Systems theme. She then became a Staff Scientist at National Institutes of Health.
Adaikkalam Vellaichamy received his PhD in Molecular Biology from the National University of Singapore in 2003, moving on to conduct postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan in work relating to cancer proteomics. He was named an IGB Fellow in the Precision Proteomics theme, serving from 2008 to 2010, before assuming an Assistant Member and Co-Director role at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston. He then became Associate Professor at the Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University, Chennai, India.
Suleyman Yildirim received his PhD in Microbial Genomics in 2006 from North Carolina State University. He was a postdoctoral Research Associate at North Carolina State University in 2006, and at the Yale University School of Medicine from 2007 to 2008. He became an IGB Fellow in November 2008 and worked with members of the Host-Microbe Systems theme. He then became a Visiting Scientist with the J. Craig Venter Institute and a Senior Research Scientist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Amro Zayed received his PhD in Biology in 2006 from York University. He held a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois’ Department of Entomology from 2006 to 2008, and then served as an IGB Fellow in the Neural & Behavioral Plasticity theme (now Gene Networks in Neural & Developmental Plasticity) from 2008 to 2009. He rejoined York University’s Department of Biology in 2009 as an Associate Professor of Biology, leading a research program on the genetics, genomics and behaviour of social insects using the honey bee as a model organism, serving as York Research Chair in Genomics beginning in 2016.
- 2005
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Benjamin A. Garcia was named an IGB fellow in 2005 and worked with members of the Precision Proteomics research theme. He received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Virginia. In 2012 he was named the first Presidential Term Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He became a Presidential Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
Benjamin M. Griffin received his PhD in environmental toxicology and microbiology from Michigan State University in 2003. He became a postdoctoral fellow in the biology department at the Universitat Konstanz before joining the IGB in November 2005 where he worked with the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) research theme. He then became the Senior Director of Biobased Chemicals at Synthetic Genomics.
Tor Jenson received his PhD in chemical engineering from Northwestern University in 2004. He was a postdoctoral research associate in the biomolecular and chemical engineering department at the University of Illinois, and joined the IGB in December 2005. He worked closely with members of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering (RBTE) theme, and moved on to a Laboratory Manager position in the Biomedical Research Center in the Mills Breast Cancer Institute at Carle. Tor later became Biomedical Research Laboratory Director at the Cancer Center at Illinois.
Sarah London received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2005. As an IGB Fellow, she worked with members of the Genomics of Neural and Developmental Plasticity theme (now Gene Networks in Neural & Developmental Plasticity), before becoming an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago.
Patrick O’donoghue received his PhD in 2004 from the University of Illinois. As an IGB Fellow in the Biocomplexity (BCXT) theme, he worked with researchers to understand how translation developed from some simpler state into the highly accurate and complex system observed in all cellular life today. He moved on to become a Research Associate with Dieter Söll at Yale.
Zhen Shi received her PhD in medical sciences from the University of South Florida in 2005. She joined the IGB in December of 2005 and worked on the metabolic engineering of industrially significant solventogenic clostridia and fiber degrading bacteria for increased biomass conversion efficiency. She then became a Researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.
- 2004
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Andrew D.B. Leakey received his PhD in plant sciences from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom in 2002. From 2002 to 2003, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Illinois, and he became an IGB Fellow in 2004, becoming an Associate Professor of Plant Biology and an IGB faculty in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change (GEGC) theme, moving on to become Professor and Head of Plant Biology and the Director of the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI).
