April, 2024 [grant] Our lab is awarded an STC-QCB seed grant. Thank you STC-QCB center.
April 8, 2024 [(rare) Event] Photos from the lab (top left taken at Indiana).
April 2024 [Honor]: Congratulations, Teak-Jung Oh, on winning the Graduate College Travel Award and the Korean Foundation Fellowship!
March 2024 [Presentation]: Kritika, TJ, and Andrew presented at the 3rd MCB Graduate student retreat!
March 2024 [Honor]: Henry and Zayn won the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
Dec 2023: First-year graduate students Zixiao Li (Biochemistry), Amna Mehfooz (Biochemistry), and Bryan Gworek (Biophysics) join the lab! Welcome everyone to the Zhang laboratory!
Sep 2023 [Honor]: The Zhang lab is part of the New NSF Science and Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology (QCB)
Beckman news highlights here and MCB highlights here
July 2023 [Honor]: Kai won the 2023 Scialog grant. 
June 2023 [Honor]: Congratulations, Andrew, on winning the 2023-24 UIUC Biophysics Graduate Fellowship. Good work!
June 2023 [Conference] Kai attended the SEED 2023 conference in Los Angeles and the JMB editorial meeting in San Diego!
May 2023 [Conference] Kai attended the MND Scialog meeting in Arizona! Writing two proposals on-site is great fun!
May 2023 [Honor]: Congratulations Danyi, Zayn, Mehgan, Kurt, and Nafay on winning the 2023 SURF fellowship. Good work!
April 2023 [Honor]: Congratulations, Uma Agarwal and Nathan Gron, on winning the MCB Biochemistry Highest Distinction and the Jackson Merit Outstanding Thesis award. Good work!
April 2023 [Team]: Congratulations, Terry Gao, on passing the prelim and finishing training in our lab. Acknowledge all lab members who helped with Terry’s multiple rounds of practice.
April 2023 [Paper]: We published an invited review on the clinical application of optogenetics in Clinical and Translational Medicine!
April 2023 [Presentation] Kritika and TJ presented at the 2nd MCB retreat. Kritika’s talk received 2nd place! Great work!
March 2023 [Honor]: Congratulations, Danyi Wang, Zayn Beg, Mehgan McCann, and Kurts Leano, on winning the MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship!
February 2023 [Team]: Welcome to the lab, Meghan McCann, a biochemistry sophomore.
January 2023 [Team]: Welcome to the lab, Yushan Li, a bioengineering freshman.
December 2022 [Team]: Welcome to the lab, Henry Yentch, an MCB undergraduate student.
November 2022 [Team]: Welcome Katrine and Suhail, a first-year MCB graduate student, to rotate in our lab!
October 2022 [Team]: Welcome Danyi Wang, an MCB undergraduate student, to join the lab.
September 2022 [Funding]: We received a Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) research grant to apply optogenetic control of necroptosis in the tumor microenvironment. Good job, TJ, in generating data for this proposal. We are excited to collaborate with Professor Erik Nelson on this project!
September 2022 [Team]: Welcome Sepehr Alaeen, a first-year biophysics graduate student, to rotate in our lab!
September 2022 [Presentation]: Kai and Tyler talked at the 6th Milwaukee Symposium on
Optical Micro-spectroscopy &Molecular Imaging and RIIO Alliance 3rd General Assembly Meeting in the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Fun and glad to make new friends.
August 2022 [Team]: Welcome the undergraduate students Kurt Leano to join our lab!
July 2022 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Chenju Yi has been accepted and selected as the Front Cover by Brain! Congratulations Team!
May 2022 [Honor]: Congratulations Tyler, for winning the American Parkinson Disease Association postdoctoral fellowship!
May 2022 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Jiajie Diao has been accepted by Nature Communications!
May 2022 [Honor]: Congratulations, Kritika, on receiving the 2022-2023 academic year – Charles F. Kade Fellowship!
April 2022 [Paper]: Savanna’s review paper has been accepted by Current Opinion in Pharmacology. Congratulations Savanna!
March 2022 [Honor]: Congratulations Kritika on receiving the 2022 Robert L. Switzer Award!
January 2022 [Team]: Savanna passed her final defense with flying colors! Congratulations, Dr. Savanna Sharum Skeeters!
January 2022 Happy new year!
December 2021 [Presentation] Here is a summary of our research that I presented at the recent 2021 PacificChem conference. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to UIUC Media Space for hosting the talk.
December 2021 [Presentation]: Kai gave an invited talk at the Photopharmacology III conference.
December 2021 [Team]: We sincerely welcome Terry Gao (MCB) and Andrew Huang (Biophysics) to join our lab for graduate studies.
Terry Gao
Andrew Huang
November 2021 [Team]: Welcome Tanner Dean (Biophysics), Rebecca Tang (MCB), and Shweta Shree (MCB) to take the third rotation in our lab!
October 2021 [Presentation]: Kai gave the inaugural “Light Lecture” at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine. Thanks, Profs. Jiajie Diao and Yujie Sun, for the kind invitation.
October 2021 [Presentation]: Kai presented at the virtual Chinese Biosciences Association conferences.
October 2021 [Team]: Welcome Terry Gao and Xiangning Song from MCB to take the second rotation in our lab!
September 2021 [Team]: Welcome the undergraduate students Aruniti Manawa, Ami Patel, Tristan Worley, Nathan Gron, Nafay Abdul, and Ahnaf Monyem to join our lab!
September 2021 [Team]: Welcome Andrew Huang (Biophysics), Ran Yang (MCB), and Anuradha Sharma (MCB) to take the first rotation in our lab!
August 2021 [Honor]: Vishnu’s work has been highlighted as Featured Communication and Front Cover in the Journal of Molecular Biology! Check out the news report in UI News Bureau, and highlighted in Genetic Engineering&Biotechnology News, Science Daily, News Medical Life Sciences
August 2021 [Honor]: Congratulations to Payel on receiving the 2020 (delayed a year) Anne A. Johnson Work Award for demonstrating excellence in graduate studies and research. Good work, Payel.
July 2021 [Honor]: Kai is highlighted in MCB newsletter.
June 2021 [Honor]: Kai is appointed the Associate Department Head and Director of Graduate Studies. Look forward to working with our staff to better serve our students and department.
June 2021 [Honor]: Check out the news report from RCSA. Also highlighted in College of LAS and MCB news:
May 2021 [Funding]: We received a Scialog Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) to study the gut-brain axis. Exciting new project! Thank you for the support, RCSA @RCSA1.
May 2021 [Honor]: Kai got promoted to Associate Professor with tenure! Great work the Zhang lab team! I appreciate all your hard work. Let’s continue the joy of doing science together!
April 2021 [Honor]: Celebrate Biochemistry Student Awards Symposium! Congratulations everyone! Hard work paid off! 2021Biochem GS Awards!
April 2021 [Paper]: Vishnu’s paper is accepted by the Journal of Molecular Biology! Congratulations team!
March 2021 [Honor]: Kai was interviewed in CCIL news report!
March 2021 [Honor]: TJ passed his prelim exam! Congratulations TJ!
March 2021 [Honor]: Tina received the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) from MCB! Congratulations Tina!
March 2021 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Dipanjan Pan was selected as the Inside Front Cover of Nanoscale! Congratulations team!
March 2021 [Team]: Welcome the undergraduate student Collin Barnes to join our lab!
February 2021 [Presentation]: Kai presented at the virtual Biophysical Society Meeting, Penn State University, and the University of Florida.
Feb 2021 [Paper]: Check out our recent collaborative work with Prof. Jiajie Diao in Nature Communications! Good work team!
Jan 2021 [Paper]: Check out our recent review on optogenetics in Advanced Biology! Good work team!
Jan 2021 [Team]: Follow us on Twitter @Zhanglab1.
Jan 2021 [Funding]: We received a multiple-PI R01 grant with Prof. Nien-Pei Tsai (MIP, UIUC). Great work, team! A good start of 2021! MCB news report.
January 2021 [Teaching]: Kai started teaching Physical Biochemistry MCB/BIOC 446, CHEM 472. Welcome to my class :).
January 1, 2021: Happy new year!
Dec 2020 [Team]: Undergraduate student Uma Agarwal joined the lab! Welcome, Uma!
Dec 2020 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Dipanjan Pan was accepted by Nanoscale! Congratulations team!
Dec 2020 [Paper]: Our paper was accepted by Advanced Biology! Congratulations team!
Nov 2020 [Honor]: Huaxun received the department Charles F. Kade fellowship! Congratulations Huaxun!
Nov 2020 [Paper]: Our collaborative work with Dr. Diao was accepted in Nature Communications. Great work team!
Nov 2020 [Team]: Welcome Kaylee Kuzelka and Jorge Calderin to take the rotation in our lab.
Oct 2020 [Paper]: Savanna and Ana’s paper was accepted in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Great work team!
Oct 2020 [Honor]: Kai was invited to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Molecular Biology. Good work the Zhang lab team, your work has been recognized!
Oct 2020 [Team]: Welcome Anna Mankovich to take the rotation in our lab.
Sep 2020 [Team]: Welcome Jessica Palalay to take the rotation in our lab.
Sep 2020 [Honor]: Huaxun and Kritika passed their prelim exams! Congratulations!
Sep 2020 [Paper]: Our collaborative work has been accepted in eLife. Good work team! MCB report here.
Sep 2020 [Honor]: Kai was invited to share scientific insights on cell imaging in Technology Networks. The report is here. Enjoy reading. 
Sep 2020 [Presentation]: Welcome to Kai’s tenure talk.
Aug 2020 [Paper]: Kai finished guesting editing a special issue for the Journal of Molecule Biology. Thank you all contributing authors. Your work is highly appreciated.
July 2020 [Paper]: Our collaborative work has been published in the Journal of Molecular Biology. Good work team!
May 2020 [Team]: Welcome to the School of MCB convocation! Congratulations Dr. Payel Mondal!
May 2020 [Honor]: Kai starts serving as an associate editor for Frontier of Molecular Neurosciences.
May 2020 [Honor]: Congratulations to Jennifer Cheng (alumnus) on winning the 2020 American Epilepsy Society pre-doctoral fellowship! Good job, Jennifer!
April 2020 [Presentation]: Kai presented in the CCIL faculty seminar series. The online presentation is fun!
April 2020 [Team]: Farewell to Dr. Payel Mondal. Payel will start her postdoc at Purdue University! Thank you, Payel, for the great work. We will miss you.
April 2020 [Honor]: Congratulations to Payel on winning the 2020 Switzer Outstanding TA Award! Good job Payel.
April 2020 [Honor]: Congratulations Payel on winning the MCB research image contest.
[March 2020 [Paper]: Our collaborative work with Prof. Jing Yang (UIUC) was accepted by the Journal of Molecular Biology! Good work!
March 2020 [Honor]: Kai is on the Scialog list of the 2020’s meeting on the microbiome, neurobiology, and disease. The full list of fellows can be found here: https://rescorp.org/news/2020/03/scialog-microbiome-neurobiology-and-disease-fellows-named
February 2020 [Team]: Dr. John Khamo takes a faculty position in the Department of Biology at the Elgin Community College, Chicago. Congratulations John! I am very happy for you!
March 2020 [Presentation]: Kai gave an invited talk in the Institute of Biophysical Dynamics program at the University of Chicago. Thanks for the invitation, Jingyi!
February 2020 [Paper]: Our collaborative work with Prof. Peter Klein (Upenn) and Prof. Jing Yang (UIUC) was accepted by Developmental Biology! Good work!
February 2020 [Presentation]: Kai presented a poster at the Biophysical Society meeting in San Diego.
February 2020 [Presentation]: Payel gave a talk at the SPIE photonic west Bio meeting in San Diego.
February 2020 [Team]: A good dinner in Fiesta Cafe.
January 2020 [Team]: Dr. Vishnu V. Krishnamurthy joins as a postdoc.
January 2020 [Honor]: Kai is selected as the Scialog fellow by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA)!
January 2020 [Teaching]: Kai started teaching Physical Biochemistry MCB/BIOC 446, CHEM 472. Welcome to my class :).
January 1, 2020: Happy new year!
December 2019 [Team]: The Zhang lab agents went save the world. Good job agents! We love LabEscape!
December 2019 [Paper]: Our collaborative work with Prof. Stephen Sligar was accepted by the Analytical Chemistry! Good job Kritika! This is a new direction that we pursued with our single-molecule detection strategy after our success in detecting single carbon nanodots! The paper can be viewed here.
December 2019 [Presentation]: Neeka presented a poster in the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.
December 2019 [Team]: TJ OH joined the lab! Welcome aboard!
December 2019 [Team]: Reunion with John and Vishnu in the hooding ceremony! You made it Drs. Khamo and Krishnamurthy! Enjoy your time with your family! Bonus: Drs. at work! 🙂
December 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented a talk in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University!
December 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented an invited talk and chaired the session in the Optogenetic Technologies and Applications in Boston!
December 2019 [Honor]: Welcome to the MCB party. And Congratulations to Savanna for being awarded.
November 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented a student-invited talk in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Thank you, Erika and other undergraduate students!
November 2019 [Paper]: Our collaborative work with Dr. Taras Pogorelov was accepted by the Journal of Physical Chemistry B (JPCB)! Good job Huaxun and John! Read the paper here.
November 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented an invited talk in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University. It is exciting to meet mentors and make new friends!
November 2019 [Team]: Vishnu Defended! Congratulations Dr. Krishnamurthy!
November 2019 [Honor]: Payel’s work has been selected as a Supplementary Cover in the ACS Synthetic Biology. Good job Payel!
November 2019 [Honor]: Payel’s work was reported in UIUC news bureau. Good job Payel! ANANYA SEN wrote the report. Brian Stauffer took the photo. Thanks, Ananya and Brian!
October 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented an invited talk at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you, Dr. Jiajie Diao, for the kind invitation.
October 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented an invited talk at the Xenopus Resource and Emerging Technology (XRET 2019) at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
October 2019 [Honor]: Payel received a travel grant from Biochemistry and Graduate College. Congratulations Payel!
October 2019 [Paper]: Payel’s paper was accepted by ACS Synthetic Biology! Good job Payel!
September 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented the Center for Physics of Living Cells (CPLC) seminar at UIUC. Thank you, Prof. Paul Selvin, for the invitation.
September 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented an invited talk in the International International Conference on Biomechanics and Medical Engineering (ICBME 2019, San Diego) and the Bioengineering Department of the University of California, San Diego.
September 2019 [Honor]: Congratulations to Savanna on receiving the second prize in the 1st School of MCB retreat! Good job Savanna!
September 2019 [Presentation]: Savanna and Payel presented at the School of MCB retreat!
September 2019 [Funding]: Kai received an R01 grant from NIH/NIGMS! Thank you, NIH. Great job the Zhang lab team!
August 2019 [Funding]: Kai is a Co-Investigator on an R01 grant from NIH/NIMH! Thank you, NIH. Great job the Zhang lab team!
August 2019 [Team]: Ana graduated and joins the Johns Hopkins University as an undergraduate student. Good job Ana and you will be missed.
July 2019 [Honor]: Payel is highlighted in the MCB GSA newsletter! Congratulations Payel!
July 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented a poster in the Society of Developmental Biology meeting in Boston!
July 2019 [Teaching]: The Zhang lab led the neurobiology module in the 10th CPLC summer school. Good job guys. 2019 CPLC summer school at UIUC
June 2019 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Dipanjan Pan was accepted by Advanced Functional Materials! Good job team!
May 2019 [Team]: John Defended! Congratulations Dr. Khamo!
May 2019: [Honor] Congratulations! Payel won the 2019 Dissertation Completion Fellowship.
April 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented an invited talk at the OSA Biophotonics Congress: Optics in the Life Sciences. [LINK].
April 2019 [Honor]: Kelly has received the “High Distinction” Biochemistry Award! Congratulations Kelly!
April 2019 [Presentation]: Kai presented the Frontier Lecture in the MBM (Miniature Brain Machinery) Training Program. [LINK]
April 2019 [Honor]: Savanna and John received the 2019 Robert L. Switzer Outstanding Teaching Awards! Congratulations guys!
March 2019 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Jing Yang was accepted by Development! Good job team!
March 2019 [Presentation]: John and Kai presented in the Biophysical Society meeting at Baltimore!
February 2019 [Editorial]: Kai serves as a guest editor for the Journal of Molecular Biology.
Journal: Journal of Molecular Biology
Article Selection: Chemical-genetics and Optogenetics – Control intracellular signal transduction in living cells and organisms
Submission date: 1 February 2019 – 1 November 2019
Interested contributors can contact Kai at kaizkaiz@illinois.edu.
January 2019 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Jiajie Diao was accepted by Nano Research! Good job team!
January 2019 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Jiajie Diao was accepted by Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces! Good job team!
January 2019 [Team]: Undergraduate students Max Spiro and Dhananjay Shahdadpuri will join our laboratory! Welcome aboard!
January 2019 [Teaching]: Kai started teaching Physical Biochemistry MCB/BIOC 446, CHEM 472. Welcome to my class :).
January 2019: Happy new year!
December 2018 [Paper]: Our second collaborative paper with Dr. Dipanjan Pan was accepted by Carbon, another high-impact journal in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology! Good job team!
December 2018 [Team]: Huaxun Fan and Kritika Mehta from MCB will join our laboratory! Welcome aboard!
November 2018 [Paper]: John’s paper got accepted by Cell Chemical Biology! Good job John! The press release can be found here.
November 2018 [Team]: Welcome Kritika Mehta from MCB and Xin Chen from the Biophysics Program to take a rotation in our laboratory!
October 2018 [Team]: Welcome Laura Suttenfield from MCB and Micca Hecht from the Biophysics Program to take a rotation in our laboratory!
September 2018 [Team]: Welcome Huaxun Fan from MCB to take a rotation in our laboratory!
August 2018 [Paper]: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Dipanjan Pan was accepted by Nanoscale, a high impact international journal, publishing high-quality research across nanoscience and nanotechnology! Good job team! The press release can be found here.
August 2018 [Paper]: Kai was invited to write a review to celebrate the 60th Birthday of his our Alma Mater, University of Science and Technology of China! Happy Birthday, USTC!
July 2018 [Teaching]: The Zhang lab led the neurobiology module in the 9th CPLC summer school. Good job guys! 2018 CPLC summer school at UIUC
July 2018 [Teaching]: Savanna taught kids how to pipette at the Children’s Museum! Thanks, Savanna!
June 2018 [Honor]: Savanna is a WESTCOTT FELLOW IN BIOCHEMISTRY. Congratulations Savanna!
May 2018 [Team]: Jennifer Cheng graduated and will attend Northwestern University for Graduate school! You will be missed!
May 2018 [Honor]: Jennifer received the highest distinction. Congratulations Jennifer!
April 2018 [Honor]: Savanna passed her prelim. Good job Savanna!
April 2018 [Honor]: Vishnu received the Outstanding TA award. Congratulations Vishnu!
April 2018 [Honor]: John and Payel in the Biochemistry award ceremony. Congratulations John and Payel!
April 2018 [Presentation]: Payel presented a talk and a poster in the Experimental Biology (EB) meeting at San Diego!
March 2018 [Honor]: Kelly received MCB Undergraduate summer research award. Kelly also received the Campus Honors Program (CHP) grant (declined). Congratulations Kelly!
February 2018 [Paper]: A collaborative work has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience. [Link]
February 2018 [Presentation]: Kai presented a poster at the 2018 Biophysical Society meeting in San Francisco.
January 2018 [Honor]: Payel won the Travel Award from ASBMB in 2018. Congratulations Payel!
January 2018 [Teaching]: Kai started teaching Physical Biochemistry MCB/BIOC 446, CHEM 472. Welcome to my class :).
January 2018: Happy new year!
December 2017 [Honor]: Payel won the Department of Biochemistry Graduate Student Travel Award. Congratulations Payel!
November 2017 [Teaching]: Kai volunteered as a teacher for second graders. We learned acid and base!
November 2017: Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
October 2017 [Teaching]: Vishnu and Kai co-teach a neuroscience course (NEUR598).
September 2017: Kai hosted the Biochemistry Seminar presented by Dr. Thomas Wandless from Stanford University. We were amazed by the biotechnological tools that Tom developed. Thanks, Tom!
September 2017: Kai hosted the Neuroscience Program Seminar presented by Dr. Su-Chun Zhang from the University of Wisconsin Madison! iPSC cells are cool! Thanks, Su-Chun!
September 2017 [Paper]: We published a paper in the Journal of Molecular Biology! Good work everyone!
August 2017 [Honor]: John received the Biochemistry Westcott fellowship! Congratulations John!
July 2017 [Teaching]: The Zhang lab hosts CPLC summer school. Welcome students and postdocs from all over the world. Good job John and Payel for being great TAs!
June 2017 [Presentation]: Kai gave presentations at the Neurotrophin Gordon Research Conference in Salve Regina, Brown University, and Harvard Medical School.
June 2017 [Paper]: Vishnu published a paper in the Journal of Visualized Experiments!
June 2017 [Team]: Undergraduate student Jennifer Cheng joined the lab. Welcome, Jennifer!
June 2017 [Team]: Lab day-out in Kickapoo National Park! Barbecue, volleyball, badminton, fishing… We had great fun!
May 2017 [Team]: Undergraduate student Kelly Cho joined the lab. Welcome, Kelly!
May 2017 [Team]: Three undergraduate students graduated (Humza, Dil, and Noah). Good work! You will be missed!
May 2017 [Honor]: Humza received a high distinction. Congratulations Humza!
April 20, 2017 [Honor]: Payel passed her Prelim exam! Congratulations Payel!
April 2017 [Paper]: A collaborative work has been published in Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan (BCSJ)!
March 2017 [Presentation]: Kai was invited to give a talk in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University.
March 2017 [Presentation]: Kai was invited to give a talk at the neuronal regeneration symposium at Houston Methodist.
March 2017 [Presentation]: Savanna presents our research in the MCB RAPID FIRE for prospective graduate students. Good job Savanna!
March 2017 [Presentation]: Kai hosted the Biochemistry Seminar presented by Dr. Kimberly Mowry from Brown University. We learned a great story of RNA transport in Frog oocytes. Thanks, Kim!
February 2017 [Teaching]: Kai and Savanna taught how cells work for a group of 3-6 graders in the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) studio in the Next Generation Elementary-Middle School. We had great fun with a super-motivated audience.
January 2017 [Paper]: Payel’s paper was accepted in Frontiers of Molecular Neuroscience. Good job Payel!
January 2017: Happy New Year!
December 2016 [Team]: Graduate student Savanna Sharum (MCB) joined our lab. Welcome, Savanna!
November 2016 [Team]: Graduate student Savanna Sharum (MCB) took a rotation in our lab. Welcome, Savanna!
October 2016 [Presentation]: Kai gave a talk in the 2016 Society for Developmental Biology Midwest Meeting. Vishnu and Kai had great fun and learned a lot!
October 2016 [Team]: Graduate student Nandan Haloi (Biophysics) took a rotation in our lab. Welcome, Nandan!
September 2016 [Paper]: Vishnu contributed to a chapter in Methods in Molecular Biology. Good job Vishnu!
September 2016 [Paper]: Vishnu’s paper was accepted in Development! Good work everyone!
September 2016 [Team]: Graduate student Madhura Duttagupta (MCB) took a rotation in our lab. Welcome, Madhura!
August 2016 [Presentation]: Humza and Kai attended the New Student Welcome events for incoming undergraduate students as the Biochemistry department representatives. Welcome new students!
July 2016 [Teaching]: The Zhang lab led the Neurobiology module in the Center of Physics of Living Cells (CPLC) summer school 2016 at UIUC [Link]. Way to go!
May 2016 [Funding]: Kai received an Innovative Teaching and Learning Grant from the School of MCB!
May 2016 [Honor]: Ellen received a high distinction. Congratulations Ellen!
April 29, 2016 [Honor]: John passed his Prelim/Qual exam! Great job John!
April 25, 2016 [Honor]: Vishnu passed his Prelim exam! Great job Vishnu!
March 2016 [Honor]: Undergraduate student Humza Ashraf received the Biochemistry Summer Research Scholarship Award! Great job Humza!
February 2016 [Team]: Undergraduate student Neeka Haack (MCB) joined our lab. Welcome, Neeka!
February 2016 [Teaching]: Vishnu gave an excellent lecture in Neuroscience course NEUR598. Good Job Vishnu!
January 2016 [Teaching]: Kai started teaching Physical Biochemistry II.
January 2016 [Team]: Graduate student Payel Mondal (MCB) joined our lab. Welcome, Payel!
January 2016: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 2015 [Presentation]: Kai gave a talk at the International Symposium of Neural Regeneration. Such an exciting symposium!
November 2015 [Presentation]: Celebrate our lab-warming party! The “Zhang lab baby” is 100 days old.
October 2015 [Presentation]: Twinkle-twinkle single quantum dots. Imaging with our home-built single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. (download video here: sQD610_TIRF_488nm)
October 2015 [Team]: Graduate student Yeoman Youn from the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology program took a rotation in our lab. Welcome, Yeoan!
September 2015 [Team]: Graduate student Eric Shinn from the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology program took a rotation in our lab. Welcome, Eric!
September 2015 [Team]: Graduate student Payel Mondal (MCB) took a rotation in our lab. Welcome, Payel!
August 2015 [Team]: New semester starts. Celebrate our past year and welcome new students!
August 2015 [Presentation]: Check out the birth of our new “Zhang lab baby” by clicking the GIF animation below!
August 2015 [Team]: Undergraduate student Humza Ashraf joined our lab. Welcome, Humza!
July 2015 [Team]: Undergraduate student Noah Risner and Dil Patel joined our lab. Welcome, Noah and Dil!
June 2015 [Presentation]: We moved to our newly renovated lab! Awesome! New microscope installed! Check out our first sets of images under the microscope!
May 2015 [Team]: Farewell party for Cara (and celebrate our first paper) at Turkey Run State Park — Kayaking is fun!
May 2015 [Team]: Cara graduated! She will be a graduate student at Vanderbilt University. Congratulations Cara!
April 2015 [Team]: Kai is affiliated with the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology. [Link]
March 2015 [Paper]: Vishnu’s paper was accepted by Analytical Biochemistry! Good job Vishnu!
February 2015 [Team]: Undergraduate student Max Chen joined our lab. Welcome, Max!
January 2015 [Paper]: Kai’s review paper on optogenetic control of intracellular signal transduction was published in Trend in Biotechnology. [Link]
January 2015: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 2014 [Presentation]: Kai gave invited presentations at Fudan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China.
December 2014 [Team]: First-year graduate student John Khamo joined our lab. Welcome aboard John!
November 2014 [Team]: Undergraduate student Cara Schornak joined our lab. Welcome, Cara!
October 2014 [Team]: Kai’s new baby girl Elena was born! Busy and happy daddy!
September 2014 [Team]: Kai is affiliated to the neuroscience program [link].
September 2014 [Team]: Graduate student Erik Andersen took his second rotation in our lab. Welcome, Erik!
September 2014 [Team]: Graduate student Vishnu Vardhanour Krishnamurthy joined our lab. Welcome, Vishnu!
August 2014 [Team]: Undergraduate Ellen Cho joined our lab. Welcome, Ellen!
August 2014 [Team]: Graduate student John Khamo took his first rotation in our lab. Welcome, John!
August 16, 2014: The Zhang Lab started!