Principal Investigator:
Kai Zhang, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Associate Department Head
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Biochemistry
Affiliate, Beckman Institute
Affiliate, Neuroscience program
Affiliate, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology
Affiliated Faculty, Cancer Center at Illinois
Affiliated Faculty, Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program
314 B RAL (Office)
317 RAL (Laboratory)
Phone: 217-300-0582
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Tyler Camp
- American Parkinson’s Disease Association Fellow (2022)
- B.S. of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin (2017)
- PhD: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2021)
- Email: tylerc5@illinois.edu
Graduate Students
Huaxun Fan
BS: Zhejiang University, China
Email: huaxunf2@illinois.edu
Charles F. Kade fellow (2020)
Kritika Mehta
MS: Indian Institute of Technology, India
Email: kritika4@illinois.edu
Charles F. Kade fellow (2022)
Robert L. Switzer Award (2022, 2023)
Teak-Jung (TJ) Oh
MS: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC)
Email: tjoh2@illinois.edu
Yu-En (Andrew) Huang
BS: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Email: yuenh2@illinois.edu
Undergraduate Students
Collin Barnes
collinb5@illinois.edu
UIUC Biology, Experience, Scholarship, and Training (BEST) Scholar
Uma Agarwal
umaa2@illinois.edu
Highest Distinction and the Jackson Merit Outstanding Thesis award (2023)
Ami Patel
amirp2@illinois.edu
Nathan Gron
ngron3@illinois.edu
Highest Distinction and the Jackson Merit Outstanding Thesis award (2023)
Nafay Abdul
nabdul24@illinois.edu
MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2022)
Zayn Beg
zaynbeg2@illinois.edu
MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2023)
Jungbin Lee
jungbin2@illinois.edu
Biochemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2022)
Kurt Leano
kleano5@illinois.edu
MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2023)
Danyi Wang
danyiw2@illinois.edu
MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2023)
Henry Yentsch
yentsch2@illinois.edu
Yushan Li
yl147@illinois.edu
Mehgan McCann
mmccann5@illinois.edu
MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2023)
Zhang Laboratory Alumni (Thank you. You will be missed.)
Graduate Students
Dr. John Khamo (2014/9-2019/7). Email: jkhamo2@illinois.edu. Robert L. Switzer Outstanding TA (2019), Keith Westcott Fellow (2017)
Current position: Scientist at Situ Biosciences (2021) and Neelyx lab (2022).
Dr. Vishnu Vardhan Krishnamurthy (2014/7 – 2019/12) Email: vkrshnm2@illinois.edu Robert L. Switzer Outstanding TA (2018) Leading author of a Featured Communication and Front Cover in the Journal of Molecular Biology (2021). Current position: Director at UIUC HTSF
Dr. Payel Mondal (2015/7-2020/5) Email: pmondal2@illinois.edu. ASBMB Travel Award (2018), Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2019), Switzer Outstanding TA (2020). Anne A. Johnson Work Award (2021, delayed from 2020). Current position: Postdoc at CHRISTINA TOWERS, Salk Institute
Dr. Savanna Sharum Skeeters (2016/7-2022/1) Email: ssharum2@illinois.edu. Keith Westcott Fellow (2018), second prize in the 1st School of MCB retreat (2019), Robert L. Switzer Outstanding TA (2019). Current position: Scientist at Cyrus Biotech
Mr. Terry Gao (2021-2022)
Technician
Tina Han (2020-2022). Email: jwhan4@illinois.edu. MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2021)
Undergraduate Students
Cara Schornak (2014/10-2015/7). Email: schorna2@illinois.edu Current position: Graduate student at Vanderbilt University.
Ellen Cho (2014/8-2016/5). Email: echo26@illinois.edu Biochemistry high distinction (2016) Current position: Loyola University Chicago.
Humza Ashraf (2015-2017) Email: hashraf2@illinois.edu Biochemistry Summer Research Scholarship Award (2016), Biochemistry high distinction (2017). Current position: University of Colorado, Boulder.
Dil Patel (2015-2017) Email: dbpatel4@illinois.edu Current position: Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville, IL
Noah Risner (2015-2017) Email: risner2@illinois.edu
Jennifer Cheng (2017-2018) Email: jzcheng2@illinois.edu. Biochemistry highest distinction (2018) Current position: Graduate student at Northwestern University. American Epilepsy Society pre-doctoral fellowship (2020, at Northwestern University)
Neeka Haack (2015-2019) Email: nhaack2@illinois.edu
Kelly Cho (2017-2019) Email: kcho29@illinois.edu Biochemistry High Distinction (2019). MCB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2021), Campus Honors Program (CHP) grant (2021, declined). Current position: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago
Max Spiro (2018-2019) Email: maxjs2@illinois.edu
Dhanan Shahdadpuri (2018-2021): dshahd2@illinois.edu
Aruniti Mawana (2021-2022): amanaw2@illinois.edu
Tristan Worley (2020-2021): tworley3@kaizkaizillinois-edu
Uma Agarwal (2021-2023) Email: umaa2@illinois.edu: Highest Distinction and the Jackson Merit Outstanding Thesis award.
Ami Patel (2021-2023): amirp2@illinois.edu
Nathan Gron (2021-2023): ngron3@illinois.edu: Highest Distinction and the Jackson Merit Outstanding Thesis award.
High School Student
Ana Rosu (2017-2019) Email: anarosu2@illinois.edu; arosu1@jhu.edu Current Position: Undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University.
First-year Rotation Graduate Students
Erik Andersen (2014/10-11) Email: microbioresearcher@gmail.com
Eric Shinn (2015/9-10) Email: shinn3@illinois.edu
Yeoan Youn (2015/11-12) Email: youn4@illinois.edu
Madhura Duttagupta (2016/8-9) Email:madhura2@illinois.edu
Nandan Haloi (2016/9-10) Email: nhaloi2@illinois.edu
Micca Hecht (2018/9-10) Email: miccah2@illinois.edu
Laura Suttenfield (2018/9-10) Email: lauracs2@illinois.edu
Xin Chen (2018/11-12) Email: xinc6@illinois.edu
Jessica Palalay (2020/9-10) Email: palalay2@illinois.edu
Anna Mankovich (2020/10-11) Email: annagm2@illinois.edu
Kaylee Kuzelka (2020/11-12) Email: kuzelka2@illinois.edu
Jorge Calderin (2020/11-12) Email: jorgedc2@illinois.edu
Ran Yang (2021/9-10) Email: ranyang3@illinois.edu
Anuradha Sharma (2021/9-10) Email: as110@illinois.edu
Xiangning Song (2021/10-11) Email: xs38@illinois.edu
Tanner Dean (Biophysics) (2021/11-12) Email: tjdean2@illinois.edu
Shweta Shree (2021/11-12) Email: shree3@illinois.edu
Rebecca Tang (2021/11-12) Email: rytang2@illinois.edu
Sepehr Alaeen (2022/08-09) Email: salaeen2@illinois.edu