Team

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

Bryan Gworek

BS: California State University, Fullerton

Email: bgworek2@illinois.edu

Zixiao (Christina) Li

BS: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

MS: Johns Hopkins University

Email: zixiaol2@illinois.edu

Amna Mehfooz

BS: Lahore University of Management Science

Email: mehfooz2@illinois.edu

Undergraduate Students

Collin Barnes

collinb5@illinois.edu

UIUC Biology, Experience, Scholarship, and Training (BEST) Scholar

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