Prof. Michelle A. O’Malley Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, UCSB
USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT/Broad Institute (2009-2012) Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware (2009) B.S. Chemical Engineering; B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (2004) [CV] Email
Postdoctoral researchers and project scientists
Dr. Susanna Seppala Project Scientist Ph.D. Biochemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden (2012) M.Sc. Molecular Biology, Stockholm University, Sweden (2005) Membrane Protein Biogenesis Email CV
Dr. Tejas Navaratna Ph.D. Chemical Engineering , University of Michigan (2020) Directed evolution and development of genetic tools for anaerobic gut microbes Email CV
Dr. Hugh M. Purdy Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2021) Characterizing genetic mechanisms of diatom cell-wall silicification Email CV
Dr. Bo Zhang Ph.D. Animal Biology, UC Davis (2022) Microbial consortia and metabolism of anaerobic microbes Email CV
Graduate students
Patrick Leggieri B.S. Chemical Engineering, Lafayette College (2018) Metabolic and systems modeling of anaerobic consortia Email
Stephen Lillington B.S. Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University (2018) Characterization and engineering of cellulosomes from anaerobic fungi Email Co-advised by Prof. Scott Shell
Elaina Blair B.S. Chemical Engineering, Brigham Young University (2019) Email Engineering anaerobic microbial communities for bioproduct generation
Lazarina Butkovich B.S. Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology (2019) Natural product discovery in anaerobic gut microbes Email
Ramya Ragunathan B.S. Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India (2021) Understanding the formation of biogenic silica in diatoms and characterizing it Email Co-advised by Prof. Brad Chmelka and Prof. Mark Brzezinski
Vikram Mubayi B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2022) Microbial Degradation of Plastics Email
Kellie Heom B.S. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (2018) Developing single-cell RNA sequencing techniques for bacteria Email Co-advised by Prof. Siddarth Dey
Katharine Dickson B.S. Biology, George Mason University (2014) Anaerobic fungi and native consortia in nonhuman primate digestive systems Email
Colleen Ahern B.S. Chemical Engineering University of Massachusetts Lowell (2020) Microbial degradation of plastics Email
Shiyan (Shirley) Jin B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware (2021) Characterizing lignin-active enzymes in anaerobic fungi Email
Sarah Seagrave B.S. Microbiology, UC Santa Barbara. M.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Georgetown University. Engineering novel genetic engineering tools for directed evolution in non-model microbes Email
International Visitor
Dr. Mike Theodorou Professor Emeritus of Anaerobic Digestion & Fermentation Technology Harper Adams University, UK
Ph.D. Biochemical Plant Pathology, Imperial College London Email
Current Undergraduate Students
Taylor Gierke UCSB Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2023
Scott Tam UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2022
Jessy Gonzalez UCSB Microbiology, 2024
Johanna Blackmore UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2024
Miguel Castaneda-Renteria UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2023
Michael Dong UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2022
Thea Zalunardo UCSB Biochemistry, College of Creative Studies, 2023
Nabil Alansari UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2023
Lab Alumni
Former Postdoctoral Scholars
Dr. Amy Eisenberg (2023), currently Alga Biosciences Professor Chris Lawson (2020), currently Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Professor Xuefeng (Nick) Peng (2015-2020), currently Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina Dr. Doriv Knop (2016-2018) Dr. Monica Reith (2014-2016), currently Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville) Dr. Jessica Sexton (2014-2016), currently Apeel Sciences Dr. Charles Haitjema (2012-2016), currently ProteinSimple Professor Kevin Solomon (2012-2015), currently Assistant Professor, University of Delaware
Former PhD Students
Igor Podolsky Dr. Tom Lankiewicz, currently Allonnia Dr. Jennifer Brown, currently Joint Genome Institute Kerri Luttrell, former post-baccalaureate researcher, currently University of Hawaii Dr. Michael Vigers, currently postdoctoral student at University of California, Santa Barbara Dr. Kendrick D. Nguyen, currently Quantum-Si Emily Sun, MS Dr. Candice Swift, currently USPTO Dr. St. Elmo Wilken Dr. Justin Yoo, currently Bluebird Bio Dr. Sean Gilmore, currently Ascus Biosciences Dr. John Henske, currently Inscripta Dr. Nicole Schonenbach, currently Pfizer Dr. Jennifer Guerrero, currently Amgen
Former Undergraduates
Nikola Malinov (2019-2021) Corey Kerdman-Andrade (2019-2020) Derek Tang (2019-2020) Freda Lababidi (2019), currently UCSB Chemical Engineering Jenna Hoover (2018-2019), currently Amgen Mason Gatz (2019), undergraduate UCSD Chemical Engineering Alex Smith (2018-2019), undergraduate UCSB Microbiology Patrick Kolence (2017-2019) Mohan Saxena (2017-2019), currently Clorox Teagan Pado (2018-2019) Samantha Lee (2015-2018) Julia Bryne (2016-2018) Zach Cogan (2015-2017), currently UCSF Winston Hsu (2016-2017), currently OSIsoft Randall DeGroot (2015-2017), currently Zymergen Jessica Hauk (2015-2017), currently Chemetry Francis Cunningham (2016-2017), currently PhD Student Chemical & Bimolecular Engineering, UC-Berkeley R. Andres Parra Sperberg (2014-2016), currently PhD Student Bioengineering, Stanford University Herman Ching (2015-2016), currently PhD Student Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine Daniel Yur (2014-2016), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, University of Delaware Wen-Kang Chou, ICB URAP (2014-2015), currently PhD student ChE, Princeton Sarah Maxel (2013-2015), currently PhD Student Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine Natalie Banakis (2012-2015), currently Patagonia Charlotte Abrahamson (2013-2015), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, Northwestern Erich Brodbeck, Amgen Fellow, ICB URAP (2013-2014), currently Amryis Chris Euchus (UC-Irvine), INSET (2014) Marla Nyamdori (2013-2014) David Chau (2013-2014), currently Eurofins Advantar Labs Kane Nania (UCLA) (2013), currently PhD student UCLA Jiehao (CJ) Chen (UC-Berkeley), INSET (2013), currently Genentech Jessica O'Day (2012-2013), currently Kite Pharma Brian Owens (2012-2013), currently Energy Transfer Briane Kiliman, McNair Scholar (2012-2013), currently Intel Meredith Green (2012-2013), currently Merck Elisa Ovadia (2012-2013), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, University of Delaware Josie Tressl (2012-2013), currently Boehrigner Ingelheim