People

Principal Investigator

Prof. Michelle A. O’Malley
Assistant 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. Xuefeng (Nick) Peng
(co-advised with Dave Valentine)
​Ph.D. Geosciences, Princeton University (2015)
Isolation and Characterization of Anaerobic Consortia   [CV]
Email

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Dr. Susanna Seppala
Ph.D. Biochemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden (2011)
M.Sc. Molecular Biology, Stockholm University, Sweden (2005)
Membrane Protein Biogenesis
[CV]
Email

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Graduate Students

Justin Yoo
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University (2013)
NSF Graduate Fellow
Receptor Engineering for Detection and Diagnostics
Email

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Igor Podolsky
B.S. Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University (2015)
Email

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Jennifer Brown
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Toledo (2015) 
Engineering Stable Anaerobic Consortia
Email

Michael Vigers
​(co-advised with Songi Han)
B.S., Chemical and Biological Engineering, Montana State University - Bozeman (2016)
Email

Candice Swift
B.S. Chemical and Biological Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison  (2010)
​NSF Graduate Fellow
​Email

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St. Elmo Wilken
(co-advised with Linda Petzold)
M. Eng. Control Engineering, University of Pretoria (2015)
Email
[CV]

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Khanh (Kendrick) D. Nguyen
(co-advised with Songi Han)
B. S. Chemistry, University of New Orleans (2016)
Biophysical Study of G Protein-Coupled Receptor
​Email
[CV]
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Tom Lankiewicz
B.A. Biology, Grinnell College (2012)
M.S. Marine Studies, University of Delaware (2014)
Identifying and Characterizing Lignin-active Enzymes in Anaerobic Fungi​
Email
CV

International Visitor

Dr. Mike Theodorou
Professor of Anaerobic Digestion & Fermentation Technology
Harper Adams University, UK

Ph.D. Biochemical Plant Pathology, Imperial College London
Email 

Current Undergraduate Students

Mohan Saxena
UCSB Chemical Engineering 2019

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Teagan Pado
UCSB Chemical Engineering 2019  

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Patrick Kolence
UCSB Molecular Biology 2020

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Lab Alumni

Former Postdoctoral Scholars

Dr. Kevin Solomon (2012-2015), Currently Asssitant Professor, Purdue University
Dr. Charles Haitjema (2012-2016), Currently ProteinSimple
Dr. Jessica Sexton (2014-2016), Currently Apeel Sciences
Dr. Monica Reith (2014-2016), Currently Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville)
Dr. Doriv Knop (2016-2018)

Former PhD Students

Dr. Jennifer Guerrero, Currently Amgen
Dr. Nicole Schonenbach, Currently Pfizer
Dr. John Henske, Currently Finch Therapeutics
Dr. Sean Gimore, Currently Ascus Biosciences

Former Undergraduates

Josie Tressl (2012-2013), currently Boehrigner Ingelheim
Elisa Ovadia (2012-2013), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, University of Delaware
Meredith Green (2012-2013), currently Merck
Briane Kiliman, McNair Scholar (2012-2013), currently Intel
​Brian Owens (2012-2013), currently TriSep
Jessica O'Day (2012-2013), currently Kite Pharma
David Chau (2013-2014)
Jiehao (CJ) Chen (UC-Berkeley), INSET (2013), currently Genentech
Kane Nania (UCLA) (2013), currently PhD student UCLA
Marla Nyamdori (2013-2014), currently a makeup artist
Chris Euchus (UC-Irvine), INSET (2014)
Erich Brodbeck, Amgen Fellow, ICB URAP (2013-2014), currently MS Materials Program UCSB
Wen-Kang Chou, ICB URAP (2014-2015), currently PhD student ChE, Princeton
Natalie Banakis (2012-2015), currently Meissner
Sarah Maxel (2013-2015), currently PhD Student Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine
Herman Ching (2015-2016), currently PhD Student Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine
Charlotte Abrahamson (2013-2015), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, Northwestern
Daniel Yur (2014-2016), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, University of Delaware
R. Andres Parra Sperberg (2014-2016), currently PhD Student Bioengineering, Stanford University
Francis Cunningham (2016-2017), currently PhD Student Chemical & Bimolecular Engineering, UC-Berkeley
​Jessica Hauk (2015-2017), currently Chemetry
Randall DeGroot (2015-2017), currently Zymergen
Winston Hsu (2016-2017)
​Zach Cogan (2015-2017), currently UCSF
Julia Bryne (2016-2018)
Samantha Lee (2015-2018)
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