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) Email CV
Postdoctoral researchers and project scientists
Dr. Elaine Kirschke Project Scientist Ph.D. Biophysics, University of California San Francisco (2014) Email CV
Dr. Oliver Vining Project Scientist Ph.D. Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oregon State University (2015) Secondary metabolism of complex microbial consortia Email
Dr. Nathalie Elisabeth Project Scientist Ph.D. Physiology and Biology of Organisms, Populations, and Interactions, University des Antilles/France (2011) Email
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
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
Janelle Arnold B.S. Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University (2023) Developing anaerobic cell-free systems to study non-model microbes Email Co-advised by Prof. Carolyn Mills
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
Vikram Shanbhag B.S. Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India (2023) Engineering self-remodeling protein complexes for synthetic biology Email Co-advised by Prof. Scott Shell
Chaoming Xu B.S. Biological Science, UC Santa Barbara (2023) Characterization and Engineering of Fungal Carbohydrate-Binding Module Email
Johanna Blackmore UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2024
Wenni Zhang UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2027
John Sepe UCSB Microbiology, 2026
Hector Cardenas UCSB Chemistry, 2026
Chandraki Chatterjee UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2025
Keith Chu UCSB Biochemistry, 2025
Isabella Farrand UCSB Chemical Engineering, 2026
Lab Alumni
Former International Visitors
Dr. Mike Theodorou, Professor Emeritus of Anaerobic Digestion & Fermentation Technology, Harper Adams University, UK Dr. Magdalena Calusinska, Senior Researcher, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
Former Project Scientists
Dr. Susanna Seppala
Former Postdoctoral Scholars
Dr. Tejas Navaratna (2023) 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
Dr. Kellie Heom Dr. Katharine Dickson, currently postdoctoral scholar, UC-Davis (Hess Lab) Dr. Patrick Leggieri, currently Allonnia Dr. Stephen Lillington, currently Genentech Dr. Tom Lankiewicz, currently Allonnia Dr. Jennifer Brown, currently the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Kerri Luttrell, former post-baccalaureate researcher, currently at University of Hawaii Dr. Michael Vigers, currently postdoctoral scholar, University of California, Santa Barbara Dr. Kendrick D. Nguyen, currently Quantum-Si Emily Sun, MS Dr. Candice Swift, currently USPTO Dr. St. Elmo Wilken, currently postdoctoral scholar, Heinrich-Heine University, Germany (Ebenhöh lab) Dr. Justin Yoo, currently Notch Therapeutics Dr. Sean Gilmore, currently Native Microbials Dr. John Henske, currently Inscripta Dr. Nicole Schonenbach, currently Pfizer Dr. Jennifer Guerrero, currently Amgen
Former Undergraduates
Nabil Alansari (2022-2023), Meissner Thea Zalunardo (2021-2023) Taylor Gierke (2020-2023), PhD Student Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Yale University Michael Dong (2021-2022), Sutro Biopharma Scott Tam (2021-2022), ACCO Engineered Systems Miguel Castaneda-Renteria (2020-2021), Cargill Nikola Malinov (2019-2021), currently PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Univ. of Delaware Corey Kerdman-Andrade (2019-2020) Derek Tang (2019-2020) Freda Lababidi (2019), UCSB Chemical Engineering Jenna Hoover (2018-2019), Amgen Mason Gatz (2019), undergraduate UCSD Chemical Engineering Alex Smith (2018-2019), undergraduate UCSB Microbiology Patrick Kolence (2017-2019) Mohan Saxena (2017-2019), Clorox Teagan Pado (2018-2019) Samantha Lee (2015-2018) Julia Bryne (2016-2018) Zach Cogan (2015-2017), UCSF Winston Hsu (2016-2017), OSIsoft Randall DeGroot (2015-2017), Zymergen Jessica Hauk (2015-2017), Chemetry Francis Cunningham (2016-2017), PhD Student Chemical & Bimolecular Engineering, UC-Berkeley R. Andres Parra Sperberg (2014-2016), PhD Student Bioengineering, Stanford University Herman Ching (2015-2016), PhD Student Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine Daniel Yur (2014-2016), PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, University of Delaware Wen-Kang Chou, ICB URAP (2014-2015), PhD student ChE, Princeton Sarah Maxel (2013-2015), PhD Student Chemical Engineering, UC-Irvine Natalie Banakis (2012-2015), Patagonia Charlotte Abrahamson (2013-2015), PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, Northwestern Erich Brodbeck, Amgen Fellow, ICB URAP (2013-2014), Amryis Chris Euchus (UC-Irvine), INSET (2014) Marla Nyamdori (2013-2014) David Chau (2013-2014), Eurofins Advantar Labs Kane Nania (UCLA) (2013), PhD student UCLA Jiehao (CJ) Chen (UC-Berkeley), INSET (2013), Genentech Jessica O'Day (2012-2013), Kite Pharma Brian Owens (2012-2013), Energy Transfer Briane Kiliman, McNair Scholar (2012-2013), Intel Meredith Green (2012-2013), Merck Elisa Ovadia (2012-2013), PhD Student Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, University of Delaware Josie Tressl (2012-2013), Boehrigner Ingelheim