Research Associates

Matt Thompson: Senior Research Associate

Hometown: Upper LaHave, Nova Scotia, Canada
Undergraduate Education: Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Graduate Education: Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Graduate Advisor: Robert P. Lemieux
Favorite Movie: Die Hard, Happy Gilmore
Favorite TV Show: LOST
Favorite Music: Anything really, but favourite: Blue Rodeo
Favorite Molecule: (S)-(+)-9-{[4-(dodecyloxy)benzoyl]oxy}-1,11-dimethyl-5,7-dihydrodibenzo[c,e]thiepin-3-yl 4-(dodecyloxy)benzoate

Postdoctoral Scholars

Yu Chen: Postdoctoral Scholar

Hometown: Ningbo, China
Undergraduate Education: Dalian University of Technology, China
Graduate Education: Nankai University, China
Graduate Advisor: Meiting Ju
Postdoctoral Advisor: Ehud Gazit, Tel Aviv University
Favorite Movie: Interstellar
Favorite TV Show: Better Call Saul
Favorite Molecule: Carnosine

Project: Development of liquid phase transmission electron microscopy for the study of biomaterials

Amit Fischer: Postdoctoral Scholar

International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) Postdoctoral Fellowship

Hometown: Kfar-Hess, Israel
Undergraduate Education: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Graduate Education: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Graduate Advisor: Itamar Willner
Favorite Music: Cold play, Travis
Favorite Molecule: kryptofix [2.2.2]

Project: Targeting tailorable peptide-based materials in drug delivery and development

Julia Oktawiec: Postdoctoral Scholar

NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Scholar

Hometown: New York City, NY
Undergraduate Education: Columbia University, NY
Graduate Education: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Advisor: Jeffrey R. Long
Favorite Movie: The Big Lebowski, Interstellar, Spirited Away
Favorite TV Show: Last Week Tonight
Favorite Music: Radiohead, Grizzly Bear, Soccer Mommy
Favorite Molecule: Cobalamin

Project: Proteomimetic polymers with defined structure and artificial folds – exploring structure in artificial, polymer-based proteins

Graduate Students

Sofia Aman: 4th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Undergraduate Education: National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Favorite Movie: Godfather, Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite TV Show: Dr. Who, ATLA
Favorite Music: Anything from Punjabi blues to pop rock
Favorite Molecule: H2O

Project: Fundamental study of natural and synthetic allomelanin for engineering various applications.  

Mary Cassidy: 6th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Fox River Grove, Illinois 
Undergraduate Education: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Favorite Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Favorite TV Show: Westworld, The Office
Favorite Music: Ariana Grande, Twenty One Pilots, anything I can sing along to!
Favorite Molecule: Serotonin

Project: Enzyme responsive protein-like-polymers for targeting myocardial infarction: biomarker discovery and materials design

Omar Ebrahim: 6th Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Hometown: San Diego, California
Undergraduate Education: UCLA
Favorite Movie: Lilo & Stitch
Favorite TV Show: Spongebob Squarepants
Favorite Music: Elevator Music
Favorite Molecule: Maleimide-Anthracene

Project: Stereochemical consequences and control on the bioactivity of proteomimetic polymers

Mara Fattah: 6th Year Graduate Student

NIH NRSA Fellow (F31)
Ryan Fellow

Hometown: Carmel, Indiana
Undergraduate Education: Purdue University
Favorite Movie: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Grand Budapest Hotel
Favorite TV Show: Parks and Recreation, Jeopardy, Great British Baking Show
Favorite Music: The 1975, Broadway musicals, Imagine Dragons
Favorite Molecule: Dopamine

Project: Unveiling dynamic materials properties of protein-like polymers for targeting neurodegenerative disease

Madeline Hopps: 4th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Winnetka, Illinois
Undergraduate Education: Trinity University
Favorite Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Harry Potter, Top Gun
Favorite TV Show: New Girl
Favorite Music: Quinn XCII, Rex Orange County, Caamp, Mt. Joy
Favorite Molecule: Anthracene

Project: Synthesis and design of novel proteomimetic polymers for optimized target binding, cell penetration, and performance

Lauren Irie: 5th Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Hometown: Torrance, California
Undergraduate Education: UC Berkeley
Favorite Movie: Kiki’s Delivery Service, Harry Potter
Favorite TV Show: BoJack Horseman, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Favorite Music: Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift
Favorite Molecule: DNA

Project: Synthesis and fabrication of allomelanin nanoparticle-polymer composites

Jessica Marks: 3rd Year Graduate Student

Ryan Fellow

Hometown: Wilmington, North Carolina
Undergraduate Education: Duke University
Favorite Movie: Pride and Prejudice, The Sixth Sense
Favorite TV Show: Gilmore Girls
Favorite Music: Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift
Favorite Molecule: Benzene

Project: Development of new polymer scaffolds for protein-like polymers for anti-inflammatory applications

Jun Min Moon: 2nd Year Graduate Student

Project: Biological application of synthetic melanin

Ashley Nensel: 5th Year Graduate Student

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow

Hometown: Wauconda, IL
Undergraduate Education: UC Berkeley
Favorite Movie: Ferris Bueller, Monsters University
Favorite TV Show: Doctor Who, Shameless, Last Week Tonight
Favorite Music: The Lumineers, Chance the Rapper
Favorite Molecule: isoBeRST-HaloTag

Project: Design, synthesis, and biological activity of anti-inflammatory proteomimetic materials

Hannah Palomino: 2nd Year Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Project: Designing Biocatalytic Peptide and Protein-like Polymer Mimetics

Navjit Paul: 5th Year Graduate Student

Ryan Fellow

Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Undergraduate Education: University of Toronto
Favorite Movie: Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away
Favorite TV Show: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Haunting of Hill House
Favorite Music: Marianas Trench, Bastille
Favorite Molecule: glycerol, caffeine

Project: Biological applications of synthetic melanins

Nathan Rosenmann: 5th Year Graduate Student

Ryan Fellow

Hometown: Naperville, Illinois
Undergraduate Education: University of Illinois at Chicago
Favorite Movie: IP Man, Hercules
Favorite TV Show: Naruto Shippuden
Favorite Music: The Weeknd, Bryson Tiller, Ariana Grande
Favorite Molecule: Caffeine

Project: Liquid phase transmission electron microscopy in the characterization of soft matter assemblies to develop updated models and to understand structure-property relationships

Christopher Sharpe: 7th Year Graduate Student

Hometown: Grinnell, Iowa
Undergraduate Education: Grinnell College, Iowa
Favorite Movie: The Princess Bride, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Big Sick
Favorite TV Show: Westworld, Last Man Standing
Favorite Music: Musical Soundtracks, Country, 80s
Favorite Molecule: Sucrose

Project: Understanding how spiders spin their silk — microscopy to materials science

Shengyi (Tony) Su: 5th Year Graduate Student
Co-advised by Omar Farha

Ryan Fellow

Hometown: Shanghai, China
Undergraduate Education: Grinnell College
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter, Star Wars
Favorite TV Show: The Big Bang Theory, Grimm, Merlin
Favorite Music: Maroon 5, Radiohead, Cro
Favorite Molecule: Diethyl azodicarboxylate

Project: Porous matter composites and their utility in separations and catalysis

Jozsef Toth: 2nd Year Graduate Student

Han Umana Kossio: 5th Year Graduate Student
Co-advised by Monica Olvera de la Cruz
Fulbright Scholar

Hometown: Hermosillo, Mexico
Undergraduate Education: Universidad de Sonora, Mexico
Favorite Movie: Empire of the Sun, Le Grande Vadrouille, The Meaning of Life
Favorite TV Show: Cowboy Bebop, Band of Brothers, Babylon Berlin
Favorite Music: Jacques Brel, Y. Malmsteen, Nat King Cole
Favorite Molecule: Oxidane

Project: Intracellular tracking and localization of protein-like polymers as targeted therapeutic materials

Masters Student 

Justin Walsh

Hometown: Lakeland, FL
Undergraduate Education: University of Florida
Movie: The Truman Show
TV Show: Seinfeld
Music: Wallice, Omar Apollo, Bleachers
Molecule: Ascorbic Acid

Undergraduate + Summer Students

Melanie Du

Hometown: Warren, NJ
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: The Parent Trap, The Little Rascals
Favorite TV Show: Modern Family, Criminal Minds
Favorite Music: The Weeknd, Lana Del Ray
Favorite Molecule: Paclitaxel

JoJo Holm

Hometown: Belleville, IL
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: Coraline
Favorite TV Show: New Girl, Psych, America’s Next Top Model
Favorite Music: Hozier, Maggie Rodgers, Lawrence
Favorite Molecule: Estrogen

Anni Kuningas

Hometown: Crystal Lake, IL
Undergraduate Education: Northwestern University
Favorite Movie: Up, Wall-E, The Book Thief
Favorite TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, How I Met Your Mother
Favorite Music: The Lumineers, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift
Favorite Molecule: Glucose