BTP Alumni
Kristalle Cruz, UMass Fellow 2018-2020
kgcruz@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Jeanne Hardy
Research Interest: Structural studies of emerging alpha-viral proteases for antiviral development.
Hyuna Kim, UMass Fellow 2018-2020
hyunakim@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular & Cellular Biology
Lab: Shelly Peyton
Research Interest: Understanding how extracellular matrix alteration relates to drug responses on breast cancer cells.
Darya Tourzani, NIH Trainee 2018-2020
dtourzan@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Veterinary and Animal Services
Lab: Pablo Visconti
Research Interests: Investigating the impact of metabolic changes in spermatozoa on early embryo development.
Danny McSweeney, NIH Trainee 2019-2021
dmcsweeney@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: ChangHui Pak
Research Interests: Investigating synaptic adhesion molecules and their contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders, like schizophrenia and autism.
Neha Gupta, UMass Fellow 2019-2021
nehagupta@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Veterinary and Animal Science
Lab: Rafael Fissore
Research Interests: Mechanism of Calcium homeostasis in mammalian eggs
Ian Graham, UMass Fellow 2020-2021ijgraham@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Environmental Engineering
Lab: Caitlyn Butler
Research Interests: Using metagenomic analyses to investigate microbial community composition, activity and genetic potential, particularly with applications towards wastewater treatment and resource recovery.
, UMass Fellow 2020-2022mmarin@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Public Heath
Lab: Alicia Timme-Laragy
Research Interests: Understanding how early life exposure to environmental contaminants like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) impact the developing pancreas and beta-cell function.
Akaansha Rampal, UMass Fellow 2021-2023arampal@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: Shelly Peyton and Richard Vachet
Research Interests: Characterizing and comparing the distribution of extracellular matrix proteins in synthetic 3D hydrogels versus tissues.
Morgan Smith, NIH Trainee 2021-2023
mornsmith@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Polymer Science and Engineering
Lab: Maria Santore
Research Interests: Investigating and controlling bacteria response through bacterial and biomaterial mechanics.
jullom@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: Leonid Pobezinsky
Research Interests: Understand the mechanism by which T cells of the adaptive immune system differentiate into either terminal effectors or memory cells upon activation.
Jiacheng Wang, UMass Fellow 2021-2023
jiachengwang@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Michael Henson
Research Interests: Investigating the impact of public versus private metabolism on the stability of microbial communities within natural hosts
Kerianne Dobosz, UMass Fellow 2015-2017
kdobosz@engin.umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Jessica Schiffman
Research Interests: Create a new generation of UF membranes with higher flux and lower operating costs for tailored biofouling and selectivity.
Safia Omer, UMass Fellow 2015-2017
somer@mcb.umass.edu
Graduate Program: Biology
Lab: Wei-Lih Lee
Research Interest: Research spindle dynamics during mitosis in budding yeast.
Bidur Paudel, UMass Fellow 2015-2017
bpaudel@vasci.umass.edu
Graduate Program: Veterinary and Animal Sciences
Lab: Pablo Visconti
Research Interests: Structural studies of protein kinases.
Poonam Phalak, UMass Fellow 2015-2017
pphalak@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Michael Henson
Research Interests: Biofilm metabolic modeling with genome-scale time and spatial resolution.
Francesca Anson, NIH Trainee 2016-2018
fanson@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Jeanne Hardy and Sankaran Thayumanavan
Research Interests: Characterize and expand the formulation of potent apoptosis inducing nanogels using combinations of enzymes and small molecule therapeutics for targeted delivery.
Margaux Audett, NIH Trainee 2016-2018
maudett@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: Thomas Maresca
Research Interests: Kinetochore proteins in the spindle assembly checkpoint during cell division.
Xiangan Li, UMass Fellow 2016-2018
xianganli@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Michael Henson
Research Interests: Biofilm metabolic modeling with genome-scale time and spatial resolution.
Heather Sherman, NIH Trainee 2016-2018
hsherman@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: Barbara Osborne and Lisa Minter
Research Interests: Spatiotemporal analyses of signaling cascades in activated CD8 T cells.
Ning-Tsuan Tseng, UMass Fellow 2016-2018
ntseng@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: Shelly Peyton
Research Interests: Drug-mediated evolutionary genomics in breast cancer.
Nathan Kuhlmann, NIH Trainee 2017-2019
nkuhlmann@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Lab: Peter Chien
Research Interests: Uncovering the structural details of adaptor hierarchy mediated protein degradation using the novel system that governs the cell cycle progression of Caulobacter Crescentus.
Aritra Kundu, UMass Fellow 2017-2019
akundu@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Shelly Peyton
Research Interests: Engineering a synthetic 3-D lung to understand how an aggressive (MDA-MB 231) and a non-aggressive (BT-474) metastatic breast cancer cell line alter the lung ECM to create a favorable microenvironment for breast-to-lung metastasis.
Monika Roy, NIH Trainee 2017-2019
monikaroy@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Global Environmental Health Sciences
Lab: Alicia Timme-Laragy
Research Interests: Understanding how environmental contaminants impact cellular and organ development of the pancreas and impact subsequent metabolic disease outcomes.
Khushboo Singh, UMass Fellow 2017-2019
ksingh@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Lab: Sankaran (Thai) Thayumanavan
Research Interests: Developing a platform for conjugation of a monoclonal antibody (mAb), specific for a tumor antigen, on to a polymeric nanogel composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the hydrophilic unit and pyridyl disulfide (PDS) as the hydrophobic unit.
Matthew Lebovich, NIH Trainee 2018-2020
mlebovich@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Lauren Andrews
Research Interests: Integrating complex genetic circuits into probiotic organisms for therapeutic and diagnostic uses.
Anh Nguyen, UMass Fellow 2019-2021
apnguye0@umass.edu
Graduate Program: Chemical Engineering
Lab: Ashish Kulkarni
Research Interests: Development of stimuli-responsive nanotheranostic platform to enhance anticancer immune response and monitor the response in real time.