Allison Lopatkin
Principal Investigator & Assistant Professor
Dept. of Chemical Engineering, UR Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology, URMC Pronouns: she/her/hersB.S. in applied mathematics; PhD in Biomedical Engineering
Inside the lab: Predicting HGT dynamics and admiring all things bacterial
Outside the lab: Hiking anywhere outdoors, or playing with my dogs Caradmom (who is too busy licking everyone to hike) and Barney (who is too scared to hike)
Sai Varun Aduru
Graduate Student Program: Chemical Engineering PhD Pronouns: he/him/his B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Andhra University, India; M.S in Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle
Inside the lab: Engineering microbial communities through plasmid conjugation
Outside the lab: I like sketching, painting in my free time
Chauner Clausing
Undergraduate Student Researcher Pronouns: she/her/hers B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester
Inside the lab: Building biomodelling kits to support the design and simulation of synthetic gene circuits.
Outside the lab: I love drawing, painting, baking, antiques, and trying new coffee shops!
Heather Curtsinger
Graduate Student Program: MBI PhD B.S. in Biology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Inside the lab: Environmental impacts on HGT
Outside the lab: You can find me walking my dog, reading a book, and rewatching Lotr
Michelle Driscoll
Undergraduate Student Researcher Pronouns: she/her/hers B.S. in Microbiology, University of Rochester
Inside the lab: Role of metabolism in antibiotic resistance
Outside the lab: I like painting, going on runs, hockey, and motorsports
William Funkenbusch
Postdoctoral Scholar Pronouns: he/him/his B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester; PhD Chemical Engineering, MIT
Inside the lab: Developing first principle models to predict the fitness costs of plasmids
Outside the lab: I like rock climbing, tennis, pickleball, games and puzzles, and generally anything
done with friends
Habibul Islam
Graduate Student Program: Chemical Engineering PhD Pronouns: he/him/his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Bangladesh University of professionals
Inside the lab: I am interested in using bioinformatic pipelines to study HGT antibiotic resistance
Outside the lab: I love Trekking, and playing online games.
Ashley Kim
Graduate Student Program: Chemical Engineering PhD Pronouns: she/her/hers B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Auburn University; M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Auburn University
Inside the lab: Predicting pathogen tracking with machine learning
Outside the lab: I like watching movies, listening to music, and reading novels.
Aidan Larish
Graduate Student Program: Chemical Engineering PhD Pronouns: he/him/his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University
Outside the lab: I like to climb, play video games, and cook.
Ivan Lee
Undergraduate Student Researcher Pronouns: he/him/his B.S. in Microbiology, University of Rochester
Outside the lab: I love learning about all kinds of weird animals and plants I find online or
through pond water under my microscope. I like running and listening to music (indie, old and new rock, and jazz).
Md Rasel Khan Manik
Graduate Student Program: Chemical Engineering PhD Pronouns: he/him/his B.S., M.S., in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka
Outside the lab: Cooking with my wife and reading Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, Gabriel García Márquez, and Haruki Murakami.
Elizabeth Martin
Graduate Student Program: M.S. in Biomedical Engineering Pronouns: she/her/hers B.S. in MBI, University of Rochester
Inside the lab: HGT as a tool against antibiotic resistance
Outside the lab: I love keeping active (specifically skiing and rowing), picking up new hobbies and napping.
Gabriel Quintero
Graduate Student Program: MBI masters Pronouns: he/him/his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Syracuse University.
Inside the lab: Environmental impacts on HGT.
Outside the lab: I like to play Pickleball, exercise, and game from time to time.
Qinyuan Zhang
Undergraduate Student Researcher Pronouns: she/her/hers B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester
Inside the lab: DNA aptamers as biosensors
Zirui Zhao
Graduate Student Program: MBI PhD B.S. in Biological Science, University of Vermont; M.S. in Microbiology, University of Rochester Medical Center
Inside the lab: Understanding the role of metabolism in antibiotic resistance.
Outside the lab: I enjoy skiing, swimming, reading detective novels (Mr. Poirot is my favorite), and cuddling with my cat.
Houze Zhou
Undergraduate Student Researcher B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester
Inside the lab: PlasDesign Project