Claire Chu

Claire Chu is a junior studying chemistry and psychology with a minor in Chinese. Her research interests lie both in biochemistry and psycholinguistics, and she hopes to combine the two in a research career. Through iGEM, Claire is involved with designing a project from the foundation, which is a unique and exciting experience for undergraduate researchers.

Maya Lemmon-Kishi

Maya Lemmon-Kishi is a junior bioengineering student at the University of Pittsburgh with anticipated minors in polymer engineering and chemistry. Her research interests lie in genetic engineering, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine which she has previous experience in. Maya hopes to combine her interests to pursue a career in research focused on organ regeneration. What Maya likes the most about iGEM is the unique opportunities, such as creating and leading her own research project.

Aife Ni Chochlain

Aife Ni Chochlain is a junior majoring in Molecular Biology and History in the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include genetic engineering and computational modeling, the second of which she has previous experiences. Aife wishes to continue research in genetic engineering and modeling of complex systems. iGEM allows her the opportunity to explore synthetic biology as an undergraduate and explore leadership opportunities in a research setting.

Praneeth Peddada

Praneeth Peddada is a upcoming senior bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh. For the last two years, he has worked with Dr. Partha Roy to study profilin expression in breast cancer cells. After graduation, he hopes to go to medical school.

Maddie Perdoncin

Maddie Perdoncin is a junior majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include genetic engineering and molecular biology, both of which she is able to explore through this project. She hopes her involvement in iGEM will provide valuable research experience that will aid her throughout graduate school and beyond.

Dr. Alex Deiters

Alex is a member of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, the Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology Program at the University of Pittsburgh, the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh, and the Center for Nucleic Acids Science & Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. He has published over one hundred peer-reviewed papers, written five book chapters and 11 review articles, has presented over one hundred research seminars, and has consulted for several pharmaceutical companies.

For his research accomplishments, Alex received a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award from the March of Dimes Foundation, a Sigma Xi Research Faculty Award, a Cottrell Scholar Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Teva USA Scholars Grant from the American Chemical Society, a Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Grant, an NCSU Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, and a Charles E. Kaufman Foundation New Initiative Research Award.

Dr. Jason Lohmueller

bio and info

Dr. Lisa Antoszewski

Dr. Lisa Antoszewski is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Developmental Biology at the University of Pittsburgh. Using zebrafish as a model organism, her primary research interest is in kidney development. More specifically, she is interested in identifying novel genes responsible for renal progenitor cell maintenance. She is serving as a laboratory mentor for the 2016 iGEM team.

Dr. Natasa Miskov-Zivanov

Dr. Miskov-Zivanov received her Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. She was the founding adviser of iGEM at CMU back in 2012. Her research interests include modeling and analysis of complex biological mechanisms, systems and synthetic biology, and system design and control in biology and medicine. She has previously taught a graduate level course on computing and design automation in biology, and has been one of the organizers of International Workshop on Bio-Design Automation.

Dr. Cheryl Telmer

The goal of our research is to build biosensors for live-cell imaging. Methods that use light to visualize protein localization and interactions can be used to investigate the dynamics of cell structure and function. Another part of my research effort is directed towards a project named Big Mechanisms in Cancer where the goal of the program is to develop technologies for automated reading of scientific literature and development of causal, explanatory models of signaling pathways in cancer.

Dr. Samuel Dickerson

Dr. Samuel Dickerson is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests are in the design and modeling of nanoscale circuits and systems. Currently, he is investigating the use of electrokinetic techniques to sort, separate and analyze cells.

Dr. Sanjeev Shroff

Dr. Sanjeev Shroff is the Distinguished Professor of and Gerald E. McGinnis Chair in Bioengineering and Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the Chair of the Department of Bioengineering.

Prior to joining the faculty at Pitt, Dr. Shroff was a faculty member at the University of Chicago for 17 years in the Department of Medicine (Cardiology Section). Trained as an electrical engineer (Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, and Master of Engineering from McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada), Dr. Shroff obtained his doctoral degree in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship within the Cardiovascular-Pulmonary Division of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medicine.

Dr. Shroff is widely recognized as a distinguished scholar in the cardiovascular arena.