Past Members
Check out what our former Post-docs, PhDs, and Master’s are doing now!
Previous Postdoctoral Fellows
Jie Fu, Ph.D. (09/00 – 09/02)
Currently: Research Faculty Member, Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Valentin Shichkin, Ph.D., D.Sc. (03/02 – 04/03)
Currently: Project Director, Bienta Ltd.
Samuel K. Lai, Ph.D. (10/07 – 09/08)
Currently: Associate Professor, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ; Director of Pharmacoengineering Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Andreas Henning, Ph.D. (01/09 – 02/10)
Currently: Deputy Head of Department – RNA Therapeutics, BioNTech IMFS, Idar-Oberstein, Germany
Benjamin Tang, Ph.D. (08/09 – 07/10)
Currently: Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco
Graeme Woodworth, M.D. (07/09 – 06/11)
Currently: Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Hui Dai, M.D., Ph.D. (10/07-05/12)
Nicholas Boylan, Ph.D. (01/12 – 05/12)
Currently: Associate Director, Product and Technology Development at Phosphorex, Boston MA
Ugir Hussain Sk, Ph.D. (01/11-05/12)
Currently: CSIR- Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, India
Anthony J. Kim, Ph.D. (04/09 – 04/13)
Currently: Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Qingguo Xu, Ph.D. (03/10 – 09/13)
Currently: Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, Virginia Commonwealth University
Jung Soo Suk, Ph.D. (09/11 – 07/13)
Currently: Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Nicolette Louissaint, Ph.D. (06/11-07/13)
Currently: Executive Director, Healthcare Ready, Washington D.C.
Amar Jyoti, Ph.D. (01/10-01/13)
Currently: Assistant Professor at Delhi University
Manoj K Mishra, Ph.D. (09/11 – 06/14)
Currently: Research Faculty Member, Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Heena Soni, Ph.D. (01/13-12/14)
Currently: Researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine
Wojciech Lesniak, Ph.D. (08/10-02/14)
Currently: Research Associate at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Panagiotis Mastorakos, M.D. (04/13 – 06/15)
Currently: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Uri Soiberman, MD (07/13 – 06/15)
Currently: Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Yi-an Lin, Ph.D. (11/14-07/16)
Currently: Senior Scientist, Oligonucleotide Chemistry at OliX Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Qing Pan, Ph.D.
Currently: Faculty, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins
Magdelena Swierczewska, Ph.D.
Currently: Scientist, Nanotechnology Characterization Lab, National Cancer Institute
Abhijit Date, Ph.D. (11/14-07/17)
Currently: Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Hawaii Hilo
Gregg Duncan, Ph.D. (06/14-06/17)
Currently: Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, University of Maryland
Yumin Oh, Ph.D.
Currently: Principal Scientist, Neuraly Inc.
Xinglu Huang, Ph.D. (05/14-12/17)
Currently: Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins
Bo Sun, Ph.D. (07/16-09/17)
Currently: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics, University of Arizona
Rezo Omiadze, MD (12/16-11/17)
Currently: Ophthalmic surgeon, Georgia
Ozgul Gok, Ph.D. (06/15-03/17)
Currently: Assistant Professor, Acıbadem Üniversitesi, Turkey
Soo-Young Kim, Ph.D. (12/15-11/17)
Rajasekhar R. Ramireddy, Ph.D. (09/14-05/18)
Currently: Principal Scientist – Chemistry Research and Development, Bioneeds India Private Ltd.
Gilad Halpert, Ph.D. (07/16-08/19)
Currently: Manager of Research Unit of Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases at Sheba Medical Center, Israel
Rishi Sharma, Ph.D. (10/15-03/19)
Currently: Principal Scientist at Ashvattha Therapeutics, Inc.
Siva Pramodh Kambhampati, Ph.D. (01/15-08/20)
Currently: Principal Scientist, R&D at Ashvattha Therapeutics, Inc.
Siddharth Shenoy, Ph.D. (06/17-06/20)
Currently: Scientific Program Analyst, NIH/NINDS
Sangmin Lee, Ph.D.
Yongjoo Park, Ph.D.
Jong-Sung Park, Ph.D.
Previous PhD Candidates
Jennifer Fiegel (1998 – 2003); Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering
Thesis: “Poly(ether-anhydride) Dry Particle Aerosols”
Currently: Associate Professor of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering and Pharmaceutics, University of Iowa
Junghae Suh (2001 – 2004); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Live-cell Multiple Particle Tracking and its Application to Investigate the Cytoplasmic Transport of Nonviral Gene Vectors.”
Currently: Professor of Bioengineering, Rice University
Yah-el Har-el (1998 – 2004); Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “High DNA Density Non-viral Gene Vectors”
Currently: Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, Temple University
Michelle Dawson (2000 – 2005); Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Mucosal Barriers to Non-viral Gene Delivery in the Cystic Fibrotic Lung”
Currently: Assistant Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, & Biotechnology, Brown University
Samuel K. Lai (2003 – 2007); Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Mucus-Penetrating Therapeutic Nanosystems”
Currently: Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Benjamin Tang (2003 – 2009); Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Biodegradable Mucus Penetrating Polymer Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy”
Currently:Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco
Kaoru Hida (2006 – 2009); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
(co-advisor: Prof. Marc Ostermeier)
Thesis: “Virus Penetration Through Human Mucus”
Currently: Biomedical Engineer, US FDA
Ashish Jachak (2007 – 2010); Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences
Thesis: “Risks associated with inhalation of nanoscale metal particles”
Currently: Manager at The Dow Chemical Company
Ming Yang (2006 – 2011); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Molecularly Targeted Therapeutic Polymer Nanoparticles for Ovarian Cancer”
Currently: Vice President of Research and Development, GrayBug LLC
Jung Soo Suk (2007 – 2011); Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “New polymeric gene carriers for aerosol therapy of Cystic Fibrosis”
Currently: Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Ying-Ying Wang (2008 – 2011); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Muco-inert nanoparticle probes and drug carriers”
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, JHU Krieger School of Arts and Sciences
Nicholas Boylan (2006 – 2011); Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “New Nanoparticle-based Systems for Pulmonary Drug and Gene Delivery”
Currently: Associate Director, Product and Technology Development at Phosphorex, Boston MA
Laura Ensign (2007-2012); Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Mucus-penetrating nanoparticles for the treatment of vaginal and GI diseases”
Currently: Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Elizabeth Nance (2007-2012); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Brain-penetrating nanoparticles for the treatment of central nervous system diseases”
Currently: Claire-Luce Booth Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington
Craig Schneider (2007-2013); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Mucus-Penetrating Nanoparticles for Small Cell Lung Cancer Therapy”
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland Medical Center
Tao Yu (2009-2014); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Mucus-Penetrating Nanocarriers for Cancer Therapy and Imaging”
Currently: Hatteras Discovery Fellow, Hatteras Venture Partners; Junior Associate, McKinsey Shanghai
Benjamin Schuster (2009-2014); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Probing and Overcoming Extracellular Barriers to Inhaled Nanomedicine”
Currently: Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University
Fengyuan Yang (2011-2014); Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering
Thesis: “Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (scCO2) Processing of Dispersed Polymer/clay Nanocomposites: Structural and Barrier Properties”
Currently: Associate Scientist/Postdoc, Formulation Science, Merck & Co., Inc.
Siva Pramodh Kambhampati (2010-2014); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Dendrimer based nanotherapeutics for ocular drug delivery”
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow in Center for Nanomedicine, JHU, SOM
Katharina Maisel (2010-2014); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Hypotonic Delivery of Drugs and Drug-loaded Nanoparticles for Gastrointestinal Drug Delivery”
Currently: Assistant Professor at The Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland
Fengyuan Yang (2011-2014); Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering
Currently: Senior Staff Scientist at Ashland
Clark Zhang (2010-2015); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Local Delivery of Therapeutic Nanoparticles for Treatment of Malignant Glioma”
Currently: Science Law Clerk at Goodwin Proctor LLP
Fan Zhang (2011-2016); Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering
Currently: Postdoc at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Jane Chisholm (2010-2017); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Local delivery of drug nanoparticles for the treatment of COPD”
Currently: Associate Scientist at Graybug Vision, Inc.
Kunal Parikh (2012-2017); Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering
Thesis: “Absorbable, drug-eluting medical devices for improved clinical outcome”
Currently: Faculty in Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design at JHU; Founder
Sabrine Bensouda (2017-2019), post-baccalaureate in the Doctoral Diversity Program (DDP)
Currently: MD student at Emory Medical School
Namho Kim (2014-2019); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Development of mucus-penetrating gene carriers for pulmonary and CNS applications”
Currently: Consultant at Boston Consulting Group
Karina Negron (2014-2019); Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Thesis: “Novel brain-penetrating DNA nanoparticle platforms for brain tumor therapy”
Currently: Research associate in Brain Trauma Neuroprotection at Walter Reed Army Institute for Research
Thuy Hoang (2013-2019); Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Thesis: “Characterization of cervicovaginal mucus barrier properties/development of sustained drug delivery formulations of microbicides for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis”
Hannah Zierden (2015-2020); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Nanotechnology for the understanding and prevention of preterm birth”
Currently: Postdoc at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Bale Lab
Kevin Liaw (2015-2020); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Dendrimer-based theranostics for drug delivery to the brain”
Currently: Postdoc at the Wistar Institute
Joshua Porterfield (2015-2020); Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thesis: “Dendrimer-based therapeutics for ocular drug delivery”
Previous Master’s Candidates
Divya Janardhana (1998 – 2000); M.S. in Chemical Engineering
“Controlled Delivery of DNA/PEI Nanocomplexes for Gene Therapy.”
After Graduation: Supervisor, Method Development, Wyeth Vaccines
Eric Krauland (2001 – 2002); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
“Cationic Delivery Systems for Pulmonary Gene Delivery.”
After Graduation: Received Ph.D., Biological Engineering, MIT
Jung Soo Suk (2003 – 2004); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
“Gene Delivery into Differentiated Neurons Using Nonviral Vectors.”
After Graduation: Received Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, JHU
Yoojin An (2004 – 2005); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
“Real-Time Intracellular Trafficking of DNA-Loaded Polymer Nanoparticles.”
After Graduation: Received Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Kok Leong Choy (2004 –2005); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
“Surface-modified Nanoparticles for Enhanced Non-viral Gene Delivery.”
After Graduation: Research Engineer, DSO National Laboratories, Singapore
Eric Jabart (May 2004 – 2005); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
“Real-Time Intracellular Transport of Adenovirus-Modified Polymeric DNA
Nanocomplexes in Live Cells”
After Graduation: Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley / UCSF in Bioengineering
Vikash Chauhan (2004 – 2006); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
“Nanoparticle Transport in Purulent CF Sputum Treated with a Mucolytic Agent: Toward Effective Gene Therapy for Cystic Fibrosis”
After Graduation: Ph.D. program at Harvard University in Bioengineering
Matthew Durst (2004 – 2006); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
“Copolymer implants for high-dose and long-duration controlled drug delivery”
After Graduation: Medical School
Ying-Ying Wang (2007 – 2008); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
“Unraveling the paradox of PEG as a mucoadhesive and a muco-inert polymer to engineer mucus-penetrating particles”
After Graduation: Received Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, JHU
Christina “Beana” Happe (2007 – 2008); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
“Conventional polymer nanoparticles do not penetrate undiluted human mucus”
Amanda Pace (2007 – 2008); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
“Therapeutic Nanoparticles That Penetrate Human Chronic Sinusitis Mucus”
After Graduation: Genentech, Inc.
Chun-Ting “Tina” Lin (2007 – 2009); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
“Synthesis of New Biodegrable Polymers for Targeted Drug”
After Graduation: Scientist, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan
Joseph Wood (2008 – 2009); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
“Chlorambucil-tempol-encapsulated polymeric nanoparticles”
After Graduation: Genentech, Inc.
Jane Chisholm (2008 – 2010); B.S./M.S. Program
After Graduation: Ph.D. program, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, JHU
Marc Porosoff (2008 – 2010); B.S./M.S. in Chemical Engineering
“Encapsulation of microbicides uc-781 and acyclovir within mucus-penetrating nanoparticles”
After Graduation: Ph.D. program, Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware
Kanika Trehan (2008 – 2010); (Biology) M.S. Program
“Sputum-penetrating nanocarriers for gene delivery to the lungs”
After Graduation: M.D. program, JHU School of Medicine
Ching-Hsien “Ethan” Lee (2008 – 2010); M.S. in Engineering
“Effects of triblock surfactants on transport of nanoparticles through human cervicovaginal mucus”
After Graduation: Scientist, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Chih-Yin “Alice” Juang (2009 – 2010); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: Research Associate, Stanford University
Sho-Yu Wang (2008 – 2011); M.S. in Engineering
“Effect of cryoprotectants on the preservation of nanoparticle mucus penetrating characteristics”
After Graduation: Genentech, Inc.
MinYoung Hwangbo (2010 – 2011); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Terence Tse (2010 – 2011); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: Scientist, Siluria Technology, San Francisco
Ting-Yu Shih (2010 – 2012); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: Ph.D. Candidate, Bioengineering, Harvard University
Yanchun Pei (2011 – 2013); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: Equity Research Senior Associate at China Asset Management Co. Ltd.
Sneha Berry (2012 – 2014); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at JHU SOM
Sumon Chattopadhyay, (2011 – 2015); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: Research Data Coordinator, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Manasse Gedam, (2014 – 2016); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: Research Technologist at The Ocular Vasculogenesis and Angiogenesis Lab at The Wilmer Eye Institute
Aditya Josyula (2014 – 2016); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: Ph.D. Candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, JHU
Natasha Vinod (2015 – 2016); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: Researcher at the Kabanov Lab, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Divya Rao (2015 – 2016); M.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: Ph.D. Candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, JHU
Jiangyu Liu (2014-2016); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Pranjali Kanvinde (2015-2017); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular Medicine, University of Maryland
Taarika Babu (2013-2017); M.S. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
After Graduation: Clinical Research Associate at American Gene Technologies International Inc.
Peter Dimitrion (2016-2018); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: MD/PhD Candidate at Wayne State University
Ting-Wei Young (2017-2018); M.S. in Biotechnology
After Graduation: Research scientist, Graybug Vision
Victoria Laney (2017-2019); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: PhD Candidate at Case Western Reserve University
Kalpana Betageri (2017-2019); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: PhD Candidate at the Mayo Clinic
Buwei Huang (2017 – 2019); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
After Graduation: Ph.D. Candidate in Bioengineering, University of Washington
Shivangi Sachdeva (2018-2019); M.S. in Biotechnology
Yurong Yan (2018-2020); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Gaoshan Li (2018-2020); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: PhD Candidate at Virginia Tech
HyeYoung Kwon (2018-2020); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
After Graduation: PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan
Jingqi Yu (2018-2020); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Youlim Ha (2018-2020); M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering After Graduation: PhD Candidate at Cornell
Guangda (Taylor) Tang (2018-2020); M.S. in Biomedical Engineering
After Graduation: MBA Candidate at Yale School of Management