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