Principal Investigator
Denis Wirtz
Vice Provost for Research
Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor of Engineering Science
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Pathology, Oncology
Associate Research Professor
Pei-Hsun Wu
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Assistant Research Scientist
Praful Nair
Postdoctoral Fellow
Gretchen Alicea-Rebecca
Postdoctoral Fellow
Kyu Sang Han
Postdoctoral Fellow
Wenxuan “Frisco” Du
PhD Candidate
Tiffany Chu
Tiffany is co-advised by Prof. Pei-Hsun Wu
PhD Candidate
Pratik Kamat
Pratik is co-advised by Prof. Jude Phillip
PhD Candidate
André Forjaz
André is co-advised by Prof. Pei-Hsun Wu
PhD Candidate
Lucie Dequiedt
Lucie is co-advised by Prof. Ashley Kiemen
PhD Candidate
Yu Shen
Yu is co-advised by Prof. Ashley Kiemen
PhD Candidate
Eban Andrew Hanna
PhD Candidate
Fan Wu
Fan is co-advised by Prof. Pei-Hsun Wu
PhD Candidate
Nico Macaluso
Nico is co-advised by Prof. Jude Phillip
PhD Candidate
Vasco Queiroga
PhD Candidate
Valentina Matos Romero
Valentina is co-advised by Prof. Ashley Kiemen
PhD Candidate
Victoria Duarte Alvarado
PhD Candidate
Donald Kramer
Master’s Students
Shuyuan Zheng
Yiting Chen
“Kevin” Won June Cho
Ashley Tsang
Irina Zhu
Yani Chen
Kaashvi Pruthi
Zhenglin Yuan
Zeqi Wan
Tina Chen
Isha Bhorkar
Visiting Scholars/ Exchange Students
Inês Reis, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
Alfredo Hernández Inostroza, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
Past PhD Students
| PhD awarded | Current Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Tiffany Chu | 2025 | |
| Wenxuan (Frisco) Du | 2024 | Postdoc (Wirtz lab) |
| Adrian Johnston | 2024 | Founder, Dua |
| Bart Starich | 2024 | Senior Scientist, AstraZeneca |
| Ashleigh Crawford | 2024 | Medical Writer, Technical Resources International |
| Kyu Sang Han | 2023 | Postdoc (Wirtz lab) |
| Gabriella Russo | 2022 | Research scientist |
| Ashley Kiemen | 2021 | Assistant professor of pathology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine |
| Alexandra Sneider | 2021 | Associate, Flagship Pioneering |
| Michelle Karl | 2021 | Research Scientist, Eli Lily |
| Nicolas Perez | 2019 | Data Scientist, Swissmedic |
| Hasini Jayatilaka | 2017 | Senior Manager. Competitive Intelligence, Gilead |
| Sarita Koride | 2016 | Associate Director, Pfizer |
| Jacob Sarnecki | 2016 | Director, Analytical Development, NOVAVAX Inc |
| Ivie Aifuwa | 2015 | Associate Director, Cell Therapy Process Technology Development Bristol-Myers Squibb |
| Angela Jimenez | 2015 | Chemist, FDA |
| Jude Phillip | 2015 | Assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Johns Hopkins University |
| Zev Binder | 2014 | Senior Research Investigator, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neurosurgery |
| Allision Chambliss | 2014 | Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Chemistry, U. Southern California |
| Wei-Chiang Chen | 2014 | Associate director, genomic medicine unit, Sanofi |
| Anjil Giri | 2014 | Director, Gene Therapy, PTC Therapeutics |
| Matt Keuss | 2013 | Postdoctoral Researcher, University College London |
| Dong-Hwee Kim | 2012 | Associate Professor at Korea University |
| Stephanie M. Fraley | 2012 | Associate professor of bioengineering, University of California San Diego |
| Shyam B. Khatau | 2011 | Head, data strategy & operations, Tempus Labs Inc |
| Ryan Braun | 2011 | Global R&D Manager, 3M |
| Saumendra Bajpai | 2010 | Assistant Professor, IIT Madras, India |
| Christopher M. Hale | 2010 | Principle Scientist, Amgen |
| Terrence M. Dobrowsky | 2010 | Senior Director, Gene Therapy, Biogen |
| Brian R. Daniels | 2009 | Director, strategic alliances, CRISPR Therapeutics |
| Melissa S. Thompson | 2008 | Associate Director, research alliances, Bristol Myers Squibb |
| Jerry S.H. Lee | 2006 | Associate Professor of clinical medicine and chemical engineering & material Sciences, University of Southern California |
| Osigwe Esue | 2006 | Executive Director. Program Strategy Leader, Gilead |
| Porntula Panorchan | 2006 | VP and Head of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics, BioNTech |
| Michelle Dawson | 2005 | Assistant Professor, molecular pharmacology, physiology, and biotechnology, Brown University |
| Thomas P. Kole | 2004 | Assistant professor of medicine, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai |
| Jung Suh | 2004 | Associate Professor of biomedical engineering, Rice University |
| Soichiro Yamada | 2001 | Associate Professor of biomedical engineering, UC Davis |
| Charbel Haber | 1999 | Sr. VP & head of regulatory affairs, Moderna |
| Adriana Silva | 1998 | Engineering Associate, ExxonMobil Chemical Co |
| Andre F. Palmer | 1998 | Professor of Chemical Engineering, Ohio State University, OH. Recipient of an NSF CAREER Award |
Past Master Students
| Degree awarded | |
|---|---|
| Shuyuan Zheng | |
| Yiting Chen | |
| Kevin" Won June Cho | |
| Ashley Tsang | |
| Irina Zhu | |
| Yani Chen | |
| Kaashvi Pruthi | |
| Zhenglin Yuan | |
| Zeqi Wan | |
| Tina Chen | |
| Isha Bhorkar | |
| Qiming Zhang | 2021 |
| Chongguang Jin | 2021 |
| Elizabeth Schweighart | 2021 |
| Wayne Denis Monteiro | 2021 |
| Xue-jie Huang | 2021 |
| Hyunkeun "Ryan" Joo | 2021 |
| Allan Yue | 2019 |
| Haotian Tan | 2019 |
| Qianyue Huang | 2019 |
| Jenna Graham | |
| Angela San | |
| Nitish Gandhi | |
| Karen Leslie | |
| Matthew B. Herwig | |
| Karl Rufener | |
| Robert Bond | |
| Gabriella Russo | |
| Hana Hsu | |
| Evelyn Chiu | |
| Duarte Ferreira, MS | |
| Jung Min Byun, MS | |
| Leonor Silva |
Past Postdoctoral Fellows / Research Scientists
| Completion of Postdoc | Current Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Kyu Sang Han | 2025 | |
| Wenxuan "Frisco" Du | ||
| Gretchen Alicea | 2024 | |
| Meng-Horn Lee | 2018 | |
| Michael Harris | 2018 | Senior Scientist, Boan Biotech |
| Pei-Hsun Wu | 2018 | Associate Research Professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering, Johns Hopkins University |
| Lijuan He | 2015 | Patent Reviewer, CDC |
| Daniele Gilkes | 2014 | Assistant Professor of oncology, Johns Hopkins University |
| Yu-Tai Chang | 2014 | Research Associate, LIVESTRONG Cancer Institutes, UT Austin Dell Medical School |
| Jeffrey Stirman | 2012 | Director of Imaging at LifeCanvas Technologies |
| Alex Dajkovic | 2009 | Director R&D Microbiology at BioMillenia |
| Jingyuan “James” Xu | 1999 | |
| James L. Harden | 1998 | Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Physics, University of Ottawa |
| Thomas J. Mason | 1998 | Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA |