Category: Graduate Students

payalpatel@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University Research My research interests include synthetic biology and protein engineering, with an emphasis on reprogramming polyketide synthases to enable the efficient biosynthesis of new and valuable […]

jkann@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University Research I am interested in exploring how high-throughput and computational techniques can be used to optimize metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. In the Keasling lab, I am particularly interested in applying these techniques to understand PKS structure and improve […]

chanthachaiw@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison Research I am broadly interested in biotechnology. Within the Keasling lab, I am interested in researching synthetic biology and metabolic engineering with applications in the areas of sustainability and human health. More specifically, I am interested in engineering […]

alejandroramirez@lbl.gov Education PhD student in Comparative Biochemistry, UC Berkeley (2025 NDSEG Fellowship Recipient) BS in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley Research I am interested in metabolic and systems engineering of unique microbial organisms to express the chemicals necessary for modern life.

cholapatv@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Chemistry, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical-Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.S. in Chemistry and Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research I’m excited to be exploring how polyketide synthases make rare functional groups and complex molecular scaffolds.

soedarsono@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison Research My research experience was in photocatalysts synthesis in undergrad and in upstream and downstream manufacturing technology R&D in industry. Going back for my PhD, I was interested in getting to know more about […]

lanclosn@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology & B.A. Economics, University of South Florida Research I am interested in using genetic tools and computational biology to engineer complex living systems.

eze_ukabiala@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco B.S. in Bioengineering, UC San Diego Research I’m interested in engineering microbes to produce fuels and commodity chemicals.

cawthon_bridgie@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student and GEM Fellow in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Tennessee, Knoxville Research My research background has primarily been in protein extraction and performing metabolic flux analysis. This has sparked my interest in metabolic engineering work. I was specifically interested in Jay because of his […]

jbaerwald@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University Wisconsin Madison Research My research interests include synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and fermentative engineering.

mastolfi@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. student in Bioengineering, University of California-Berkeley & UCSF, USA B.Tech in Biotechnology, Federal University of Amazonas, Brazil Research I am passionate about synthetic biology to grow colorful, flavorful, and meaningful natural products from our vast biodiversity. In the Keasling Lab, I am excited to work at the intersection of multi-omics, machine learning, […]

lwaldburger@berkeley.edu Education PhD student in Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco MS student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Berkeley BA in Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley Research I am interested in functional genomics and machine learning for biological discovery and design.

al.pearson@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. student in Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley Research I’m interested in utilizing functional genomics to study host metabolisms/regulatory systems and the directed evolution of transcription factor based biosensors.

idonnell@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. student in Chemistry, UC Berkeley B.A. in Chemistry with distinction, Carleton College Research I am interested in bringing new chemistries into metabolic pathways to generate novel natural products, and developing assays for directed evolution of these pathways

lkeiser@lbl.gov Education Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University. Research My research interests include synthetic biology and protein engineering. I am researching how we can engineer polyketide synthases for the efficient production of novel products.

aidancowan@berkeley.edu Education Ph.D. student in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley B.A. in Biology, Macalester College Research Aidan is interested in developing selection systems that allow for the evolution of proteins or strains with desirable traits. He takes a combinatorial approach to experimental design and is excited by large and diverse DNA libraries. […]