Members

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

James Dahlman, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University

Dr. James Dahlman completed his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Wright State University in 2009. He went on to complete his PhD under Dr. Robert Langer at MIT in 2015. Dr. Dahlman conducted post-doctoral work at the Zhang Lab at the Broad Institute in 2016 before going on to become a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Fun Fact: "Whenever I publish a paper, I celebrate with ribs from Community Q."

Email: james.dahlman@bme.gatech.edu

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Cory Sago, PhD Student, T32 Fellow

Education: BS in Biology, RPI, 2016
Master in Chemistry, RPI, 2016

Research Interests: Non-liver functional LNP delivery

Fun Fact: "My personality is a series of vine compilations."

Melissa Lokugamage, PhD Student, T32 Fellow

Education: BS in Bioengineering, University of Missouri, 2017

Research Interests: Non-liver delivery, novel DNA-barcoded screening systems, RNA biology

Fun Fact: "The last 10k I ran was for a Lululemon discount."

Kalina Paunovska, PhD Student, T32 Fellow

Education: BS in Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami. 2016

Research Interests: The role that cholesterol plays in LNP trafficking & delivery

Fun Fact: "I'm a true North Macedonian, and apparently I don't understand any pop-culture references."

Alejandro Da Silva Sanchez, PhD Student

Education: BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018

Research Interests: Lipid signaling, non-liver functional LNP delivery, therapeutic RNA delivery

Fun Fact: "I have eaten live worms bathed in fish sauce and drank snake wine during my 6-week trip to Southeast Asia."

Jack Feldman, Masters Student, GRA Fellow

Education: BS in Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests: Bioinformatics, automation

Fun Fact: "I biked from NYC to San Francisco during the summer of 2015"

Ada Del Cid, Masters Student

Education: BA in CBE, Oglethorpe University, 2018
BS in CBE from Florida State University, 2018

Research Interests: Nanoparticle drug delivery

Fun Fact: "I put 🌶️🌶️ on everything I can."

POST-DOCS

Zubao Gan, PhD

Education: BS in Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2010
MS and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Sichuan University, 2016
Senior Research at Hitgen, 2018

Research Interests: DNA barcode technology, Nanoparticle delivery, genetic therapeutics and precise medicine

Fun Fact: "I enjoy swimming, singing, and football."

Kun Zhao, PhD

Education: BS in Chinese Materia Medica,
MS in Medicinal Chemistry,
PhD in Dieter Enders Lab at RWTH Aachen University

Research Interests: DNA barcoded nanoparticles and genetic therapies

Fun Fact: "I like playing and watching soccer."

David Loughrey, PhD

Education: BE at University College Dublin
PhD in Julius Lucks Lab, Cornell University, 2016.
Postdoctoral fellowship in Alan Lambowitz Lab, University of Texas, Austin, 2017-2018

Research Interests: Exploit the power of Next Generation Sequencing technologies to answer questions about nanomedicine

Fun Fact: "I once came last out of 350+ people in the swimming portion of an Olympic-length triathlon - Athlete!"

Marine Hatit, PhD

Education: BS at Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France), 2012
MS in Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry at Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France), 2014
PhD in Chemical Biology at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (UK), 2018

Research Interests: Bioconjugation, genetic therapies and DNA barcoded technology for nanoparticle delivery

Fun Fact: "I have been chased out of France and UK for saying that the best mac and cheese are made with Velveeta cheese."

LAB STAFF

Joel Levin, Lab Manager

Education: BS in Biology and Chemistry, Emory University, 2015

Research Interests: Delivery and Transcriptomics

Fun Fact: "I want to own a farm one day."

Sujay Kalathoor, Lab Tech

Education: BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology. 2018

Research Interests: Functional tumor delivery, CRISPR, robotics

Fun Fact: "I have self-diagnosed narcolepsy."

Fatima Islam, Lab Tech

Education: BS in Biomedical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology. 2018

Research Interests: Cas9 Optimization, inflammation pathways, translational application of nanoparticles

Fun Fact: "I can and will flip you over with my sick jujitsu skills."

UNDERGRADUATES

Brandon Krupczak

Research Interests: T-Cells, Immunotherapy, CRISPR, siRNA

Fun Fact: "I'm too tall to be an astronaut."

Medha Acharya

Research Interests: Drug delivery, cancer, gene therapies

Fun Fact: "I am on Tech’s Indian classical dance team, GT Pulse. In my spare time, I like to read political, legal, and military thriller novels."

Ana Cristian

Research Interests: Immunotherapy, Gene Editing, T-Cells, Cell Systems

Fun Fact: "I was born in Transylvania and lived there until I was eight. No, vampires aren't real. What is real is my love for garlic."

Max Rivera

Research Interests: Nanoparticle-cell interactions, DNA barcoding, gene therapy

Fun Fact: "I’m an engineering student by day and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitor by night."

Manaka Sato

Research Interests: Helping my favorite graduate students

Fun Fact: "I am on the dance team at GT and a 4-year student athlete."

Adeline Wagner

Research Interests: Biomaterials, Nanoparticles, Gene Therapy, and Immunotherapy

Fun Fact: "I was a pescatarian for over 11 years."

Gwyn Lando

Research Interests: Targeted drug delivery and whatever the PhD students want me to do

Fun Fact: "I did the highest bungy jump in New Zealand (134m)."

Jordan Fitzgerald

Research Interests: CRISPR, Gene Therapy, Immunotherapy, Drug Design

Fun Fact: "I am prone to take acting advice too seriously: I've broken my leg 6 times."