Members

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

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

James received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Wright State University in 2009. He received his Ph.D. with Dr. Robert Langer at MIT / Harvard Medical School in 2015. He conducted post-doctoral work studying CRISPR with Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute. In 2016, at the age of 29, he started his lab at Georgia Tech. He is the 2019 BMES Rita Schaffer Young Investigator, winner of the 2020 ASGCT Outstanding New Investigator Award, winner of the 2020 Georgia Tech Excellence in Early Career Research Award, was named in the 2019 World Economic Forum Top 10 Emerging Technologies in the World, was a 2018 MIT TR35 Awardee, and has won major national / international awards at every stage of his career. He is also Co-Founder of Guide Therapeutics, a biotech based on DNA barcoding. CV

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

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Melissa Lokugamage

PhD STUDENT, T32 FELLOW
BS in Bioengineering, University of Missouri, 2017

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

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

Alejandro Da Silva Sanchez

PhD STUDENT
BS in Chemical / Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2018

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

Fun Fact: "I ate live worms bathed in fish sauce and drank snake wine during a trip to Southeast Asia."

Afsaneh Radmand

PhD STUDENT
BS in Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, 2016

Research: Functional LNP delivery to non- Liver tissues.

Fun Fact: "I love coffee so much that one day, I will own a coffeeshop with a cute flower shop and bookstore inside!"

POST-DOCS

Zubao Gan, PhD

CHEMIST
BS in Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2010

MS / PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Sichuan University, 2016

Research: DNA barcoding, nanoparticle delivery, genetic therapeutics and precision medicine

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

Kun Zhao, PhD

CHEMIST
BS in Chinese Materia Medica

MS in Medicinal Chemistry

PhD in Dieter Enders Lab at RWTH Aachen University

Research: DNA barcoding and genetic therapies

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

David Loughrey, PhD

RNA BIOLOGIST
BE at University College Dublin

PhD in Julius Lucks Lab, Cornell University, 2016

Postdoc fellowship in Alan Lambowitz Lab, UT, Austin, 2018

Research: Using 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

CHEMIST
BS 2012, MS 2014 in Organic/Bioorganic Chemistry at Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France)

PhD in Chemical Biology at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (UK), 2018

Research: Bioconjugation, genetic therapies and DNA barcoded technology

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

Huanzhen Ni, PhD

CHEMIST
BS in Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 2014

PhD in Chemistry at Yixin Lu Lab, National University of Singapore, 2018

Research: DNA barcoding technology and gene therapies

Fun Fact: "I am crazy about dogs/cats that are fluffy, and my dream pet is a Corgi."

Curtis Dobrowolski, PhD

VIROLOGIST
BS in Biology, Jacksonville University ,2008

MS in Infectious Disease and Immunology, University of Sydney (Australia), 2010

PhD in Molecular Virology, Case Western Reserve University, 2018

Research: Virus trafficking and delivery in mice.

Fun Fact: "I flip houses in my spare time."

Kalina Paunovska, PhD

Engineer
BS in Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami. 2016

PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2020

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

Fun Fact: "I'm a true North Macedonian."

LAB STAFF

Ada Del Cid

Research Technician
BS and BA in Chemical & Biomedical Engineering, Florida State University & Oglethorpe University, 2018

MS in Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2019

Research: Nanoparticle drug delivery

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

Elisa Schrader

Research Technician
BS in Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2020

Fun Fact: "It took me 7 years to convince my parents to get a dog and they ended up getting 3! One as each child went off to college."

Karen Tiegren

Research Technician
BM, MM in Keyboard Performance, Converse College

AM in Musicology, Duke University

Research: DNA barcoding and nanoparticle RNA delivery

Fun Fact: "I once died a very bloody death on 'The Vampire Diaries' as leader of a witches' coven."

UNDERGRADUATES

Max Rivera

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

Ana Cristian

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."