People
Charles M. Schroeder, CV
Assistant Professor,
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Department of Chemistry
Department of Materials Science & Engineering
Center for Biophysics & Computational Biology
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Biosketch
Postdoctoral Researchers
Melikhan Tanyeri, Webpage
Melikhan is a postdoctoral researcher in Schroeder lab since 2008. He received his BS and PhD degrees in physics from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey in 1999 and University of California, Davis in 2006 respectively. His dissertation work involved chemical and biomolecular sensing applications of optical resonances in microdroplets. After graduation, he joined the Selvin lab in the department of physics at Illinois, where he studied the biomechanics of kinesin (a motor protein) moving processively along microtubules using single molecule fluorescence imaging. Currently, Melikhan is developing a 2-D flow-based trap for single molecule and nanoparticle confinement and manipulation in aqueous solution.
Graduate Students
Christopher Brockman
Chris Brockman joins us from Case Western Reserve University, where he obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Currently, Chris is utilizing fluorescently-labeled ssDNA to study the relaxation time and stretching pathways in extensional flow for flexible polymers.
Eric M. Johnson-Chavarria
Eric joins us from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he recieved his B.S. in Physics after spending his last two years researching the binding effects of porphyrins on tubulin heterodimers with Professor Lorenzo Brancaleon. Eric is currently pursuing his Ph.D in the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology under the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Eric is working to develop a novel microfluidic device for single cell manipulation and sorting.
Arnab Mukherjee
I received my Bachelors’ and Masters’ degree in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. I joined the Schroeder lab in 2008 after completing my masters’ dissertation at the J. Craig Venter Institute (Rockville, MD) where I was involved in the construction of bait and prey libraries of open reading frames (ORFs) from Francisella tularensis for analyzing its protein interaction space by the yeast two-hybrid method. My research interests are in the fields of systems and synthetic biology. At the Schroeder lab, I have been working towards engineering novel mutants of flavin-binding photosensory proteins from Pseudomonas putida for use as imaging probes in anaerobic conditions where the more popular green fluorescent protein (GFP) probes do not fluoresce. My current efforts are focused on systematic physiochemical characterization of this novel class of flavin-binding anaerobic fluorescent proteins to enable their pervasive use as reporters of gene expression, protein interactions, and in vivo localization in anaerobic environments as are commonly encountered in obligate anaerobes and in hypoxic niches of the human body (e.g. tumors).
Utsav Agrawal
Utsav joins us from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, where he received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biotechnology in 2009. Utsav is working to develop a single cell microbioreactor utilizing the hydrodynamic trap. This technique based purely on fluid flow provides non-perturbative and continuous flow environment ideal for biological studies. He is currently using this system to characterize growth and gene expression dynamics in E.coli.
Folarin Latinwo
Folarin received his BS with First Class Honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. He received his MS degree at Illinois where he focused on the robust design of Li-ion batteries. Joining the Schroeder Lab in 2010, his interests include the investigations of flexible polymers using Brownian dynamics simulation and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Outside the lab, Folarin enjoys a good game of pro evolution soccer.
Amanda Marciel
Amanda Marciel joins us from the University of California Berkeley, where she received her B.S. in Chemical Biology. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology. Amanda is developing a synthetic platform for template-directed enzymatic synthesis of non-natural polymers.
Danielle Mai
Danielle joins us from the University of Michigan, where she received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Danielle is interested in controlling the synthesis of polymer combs using ssDNA and studying their dynamics in dilute and concentrated solutions. Outside the lab, she enjoys the tango with the UofI ballroom dance club.
Dan Reilly
Dan joins us from Penn State University, where he earned degrees in Chemical Engineering and Mathematics. His research involves developing and characterizing novel fluorescent probes for super resolution imaging. These probes can be used to image cellular components on the nanometer scale and utilize enhancements in photophysical properties to exceed traditional fluorescent dyes in many areas.
Kai-Wen Hsiao
Luke Cuculis
Undergraduate Students
Kevin Weyant
Kevin is a senior in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is currently engineering and characterizing several different flavin-binding fluorescent proteins for use as biological imaging probes in anaerobic environments.
Cameron Butler
Cameron is a junior in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is currently working on microfluidic cell flow analysis for use in the study of flexible polymer dynamics in extensional flow.
Patrick Corona
Patrick is a Junior in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is currently working on modeling flexible polymer dynamics using Brownian dynamics simulations and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
Josh Walker
Josh is a senior in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is working with Arnab Mukherjee on the engineering, characterization, and discovery of flavin-binding fluorescent proteins.
Group Pictures
