2024 MRSEC Students and Postdoctoral Researchers

ORCID: 0009-0000-1947-7229
PI: Jon Pokorski (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: polymer, block polymer, block copolymer, baroplastic, drug delivery

After receiving a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Richmond, then working as an R&D chemist, Nicole Bialick is now pursuing her Ph.D. in NanoEngineering at UC San Diego. She joined Jonathan Pokorski’s lab in the Summer of 2024, where she is developing a library of biodegradable baroplastic polymers for use as drug delivery devices.

ORCID: 0000-0001-7146-7095
PI: Jon Pokorski (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: 

Debika is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Jon Pokorski and is serving as MRSEC Trainee Leadership Group Representative (IRG2). Her current research focuses on fabricating biosynthetic materials by integrating genetically engineered cells into polymer composites. The aim is to develop materials that respond to stimuli encoded by genetic manipulation. Prior to joining the lab, she received her Doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. During her PhD research she developed biocompatible gelators from short self-assembling peptides for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering. In her spare time she enjoys photography, traveling, writing and painting.

ORCID: 0000-0003-4655-3578
PI: Jinhye Bae (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: Colloidal Hydrogels; Rheology; 3D/4D Printing

Zhecun Guan is pursuing a PhD in NanoEngineering, as part of Dr. Jinhye Bae's lab at UC San Diego. She received her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from China University of Geosciences. Her current research focuses on the synthesis of engineered living hydrogels and their application in cyanobacterial farming and drug delivery to plants.

ORCID: 0009-0006-1403-5548
PI: Michael Burkart (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: monomer synthesis, process engineering, flow chemistry, biodegradation

Caitlin Hudecek is PhD candidate in the Biochemistry and Chemistry department at UC San Diego. She completed her B.S.’s in chemical engineering and biology from Oregon State University before coming to UCSD. Her research supports the development of bio-based, biodegradable materials by using flow chemistry to engineer scalable monomer synthesis and by developing systems to measure biodegradability of polymers.

ORCID: 0000-0002-2323-2790
PI: Nicole Steinmetz (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise:

Tony transferred to University of California, Berkeley to complete his bachelor's degree in Chemical Biology from El Camino College where he became involved in research with the Francis Research Group and worked with biomaterials to form micellar systems. Upon graduation, Tony moved to Maryland to continue research at the National Cancer Institute as a Post Baccalaureate Fellow, using activity-based probes and inhibitors to study proteases and their relationship to immunological problems and cancer. He then joined the Steinmetz Research Group in the Chemical and Nano Engineering Department at UC San Diego, where he is now working on immunotherapy using plant nanotechnology. Outside of research, Tony enjoys reading realist fiction novels and geocaching.

ORCID: 0000-0002-3992-3123
PI: Jon Pokorski (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: 

Luis Palomino is an entering Ph.D. student in the UC San Diego NanoEngineering department, who will join the Pokorski Lab in Fall 2021. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry from the National University of San Marcos - UNMSM (Lima, Peru) in 2016. For the last five years, he was a research assistant and instructor at the University of Engineering and Technology - UTEC (Lima, Peru). Holding this position, he participated in funded collaborative projects with the University of Connecticut, Harvard University, and Cleveland Clinic developing metallic, polymeric, and carbon nanomaterials for their use in environmental remediation, drug delivery, and energy storage.

ORCID: 0000-0002-9850-7138
PI: Darren Lipomi (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: 

Robert is a first year Ph.D. student in the department of Nanoengineering at UC San Diego. Co-advised by Prof. Tod Pascal and Prof. Darren Lipomi, he is working on simulating PEDOT:PSS and improving models and simulation methods for conjugated polymers and polyelectrolytes. Robert is also currently collaborating with the Goddard group at Caltech on developing improved interfaces at the user and application level for molecular simulations. Robert completed an M.S. in Nanoengineering in 2021 and received a double major in Chinese Studies and Nanoengineering in 2020, all at UC San Diego.

ORCID: 0000-0001-7257-8846
PI: Susan Golden (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: 

Nathan is a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Susan Golden's lab. His research background is mainly in the fields of microbiology, molecular biology, and structural biology. He completed his Bachelor's of Science at Case Western Reserve University and then his PhD in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology at Penn State University. At present, his research is focused on the construction and implementation of cyanobacteria in Engineered Living Materials (ELMs), namely cyanobacterial hydrogels. These ELMs have numerous potential applications, including the generation of useful products in industrial settings, and environmental remediation. Nathan’s work addresses fundamental challenges to cyanobacterial ELM technology, such as degradation of ELMs, as well as customization of ELMs to produce useful outputs in various contexts. Both of these research avenues concern engineering of cyanobacteria and engineering of the hydrogel, which is complemented by the materials science experts in IRG2.

ORCID: 0000-0001-5312-673X
PI: Jinhye Bae (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: confocal fluorescent microscopy, nanoindentation, stimuli-responsive hydrogels

Lisa Tang is a Ph.D. student majoring in Chemical Engineering at UC San Diego. Before coming to UC San Diego, she earned her BS in Chemical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2021. She is currently working in Professor Jinhye Bae's Lab where her research focuses in studying the mechanical properties of cyanobacteria-laden hydrogels for use in soft robotics.

ORCID: 0009-0003-2580-3539
PI: Michael Burkart (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: Sustainable polymers, microalgae, synthesis

Kathryn previously earned her B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Gettysburg College and is currently pursuing her PhD in Organic Chemistry at UC San Diego. Her research in Dr. Michael Burkart's lab integrates organic synthesis, biology, and materials science to develop sustainable polymers from microalgae. Her work focuses on cultivating and utilizing microalgae as both a feedstock for biodegradable monomer/material synthesis and as a bioproduction platform for intracellular polymer granules.

ORCID: 0000-0001-8922-4438
PI:
Key Areas of Expertise: 

Oscar is an undergraduate student at the University of San Diego (class of 2022) who participated in the SSSiN via the UCSD MRSEC RIMSE program. He will be working on nanparticles as PET contrast agents. Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology. His interests include developing methods for loading of porous Si nanoparticles with tissue growth factors.

ORCID:
PI: 
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Xinyi is a PhD student in the Department of Nanoengineering. She joined the labin April 2022. She received her B.S. in Polymer Science from Beijing Universityof Chemical Technology. Her past research focused on cancer and she has a particular interest in immunology. Currently she’s working on plant virus-based vaccines and immunotherapy. In her free time, she loves rock music, J-pop,cooking for friends and hiking.

ORCID: 0000-0002-7529-2824
PI: Jon Pokorski (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: 

Erica is a Nanoengineering PhD student at UC San Diego. Erica completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware. Her previous research experience focused on thermoresponsive polymers. She was a UC San Diego's MRSEC REU in 2021, where she worked on utilizing additive manufacturing for synthesizing cyanobacterial gels, under supervision of Professor Jon Pokorski.

ORCID:
PI: Ivonne Gonzalez Gamboa
Key Areas of Expertise: tobacco mild green mosaic virus, spherical nanoparticles, virus like particles, tobacco mosaic virus, plant health biology

Melody Hu is pursuing a B.S. in Microbiology at UC San Diego. She joined the Steinmetz Lab in Summer 2025, where she works on projects utilizing tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) spherical nanoparticles to develop strategies for remediating soils impacted by heavy metal contamination.

ORCID:
PI: Ivonne Gonzalez Gamboa
Key Areas of Expertise: agrochemicals, nanotechnology, climate-stressed soils, plant virus, materials engineering, scanning electron microscopy

Sarine Krikorian is an undergraduate student studying NanoEngineering at UC San Diego. She is currently a part of the Gonzalez-Gamboa Research Group, in which she utilizes plant viruses for optimized delivery of agrochemicals to climate-stressed soils. Throughout her undergraduate career, she has worked with nanotechnology, virtual reality simulations, materials engineering, characterization, and virus delivery.

ORCID: 0009-0009-6042-8459
PI: Ivonne Gonzalez Gamboa
Key Areas of Expertise: spherical nanoparticle, TMGMV, virus like nanoparticles

David Majeed is an undergraduate student studying public health with a concentration medicine science and minoring in biology at UC San Diego. Now he is a part of Prof. Gonzalez-Gamboa Research Group, using Tobacco Mild Green Mosaic Virus (TMGMV) derived virus like nanoparticles to deliver agrochemicals to plants.

ORCID: 0009-0008-9142-4808
PI: Ivonne Gonzalez Gamboa
Key Areas of Expertise: Plant Virus, Nano Particles, soils, game based learning, education reseach

Sean McDowell is a master's student in UCSD’s Nanoengineering program and joined the Steinmetz Lab in Fall 2024. Sean works with Prof. González-Gamboa to design and research education and outreach activities. Sean also works on environmental and agricultural applications of plant virus derived nanoparticles. Prior to UCSD, Sean completed his undergraduate studies at UC Davis, earning degrees in Physics and Design.

ORCID: 0000-0002-4068-0843
PI: Nicole Steinmetz (lab)
Key Areas of Expertise: nanomaterials, plant molecular farming

Patrick is a postdoctoral research in the Steinmetz Lab focusing on the application of plant-made nanomaterials for human health and plant health.  Patrick obtained his B. Sc (2014) and M. Sc (2017) in Molecular and Applied Biotechnology in Germany at the RWTH Aachen University. After completing a research internship in the Sinskey Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Patrick returned to Germany to pursue a PhD (summa cum laude, under supervision of Prof. Buyel) at the RWTH Aachen and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME in the framework of the DFG Research Training Group Tumor-Targeted Drug Delivery. When he is not in the lab Patrick likes traveling, hiking, DIY projects and sports; in particular volleyball, soccer, badminton and biking.

ORCID: 0009-0002-5227-6079
PI: Ivonne Gonzalez Gamboa
Key Areas of Expertise: viral nanoparticle synthesis, high salinity, heavy metal, post-wildfire

Corey Smeenk is an undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Human Biology at the University of California, San Diego. She is a member of Dr. Nicole Steinmetz’s Laboratory, where she works under the mentorship of Dr. Ivonne Gonzales-Gamboa on the development and application of spherical viral nanoparticles for phytohormone delivery in plants under stress.

ORCID: 0009-0003-6118-0252
PI: Ivonne Gonzalez Gamboa
Key Areas of Expertise: plant virus nanoparticles, nanoagriculture, agrochemical, drug delivery, microscopy

Patrick Smith is pursuing a MS in Biological Sciences at UC San Diego, having previously graduated from UCSD with a BS in Microbiology. He is part of the Gonzalez-Gamboa Research Group in the Center for NanoImmunoEngineering, where his research focuses on using plant virus-based nanoparticles for agrochemical delivery in local California stressed soils.