Team

Our team is composed of researchers with diverse expertise and complementary skillsets spanning scientific disciplines including: Bioengineering, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Genomics, Computational Biology, Immunology, Virology, and Pharmacology. We value high-quality science, hard work, collaboration, training, and teamwork.

Principal Investigator

• Isaac Hilton, PhD

  About Isaac ›

  Associate Professor, Bioengineering
  Associate Professor, BioSciences
  CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research

  

  

  

  Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University (2013-2017)

  Ph.D., Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (2013)

  B.S., Biological Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia (2004)

Postdoctoral Researchers and Staff

• Jing Li, PhD

  Ph.D. Biochemistry, Clemson University, 2017

  M.S. Genetics, Sun Yat-sen University, 2011

  B.S. Biological Science, Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University, 2008

• Barun Mahata, PhD

  Ph.D. Biochemistry, Calcutta University, 2018

  M.S. Zoology, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Vidyasagar University, 2009

  B.S. with Honours in Zoology, Chemistry and Botany, Jhargram Raj College, 2007

• Mario Escobar, PhD

  Ph.D. Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University, 2022

  American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellow

  B.S. Biology, Brigham Young University – Idaho, 2018

• Sandy Luong

  B.A. Biochemistry, Cell, and Molecular Biology, Drake University, 2021

• Jacob Goell, PhD

  

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  Ph.D. Bioengineering, Rice University, 2023

  M.S. Translational Medicine, University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco, 2017

  B.S. Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 2016

Graduate Students

• Daniel Brenner

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2019

• Sunghwan Kim

  

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  M.S. International Agricultural Technology, Seoul National University, 2019

  B.S. Life Science, Hanyang University, 2017

  B.S. Business Administration, Hanyang University, 2017

• Guy Bedford

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program Awardee

  *Co-advised with Dr. Michael Diehl (Rice Bioengineering)

  B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, 2021

• Daniel Reed

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program Awardee

  B.S. Biochemistry and Microbiology, Oklahoma State University, 2022

• Hailey Szadowski

  Department: Rice Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology (SSPB)

  NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program Awardee

  B.S. Biological Engineering, Purdue University, 2022

• Amaury F. Bittar Yepes

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  Fulbright-García Robles Doctoral Scholar

  M.Sc, Biomedical Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, 2022

  B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, 2021

  B.S., Microbiology, Universidad de los Andes, 2021
• Alex Ma

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  B.S. Bioengineering, Minor in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2023
• Selvalakshmi (Selva) Selvaraj Anand

  Department: Rice Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology (SSPB)

  M.S. Diagnostic Genetics and Genomics – Molecular Biology,  MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2023

  B.Tech. Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, 2020

• RJ Jiao

  Department: Rice Bioengineering

  B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, 2021

  B.S., Computer Science, Duke University, 2021

Undergraduate Students

• Jennifer Liu

  Department: Rice Biochemistry and Cell Biology (B.S.)
• Samantha Lydon

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)
• Mira Srinivasa

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)
• Maria Contreras

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)
• Sam Balakrishnan

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)
• Ana Naqvi

  Department: Rice Biochemistry and Cell Biology (B.S.)
• Catherine Wang

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)
• Ashwika Agrawal

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)
• Devika Dua

  Department: Rice Biochemistry and Cell Biology (B.S.) and Rice Social Policy Analysis
• Kevin Gong

  Department: Rice Bioengineering (B.S.)