People

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Our Team

Rebecca Taylor, Ph.D.

Director (curriculum vitae)

Professor in Mechanical Engineering and, by courtesy, Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Logan Carpenter, Ph.D.

    Postdoctoral Research Associate

    Investigating the impact on cellular functions from interfacing with DNA nanostructures.

      Grace Rohaley, Ph.D.

      Post-Doctoral Associate in Mechanical Engineering & SAXS specialist at Materials Characterization Facility.

      Characterization and instrumentation for rapid protoyping and manufactured materials.

        Sarah J. Weintraub, Ph.D.

        Postdoctoral researcher in Mechanical Engineering

        Leveraging synthetic biology tools to build scalable DNA nanoparticles for drug-delivery.

          Taryn Imamura, B.S.

          Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2025) Co-advised with Sarah Bergbreiter

          Taryn is an NSF and GEM fellowship awardee, who is developing a hybrid top-down, bottom-up manufacturing process for microswimmers using DNA origami.

            Vismaya Walawalkar M.S.

            Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2025)

            Studying nano-scale DNA shear sensors.

              Isabella Ferranti, B.S.

              Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2026)

              Studying how DNA origami nanostructures and nanobiosensors interface with cells

                Anuhya Edupuganti, B.S.

                Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2027)

                Investigating the Self-Assembly of Modular Robots Constructed using DNA

                  Zijuan Liang, B.S.

                  Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2027) Co-advised with Burak Ozdoganlar

                  Studying DNA origami and microneedle arrays.

                    A.J. Vetturini, B.S.E

                    Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2027) Co-advised with Jonathan Cagan

                    A.J. is exploring the expansion of design methodologies for DNA origami

                      Leah Dickey, M.S.

                      Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering (expected 2026)

                      Leah is a GEM Fellowship recipient, who is investigating relationships between design parameters and therapeutic outcomes of DNA nanostructures.

                        Lainie Beauchemin, B.S.

                        Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2029)

                        Using peptide nucleic acids to design self-assembling nuclease-resistant and protein-compatible nanostructures

                          Abraham E. Polanco Martínez, B.S.

                          Ph.D. Student in Chemical Engineering (expected 2029) Co-advised with Dr. Tagbo Niepa

                          Studying the detection and eradication of Candida auris using DNA origami.

                            Nandita Rai, B.S.

                            M.S. Student in Biomedical Engineering (expected 2026)

                            Studying DNA origami and Extracellular Vesicle Conjugates for Therapeutics

                              Gweneth Ge (Yuejun)

                              M.S. Student in Robotics Institute (expected 2026)

                              Building scalable, automated pipelines for DNA origami and nanoscale fabrication

                                Shriya Sivakumar

                                Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering (expected 2027)

                                Automating generation of CAD models of proteins with OnShape's FeatureScript program

                                  Directions to the lab

                                  Office Location:

                                  5000 Forbes Avenue
                                  Scaife Hall, Room A10
                                  Pittsburgh, PA 15213

                                  Driving directions:

                                  If you are visiting campus, hourly parking is available in the East Campus Garage:
                                  5040 Forbes Avenue
                                  Pittsburgh, PA 15213

                                  Laboratory Location:

                                  Our research laboratory space is located in:
                                  Scaife Hall, Room A11

                                  Ph.D. Alumni

                                  Name

                                  Ph.D. Thesis title

                                  Graduation info

                                  D. Sebastian Arias

                                  Redefining Boundaries in DNA Nanotechnology: Complexity, Control, and Accessibility

                                  MechE Ph.D. Spring '25, now at Emerald Cloud Lab

                                  Weitao Wang

                                  Cell Membrane Engineering with Structural DNA Nanotechnology

                                  MechE Ph.D. Fall '24 and postdoc until Fall '25

                                  Bolutito Babatunde

                                  Investigating a Flexible Framework for Automating Structural Multi-layer DNA Origami Designs

                                  MechE Ph.D. Fall '24, now at Ferhat Ay Lab

                                  Emma Benjaminson

                                  Methods for Designing, Manufacturing and Controlling Micro-Scale Swimming Robotic Systems Built with DNA Nanotechnology

                                  MechE Ph.D. '23, now at Novasenta

                                  Susana Beltrán

                                  Investigating Mechanotransduction Behaviors of Natural and Engineered Molecular Sensors for Patient-tailored Treatment Paradigms and Regenerative Rehabilitation

                                  MechE Ph.D. '23, now at the National Science Foundation as an Engineering/Science Analyst

                                  Ying Liu

                                  Biosensing and imaging with structural DNA nanotechnology

                                  MechE Ph.D. '21, now at Huawei, Inc

                                  Sriram Kumar

                                  Self-assembly of Synthetic Nucleic Acid Nanostructures for the Development of Mechanical Biosensors

                                  MechE Ph.D. '21, now at Pacific Biosciences.

                                  M.S. Research Alumni

                                  Name

                                  Masters Thesis Title

                                  Graduation info

                                  Karthik Subramaniam

                                  Dynamic simulation of DNA microswimmer locomotion in an oscillating magnetic field.

                                  MechE MS Spring '25

                                  Bhavya Chopra

                                  Membrane binding strategies for enhanced cellular uptake of DNs

                                  BME MS '23, incoming CMU Ph.D. Student for Fall 2025

                                  Paula Arambel

                                  Wrinkling of Silicone Sheets Subject to Partial Clamping and Rationally-designed Perforations

                                  MechE MS Research '18, now at Insulet Corporation

                                  Alexander Kwakye

                                  Microfluidic Platform for Multimodal Microscopy Studies of Structural DNA Nanotechnology

                                  MechE MS Research '18, now at Intel

                                  B.S./M.S. Alumni

                                  Name

                                  Research description

                                  Graduation info

                                  Eladio Andujar Lugo

                                  Semi-automated Design of XNA-DNA Nanostructures with Arbitrary Helicity.

                                  MechE BS Spring '25

                                  Jaren Hubal

                                  Automating the preparation of DNA origami using an OT-2 pipetting robot.

                                  MechE MS Fall '24

                                  Elsa Schleicher

                                  Honors Research on Cloud Lab Automation of DNA Origami Pre-Stock Solutions. Junior year project: Automating CAD models for DNA molecules with OnShape’s FeatureScript Program.

                                  MechE BS Spring '24, now at CSBio

                                  Sruti Bapatla

                                  Course Development for Mechanics 1: 2D Design

                                  MechE/BME BS expected Spring '25

                                  Lawrence Onyango

                                  Mapping the analytical design space for DNA for 3D lever nanosensors

                                  MechE BS Spring '24

                                  Caleigh Goodwin-Schoen

                                  Creating 3D printed models of biological structures

                                  MechE BS '22/MS '23, now at HRL Laboratories, LLC

                                  Ethan Husted

                                  Designing PNA nanostructures with 2-domain inputs

                                  MechE BS '22/MS '23, now at Key Tech

                                  Aparna Nair

                                  Controlling the length of DNA fabricated nanotubes using a hybridized origami/SST method

                                  MechE BS '23

                                  Peter Sauer

                                  Creating a Dataset to Predict DNA Origami Formation

                                  Biological Sciences and Statistics/Machine Learning BS '23, now at the NIH Postbac IRTA program

                                  Anika Banga

                                  Remotely operable microscope-based microswimmer test arena

                                  SCS BS '22

                                  Charlotte Andreasen

                                  Nanoscale DNA wall shear stress sensor

                                  MechE BS '21, now Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan in the Arruda Lab

                                  Kayleigh Boyle

                                  Designing and modelling 3D PNA and DNA nanostructures

                                  MechE BS '21, now at Key Tech

                                  Mitchell Harmatz

                                  Magnetically actuated microswimmers made from microbeads and DNA

                                  Research assistant through May 2020, now at Perelman School of Medicine (UPenn)

                                  Fatima Basit

                                  Design and fabrication of nanostructures and nano-devices using two photon polymerization

                                  MechE BS '21

                                  Yishun (Daphne) Zhou

                                  Design and simulation of nanoscale DNA origami shear sensor

                                  MechE BS '20

                                  Rishabh Jain

                                  Tracking magnetic microswimmers and stretching nanosprings.

                                  MechE BS '22

                                  Taylor Clayton

                                  Nanoscribe-fabrication templates for bead pocketing self-assembly, now at General Motors in the NextGen Controls Group

                                  MechE MS '19

                                  Benjamin Pavlat

                                  Micropost tracking analysis

                                  ChemE BS '21

                                  Mitchell Riek

                                  Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2017

                                  MechE BS '19, now at Caterpillar Inc.

                                  Rachel Sneeringer

                                  Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2017

                                  MechE BS '20

                                  Alexandra Eggleston

                                  Cell culture for MFI project

                                  ChemE/BME BS '17

                                  Berk Sahin

                                  BME Carnegie Heart Fellowship, Summer 2017

                                  MechE BS '19

                                  Will Anstett

                                  SURG Project Spring 2018

                                  MechE BS '18

                                  Isabel Roscoe

                                  Rapid prototyping of molecular models

                                  MechE BS '18 / Tepper MBA '19

                                  Jade Crockem

                                  Course development for "Modern Manufacturing in Steeltown"

                                  MechE BS '18

                                  Sarah Karp

                                  Spring 2017 Course development for "Modern Manufacturing in Steeltown"

                                  MechE BS '18

                                  Shivang Chordia

                                  Spring 2017 Course development for "Modern Manufacturing in Steeltown"

                                  MechE BS '18

                                  Kelly Underwood

                                  Spring 2018 Course development for "Modern Manufacturing in Steeltown"

                                  MechE BS '18

                                  Postdoc Alumni

                                  Name

                                  Research description

                                  Graduation info

                                  Aleyamma Alexander

                                  Synthesis and decoration of gene-encoding nanoparticles

                                  Postdoctoral Researcher 2023-2025

                                  Manoj Gupta

                                  Water-soluble gammaPNA nanostructures

                                  Postdoctoral Researcher 2020-2023

                                  Dilhara Jayarathna

                                  Voice assisted protocol training, PNA, and origami validation

                                  Postdoctoral Researcher 2018