Category: people

Judee received her B.S. in Microbial Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2014. Although she did do research in her undergraduate years, she didn’t find her true interest in environmental microbiology and its applications until she began researching at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and start-up companies like Pivot Bio and Wild Earth. In 2018, she made the move to the University of Minnesota’s graduate program in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics where she joined the Adamala-Engelhart Lab. She is interested in furthering the functionality of synthetic cells for use in environmental biotechnology applications. Likewise, she would like to use synthetic cell mechanisms to consider (or reconsider) the origins of life on Earth or potentially in extraterrestrial systems. When she’s not in lab, she likes to read, watch The Office, backpack, and drink beer.

Contact: sharo112@umn.edu

Wakana received her B.S. in Agriculture at Hokkaido University, Japan in 2018. She began her research career as an undergraduate under Dr.Takasuka, studying biomass-degrading enzymes, and Dr. Kato, studying the discovery of bioactive natural compounds.
In 2018, Wakana started graduate school at the University of Minnesota, and joined Dr. Kate Adamala’s lab. She is interested in enzyme engineering for natural product synthesis and gene-based tool development for biocomputer.

Contact: sato0055@umn.edu

Chris Deich graduated from the University of Eau Claire-WI in 2016 with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He spent two years working at the Veterinary Diagnostics Lab on the UMN St. Paul campus before moving to the Adamala lab. Research interests include protobiology and using synthetic minimal cells as bioreactors. In his free time he enjoys reading science fiction, listening to music and camping on the weekends.

Works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

Contact: deich010@umn.edu

Contact: aufde025@umn.edu

Grad student, works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

Contact: jalejoam@umn.edu
Jose L. Alejo received his B.Sc. in physics at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, numerically studying a mathematical model of viral budding. In 2009, he obtained his M.Sc. in physics, during which he studied small vesicle fusion and uptake into human astrocyte cells, under Professors Chad Leidy and John M. Gonzalez.
He continued to pursue doctoral studies at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, where he initially studied the effects of small molecules on lipid bilayers under Professor Olaf Andersen and then wrote his dissertation on the study of ribosome machinery biophysics through single-molecule imaging techniques under Professor Scott Blanchard.
Currently, he is developing platforms for the compartmentalized, controlled evolution of the translation machinery, with views towards both origin of life and biotechnology research.
Jose works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

Jose is Hanna H. Gray Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Contact: gautx002@umn.edu

Nathan received his B.S. in Human Biology at the University of California, San Diego in 2015. He began his research career as an undergraduate under the supervision of Dr. Huilin Zhou, studying mechanisms behind genomic instability of cancer cells. He later became inspired to pursue graduate programs with focus on synthetic biology and tool development.

In 2016, Nathan started graduate school at the University of Minnesota, and joined Dr. Kate Adamala’s lab as her first graduate student. He is working on developing synthetic minimal cells as a tool for a wide range of applications, from simplified models of cellular processes to highly modular bioreactors. In this research, he uses synthetic biology to re-engineer the machinery of life, to create new research tools and products.
Currently, he is studying interactions between RNA binding proteins and ribozymes, enabling new ways of synthetic cell gene regulation as well as a combinatorial fusion system for engineering complex genetic network interactions in synthetic minimal cells, with applications in metabolic engineering.
Works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

Joseph Heili graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2011 with a B.S. in Biology and Plant Biology Minor. He spent four years working in the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory until 2016 when he completed his M.S. in Biology and moved to the Adamala-Engelhart Laboratory.
His areas of interest are based in microbial ecology with goals involving bioremediation, aquaponic and aquaculture biofiltration, as well as gut and soil microbiome management. His research will focus on bacterial quorum signaling, using liposomes as models to investigate methods of influencing bacterial population dynamics.
In his free time, Joseph enjoys snowboarding, brewing beer, volleyball, camping and carpentry.
Works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

Contact: heili029@umn.edu