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Kei Takahashi

Kei Takahashi received his Bachelor of Science in physics at Tokyo University of Science in 2010, with graduation thesis focused on the behaviour of fermions in optical lattices solved by Bogoliubov-de Gennes methods using numeric calculation. In 2010, he began to study giant liposome preparation methods for synthetic biology as a Masters student at University of Tokyo, Komaba.
After obtaining his Masters degree in 2012, he continued at University of Tokyo, Komaba in his doctoral studies on a “two-dimensional reconstituted-system” consisting of a cytosolic extract and a solid-supported lipid membrane for revealing the mechanism of amoeba motion. He also developed an experimental system for DNA-lipid conjugate transition. In 2015, he obtained his PhD.
Currently, he is studying aptamer-tagged liposomes and their interaction with bacteria, both as an experimental model of the transition from prokaryotic to eukaryotic life, and as new drug delivery vehicles.
Kei works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

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Igor Popovich

Igor is an international undergraduate student from Kazakhstan and has A.S. in Biology. Igor has been showing his interest in biology since high school. During his high school period, he participated in various scientific Olympiads starting from Regional competitions to International competitions that gave him a strong fundamental knowledge on biology. Today, he is working on B.S. in Genetics, Cell Bio and Development and a minor in Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Igor joined the lab on September 2017. In general, Igor is interested in investigation of therapies and drugs against worldwide diseases, synthetic biology, stem cells and cancer. Currently, Igor is studying the effects of ATP and PolyP on nucleic acids’ interactions with small molecule ligands to get a better understanding of interactions of small molecule ligands with DNA and RNA and to improve an understanding of these biopolymers from both a basic science and medical (drug design) perspective.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-popovich/
Igor works on projects jointly with Engelhart lab.

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Nathaniel Gaut

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.

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Joseph Heili

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