People
Justin Kenney
Principal Investigator
Postdoc, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada (w/ Paul Frankland)
Postdoc, University of Southampton, UK (w/ Christopher Proud)
PhD, Psychology/Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA (w/ Thomas Gould)
BS & BA, Physics & Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Hometown: Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA
Superpower: Beard growing
Inspiration: The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Nietzche's aphorisms, landscape art, poetry of Mary Oliver
Graduate Student
M. Tech, Biotechnology, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India
B. Tech, Biotechnology, Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women's University, India
Hometown: Najibabad, India
Superpower: Persistence
Inspiration: India, the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi & Chanakya Chants by Ashwin Sanghi
Aliyah Goldson
Graduate Student
BS, Biomedical Sciences (w/ Honours), York University
Hometown: Toronto, ON, Canada
Superpower: Persistence, creativity, and positivity!
Inspiration: Wonders of the world around me
Jake Hudock
Graduate Student
BS, Biology, Wayne State University
Hometown: Rochester, MI
Superpower: Staying awake until 5AM
Inspiration: Dune, Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, The natural world and its mysteries!
Dinh Luong
Research Assistant
BS, Biology, Wayne State University
Hometown: Sterling Heights, MI
Superpower: Playing Genshin for 10 hours straight
Inspiration: Family, friends, and her dog
Evan DeFrancesco
Research Assistant
BS, Biology, Wayne State University
MA, Chemistry (in progress), Wayne State University
Hometown: Royal Oak, MI
Superpowers: Talking a lot, piano, guitar
Inspiration: Lofi hiphop beats
Tripatchara (Kla) Atiratana
Visiting PhD student
Currently PhD student at Srinakharinwirot University
MS, Plant Sciences, Mahidol University
BS, Biology, Srinakharinwirot University
Hometown: Bangkok, Thailand
Superpower: Sleepy face
Inspiration: Grandmother saying "Are you hungry?"
Ezra Roberts
Undergraduate
Major: Neuroscience & Art
Hometown: Wyandotte, MI
Superpowers: Note-taking, composition, and analyzing the literature
Inspiration: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, overlaps betwen art & science, the natural world, ancient history, and comparative biology
Kush Parikh
High School Student
Education: Troy High School
Hometown: Troy, MI
Superpowers: Procrastination, 20/20 hindsight, inquisitiveness
Inspiration: Harry Potter, Atomic Habits, IoT (internet of things), Kobe Bryant, friends, little sister, and challenging himself
Alumni
(And their position after leaving the lab)
Postdoctoral Fellows
Barbara Fontana, PhD (2021-2023; post-doc at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria)
Graduate Students
Muntasir Rahman, MS (2019-2021; Research Associate at BIAL biotech)
Visiting Fellows
Fatemeh Beigloo, PhD. Visited from the Iranian Food and Drug Administration
Technicians
Maris Polanco, MS (2020; teaching at Henry Ford College)
Undergraduates
Paul Meram (2023; applying to medical school)
Joe Gjonaj (2022-2023; applying to medical school)
Dea Kanani (2022-2023; MD student at Wayne State School of Medicine)
Ada Squires (2022)
Matheu Wong (2021 - 2022; applying to medical school)
Kailyn Fields (2021 - 2022; PhD student in Chemistry at Wayne State University)
Kristopher Covert (2021; software engineer at IBM)
Saba Dubaishi (2019 - 2021; MA student in Philosophy at Wayne State University)
Olivia Young (2019 - 2021; PhD student in Biomedical Sciences at University of North Texas Health Science Center)
Stiven Roytman (2020 - 2021; lab technician at University of Michigan)
Meng Ting Shi (2019 - 2020; physicians assistant school at Western Michigan University)
Daniel Rickard (2019 - 2020; nursing school at Wayne State University)