Lab members

"Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results."

Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Principal Investigator

Emma Chory

Emma Chory

Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

  • PhD Chemical Engineering, Stanford University (2018)
  • MS Chemical Engineering, Stanford University (2014)
  • BS Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University (2012)
Beyond the benchHobby: guerilla knitting
ResearchOur lab is broadly interested in developing biological tools, and open-sourced robotics platforms to accelerate the evolution of bio-therapeutics, and to better inform our understanding of a range of human diseases.
LinkedInBluesky

Postdoctoral Fellows

Ryan Boileau

Ryan Boileau

Postdoctoral Fellow

NIH Ruth L Kirschstein National Service Research Award Post-doctoral Fellowship
  • PhD Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, UCSF (2023)
  • BS Human Physiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, University of Oregon (2014)
ResearchI am broadly interested in using automation, synthetic biology, and sequencing technologies to perform high throughput assays of protein function. I aim to better understand the interface between chromatin and its regulators in the context of disease.
Beyond the benchI love jokes including inside jokes, bad jokes, outside jokes, etc...
TwitterBluesky
Telmo Llanga

Telmo Llanga

Postdoctoral Fellow

NIH NHGRI F99/K00 Transition Award Fellow
  • PhD Pharmacology, Duke University (2025)
  • BA Political Science, UNC-Chapel Hill (2015)
ResearchI am focused on the directed evolution of CRISPR gene editor gRNAs merging PRANCE, SELEX and Artificial Intelligence.
Beyond the benchMy Chess.com rating fluctuates wildly (1300-1800)
LinkedIn
Adam Beitz

Adam Beitz

Postdoctoral Fellow

NIH NCI F99/K00 Transition Award Fellow
  • PhD Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2025)
  • BS Chemical Engineering, Clemson University (2019)
ResearchI am working to apply automated control to the differentiation of stem cells into organoid models of ovarian cancer and to apply microscopy-based decision making to identify different stages of oncogenesis.
Beyond the benchSport: Olympic weightlifting. Hobby: Following Minor League Baseball
Twitter

PhD Students

Stefan Golas

Stefan Golas

PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering

NIH Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering Pre-doctoral Fellowship
  • BS Chemical Engineering, UMass Amherst (2019)
ResearchI am interested in optimizing methods of mammalian cell culture through high-throughput robotics.
Beyond the benchFavorite hobby: Pebble wrestling (aka rock climbing)
LinkedIn
Qianni Ma

Qianni Ma

PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • MS, Tufts University (2021)
  • BS Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University (2019)
ResearchI am interested in exploring the integration of diverse technologies and disciplines to build a robust platform for protein engineering that can support a wide range of applications and innovations.
Beyond the benchHobby: Dog walking Favorite TV show: Wednesday
LinkedIn
Mary Jia

Mary Jia

PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  • BS Biomedical Engineering, University of Arkansas (2023)
ResearchI am developing and exploring applications for continuous mammalian directed evolution approaches using retroviral vectors.
Beyond the benchMusic taste: chaotic neutral
LinkedInTwitterBluesky
Aradhana

Aradhana

PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • MS Neuroscience, UT Dallas (2018)
  • BE Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (2015)
  • MS Biological Science, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (2015)
ResearchI am interested in using high-throughput robotics and synthetic biology tools to gain a deeper understanding of protein-protein interactions, ultimately facilitating exploration of novel design principles underlying complex directed evolution strategies
Beyond the benchFavorites: Museums, offbeat crafts, intended puns
LinkedIn
Shannon Wallace

Shannon Wallace

PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • MS Biomedical Engineering, University of Memphis (2023)
  • BS Biomedical Engineering, University of Memphis (2022)
ResearchI am focused on the application of directed evolution to develop targeted therapeutics to treat glioblastoma.
Co-advisorDr. Kathy Ayasoufi
Beyond the benchHobby: I enjoy doing puzzles. Fun Fact: I can name 11 different lemur species.
LinkedIn

Masters Students

Erica Yan

Erica Yan

MS Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • BS Biomedical Engineering (2025)
ResearchI'll be working on CRISPR screens to identify genetic modifiers that enhance lentiviral uptake and formulation, aiming to develop a lentivirus producer cell line with high stability and titers.
Beyond the benchMy new friday night routine is playing *competitive* poker with a group of friends. Now I'm on a mission to seriously level up my poker skills.
LinkedIn
Madison Turner

Madison Turner

MS Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • BS Chemical Engineering, United States Military Academy (2018)
ResearchI am focused on the application of directed evolution techniques towards mammalian cell lines and expanding our understanding of non-coding regions in oncogenesis.
Beyond the benchHobbies: anything grandma-coded (baking, cross-stitch, crochet, binge watching true-crime documentaries, helping my cat make biscuits, etc.)
AI

Alex Ivan

MS Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • BSE Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2026)
ResearchI will be utilizing synthetic biology to contribute to the design of mammalian evolution platforms.
Beyond the benchLearning card magic

Research Assistants

Ashley Hsu

Ashley Hsu

Research Assistant

  • BS Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science, Duke University (2026)
ResearchI am developing machine learning methods to model evolutionary trajectories and guide variant sampling in directed evolution experiments.
Beyond the benchFun fact: I trained as a classical pianist at the Manhattan School of Music.
LinkedInTwitter
Sean Gao

Sean Gao

Research Assistant

  • BSE Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Duke University (2026)
ResearchI am interested in engineering bacterial and phage-based genetic systems to couple biomolecular activity to evolutionary selection, enabling more flexible and robust continuous evolution platforms.
Beyond the benchFun Fact: I love to surf and design things in CAD, though usually not at the same time.
LinkedIn

Undergraduate Students

Ananya Agarwal

Ananya Agarwal

Undergraduate Researcher

  • UNC Chapel Hill (2029)
  • North Carolina School of Science and Math (2025)
ResearchI am interested in genome editing bacterium and synthetic biology
Beyond the benchHobbies: swimming, playing pool, and baking
Bowen Jiang

Bowen Jiang

Undergraduate Researcher

  • Dual Major in BME and ECE (2027)
ResearchI wish to use machine learning techniques to aid biological research. I'm very excited to learn about applying robotics tools upon that as well.
Beyond the benchHobby: all kinds of sports - soccer, tennis, basketball
LinkedIn
Winston Qian

Winston Qian

Undergraduate Researcher

  • Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2027)
ResearchI am interested in examining and modeling the mechanisms of regulating gene mutation rates, and utilizing these mechanisms to increase efficiency of directed evolution.
Beyond the benchFun fact: Tabletop gaming, and causing unnecessary chaos in tabletop games
Alyssa Ramirez

Alyssa Ramirez

Undergraduate Researcher

  • BS Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2026)
ResearchI am focusing evaluating the inducibility of putative viral-responsive promoters using a transient reporter assays.
Beyond the benchBaking Specialty: brownies, Languages: English and almost Spanish, Skills: being distracted very easily (like a cat), Hobby: reading, baking, trying to learn how to cook new foods
Divya Srijay

Divya Srijay

Undergraduate Researcher

  • BS Biology and Physics, Duke University (2027)
ResearchI am excited to learn about the applications of automation in wet labs and getting to do directed evolution experiments, especially as it relates to developing gene circuits for thymic counterselection.
Beyond the benchI play the cello on my friend's debut album, Thinner, and I am a member of Duke Swing!
LinkedIn
Matthew Xie

Matthew Xie

Undergraduate Researcher

  • BSE Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science, Duke University (2029)
ResearchI am interested in building scalable computational pipelines to evaluate CRISPR sequences and using machine learning methods to uncover patterns that inform more effective and precise gene editing strategies.
Beyond the benchHobbies: Playing tennis and watching football
LinkedIn

Alumni

Christian Chitty

Christian Chitty

MS Student, Biomedical Engineering

  • BSE Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2023)
Hanyu Fu

Hanyu Fu

Research Assistant

  • B.S. Materials Physics, Nanjing University (2021)
Benjamin Pyatski

Benjamin Pyatski

Undergraduate Co-op Student

  • BS in Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Northeastern University
Robert Kaptur

Robert Kaptur

Undergraduate Pratt Fellow, BME

  • BSE in Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2025)
LinkedIn
Nika Ilieva

Nika Ilieva

Undergraduate Pratt Fellow, BME

  • BSE Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2026)
LinkedIn
Aidan Baydush

Aidan Baydush

Undergraduate Researcher

  • BSE Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2026)
LinkedIn