“Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results”
-Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha.
Current Lab Members
Emma Chory, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
PhD Chemical Engineering, Stanford University (2018)
MS Chemical Engineering, Stanford University (2014)
BS Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University (2012)
Research Interests: Our 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.
Favorite activity: Graffiti-knitting at dusk
Ryan Boileau, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD Development & Stem Cell Biology, UCSF (2023)
BS Human Physiology, Biology, & Biochemistry, University of Oregon (2014)
Research Interests: I 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.
Fun-fact: I am a fan of jokes including inside jokes, bad jokes, outside jokes, etc...
Select Awards: NIH Ruth L Kirschstein National Service Research Award Post-doctoral Fellowship
Mary Jia
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
BS Biomedical Engineering, University of Arkansas (2023)
Research Interests: I am developing and exploring applications for continuous mammalian directed evolution approaches.
Music taste: chaotic neutral
Select Awards: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Stefan Golas
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
BS Chemical Engineering, UMass Amherst (2019)
Research Interests: I am interested in optimizing methods of mammalian cell culture through high-throughput robotics.
Favorite hobby: Pebble wrestling (aka rock climbing)
Select Awards: NIH Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering Pre-doctoral Fellowship
Qianni Ma
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
MS Tufts University (2021)
BS Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University (2019)
Research Interests: I 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.
Favorite activities: Walking puppers & watching Wednesday
Aradhana
PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering
BE Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (2015)
MS Biological Science, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (2015)
MS Neuroscience, UT Dallas (2018)
Research Interests: I 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
Favorites: Museums, offbeat crafts, intended puns
Robert Kaptur
Undergraduate Pratt Fellow, BME
BSE in Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2025)
Research Interests: I’m interested in programming the immune system to fight cancer using automation and synthetic biology.
Favorite hobby: indoor volleyball
Nika Ilieva
Undergraduate Pratt Fellow, BME
BSE Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2026)
Research Interests: Interested in exploring phage biotechnology and its applications in medical, agricultural, and ecological fields.
Fun Fact: Georgian-Uighur who likes to dress up
Bowen Jiang
Undergraduate Researcher
Dual Major in BME and ECE (2027)
Research Interests: I wish to use machine learning techniques to aid biological research. I'm very excited to learn about applying robotics tools upon that as well.
Hobbies: all kinds of sports - soccer, tennis, basketball
Alyssa Ramirez
Undergraduate Researcher
BS Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2026)
Research Interests: I am focusing evaluating the inducibility of putative viral-responsive promoters using a transient reporter assays.
Fun facts: Baking Specialty: brownies. Languages: English and almost Spanish. Skills: being distracted very easily (like a cat!)
Hobbies: reading, baking, trying to learn how to cook new foods
Winston Qian
Undergraduate Researcher
Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2027)
Research Interests: I am interested in examining and modeling the mechanisms of regulating gene mutation rates, and utilizing these mechanisms to increase efficiency of directed evolution.
Fun fact: Tabletop gaming, and causing unnecessary chaos in tabletop games
Ananya Agarwal
High School Student
North Carolina School of Science & Math (2025)
Research Interests: I am interested in genome editing bacterium and synthetic biology
Hobbies: swimming, playing pool, and baking
Erica Yan
BS/MS Student, Biomedical Engineering
BS Biomedical Engineering (2025)
Research Interests: I’m working on developing 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.
Fun Fact: My 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.
Lab Alumni
Christian Chitty
MS Student, Biomedical Engineering
BSE Biomedical Engineering, Duke University (2023)
Research Interests: I am interested in exploring the intersection of synthetic biology and gene therapy in the context of cellular therapies and the therapeutic targeting of human diseases.
Fun-fact: I am a tea connoisseur
Hanyu Fu
Research Assistant
B.S. Materials Physics, Nanjing University (2021)
Research Interests: I'm interested in developing new nanophysics tools for cell biology research.
Hobbies: cooking, skiing, video games
Benjamin Pyatski
Undergraduate Co-op Student
BS in Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Northeastern University
Research Interests: I am hoping to build a comprehensive background in biology and the applications robotics can have to ongoing research in Chory Lab.
Fun Fact: Fluent in Russian and Ukrainian, play the guitar