Nicholas R. Sandoval

Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor

Postdoctoral Research

              University of Delaware; Newark, DE; Mentor: Prof. ET Papoutsakis      

Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering; December  2011

University of Colorado; Boulder, CO; Advisor:  Prof. RT Gill      

Master of Science in Chemical Engineering; December 2008    

University of Colorado; Boulder, CO       

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering; May 2006             

University of Colorado; Boulder, CO; summa cum laude

Nancy Kim

Graduate Student, Bioinnovations

B.A.: Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental – Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder

Current Status: 4th year, Bioinnovation PhD program

Research: Engineering a butanol responsive transcription factor-based biosensor for high-throughput screens to identify a high producing 1-butanol strain in Clostridium acetobutylicum

Interests: Learning to speak Dominican Creole from Rochelle. 'Sa ka fet?' ('What’s up?')

Rochelle (Carla) Joseph

Graduate Student, Chemical Engineering

B.S.: Chemistry, Grambling State University

Current Status: 3rd year, Chemical Engineering PhD

Research: I am interested in developing tools for high-throughput genetic and metabolic engineering in multiple Clostridium species

Interests: Jill of all trades; Expert of Plantains (Fried plantains, Baked Plantains… I really love plantains)

Danqia Peng

Graduate Student, Chemical Engineering

B.S.: Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University

Current Status: 2nd year, Chemical Engineering PhD

Research: Developing tools for rapid Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell line engineering using variety of CRISPR systems to produce stable antibody in a long-term culture

Interests: Swimming, watching films, and cooking

Rani Brooks

Graduate Student, Bioinnovations

B.S.: Biology, Cornell

Current Status: 2nd year graduate student, Bioinnovations PhD

Research: Cell-Free Bacteriophage Production for Novel Therapeutics

Interests: ukulele, banjo, bass, baking

Susan Kelley

Graduate Student, Chemical Engineering

B.S.: Chemical Engineering, Drexel University
Current Status: 2nd year, Chemical Engineering PhD
Research: Interested in directed evolution and engineering of Clostridium for improved characteristics
Interests: felting cute animals and pottery

Mitchell Wheeler

Graduate Student, Chemical Engineering

B.S.: Chemical Engineering, UMass Amherst

Current Status: 1st Year Graduate Student, Pre-Candidate for PhD
Research: Building synthetic promoteres to optimize for CHO cells for improved heterologous protein expression.
Interests: Surfing, Skiing, Soccer, Cooking

Claire McGraw

Post-Doc

Current Status: Faculty at Delgado Community College

B.S: Chemical Engineering, Arizona State University 2012

Ph.D.: Chemical Engineering, Tulane, 2018

Research: Studying glycosylation patterns of monoclonal antibodies as a marker for genomic instability in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Interests: I love to garden, crochet and hang out with my dogs!

Caroline Duncan

Undergraduate Researcher

Current Status: Masters Student in Biomedical Engineering

Research: Directed evolution and genetic editing of Clostridium for levulinic acid tolerance

Interests: Watching Game of Thrones, playing with my cat, and painting

Catherine Barkach

Master's Student

Current Status: Masters Student in Chemical Engineering Engineering

Research: CRISPR editing in  Clostridium

Interests: TBD

Riley Sinnott

Undergraduate Researcher

Current Status: Junior in Chemistry

Research: Promoter engineering

Interests: TBD

Katie Hall

Undergraduate Researcher

Current Status: Chemical Engineer, B.S.E. 

Research: CHO cell line engineering

Interests: TBD

Michael Morton

Undergraduate Researcher

Current Status: Graduated B.S.E. 2018

Research: energy production, both fossil fuels and renewable sources

Interests: He currently serves as a senator on Tulane's Undergraduate Student Government and is president of the School of Science and Engineering Student Government. He is from Laplace, Louisiana, where he attended St. Charles Catholic High School.

Nick Watts

Undergraduate Researcher

Current Status: Graduated Chemical Engineer, B.S.E. 2018

Research: Strain engineering for biofuels production

Interests: Avid College Sailor, served as the Team Captain for two years.  Currently serving as Vice President for the Tulane University Student Chapter of AICHE.  From Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.

Andrew Wierdak

Undergraduate Researcher

Current Status: Graduated Chemical Engineer, B.S.E. 2018

Research: I am interested in research in energy.

Interests: A fun fact about me is that I am a radio DJ.