Kasia Pustelny Joins us as a visiting scientist! Kasia is an Assistant Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Her research focuses on protein kinases and the role of phosphorylation as a dynamic “bar code” that guides cellular decision-making. Outside the lab, she enjoys hands-on crafts and exploring new cultures through travel.

We're excited to welcome Yaxian (Sherry) Zhou who is joining us as a postdoctoral fellow! Sherry completed her Ph.D. in Prof. Weiping Tang's lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where her research focuses on designing tissue- and cancer-selective lysosome targeting degraders. Sherry will explore biological degraders and innovative drug delivery systems in Zhou lab. Outside the lab, Sherry enjoys kayaking and skiing! Welcome Sherry!

Lars Hellweg has officially joined the Zhou Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Welcome Lars!

We would like to introduce Tianfang Shen who is joining us for a rotation this winter! Tianfang graduated from Peking University with a BS in chemical biology. He joined the Harvard chemical biology PhD program in 2024. He is excited to explore protein engineering in the Zhou Lab. Outside the lab, Tianfang enjoys traveling, piano and karaoke.

We’re so excited to welcome George Morocos who has joined us in the lab this summer as a part of the Harvard Medical School BCMP Summer Scholars Program (BSSP)! George is a 2024 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he studied Molecular & Cell Biology and conducted translational research in Penn Medicine's department of radiation oncology. In the Zhou lab, George is really excited to continue conducting translational research and learn more about research techniques and approaches in therapeutic development and protein engineering. In his free time, George enjoys running, biking, and spending time with friends and family.

We’re so excited to welcome Lars Hellweg is completed his Ph.D. in the lab of Professor Kai Johnsson at the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany. He worked on the development of chemogenetic biosensors for intracellular metabolites. In his free time, he likes to play football and craft things (wood work etc). He will be joining the lab at the end of 2024/beginning of 2025!

Andrew Hennes joins us for a rotation! He graduated from MIT where he studied chemistry, computer science, and biology. He started in the Harvard Chemistry and Chemical Biology PhD program in the fall of 2023. He is excited to explore strategies for engineering conditionality and pathway targeting in the context of degraders and other therapeutic modalities. Outside of the lab, he enjoys biking along the Charles, exploring restaurants around Boston, and reading. Welcome Andrew!

Zhixing Ma received the Harvard BBS fellowship! Congratulations Zhixing!

Kaitlin Rhee received the Landry Cancer Fellowship! Congratulations Kaitlin!

Larry Shue has officially joined the Zhou Lab as a graduate student. Welcome Larry!

We would like to introduce Jennifer Jiang who is joining us for a rotation this winter! She is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology program. She will be joining our lab for a rotation. Welcome, Jennifer!

We would like to introduce Sean Gao, who is joining us for a rotation this winter! Sean is a first-year Ph.D. student in the chemical biology program. He studied chemistry at Duke and worked in Dr. Katherine Franz's lab, studying the thermodynamics of metal binding to antimicrobial peptides. He is interested in induced proximity modalities and drug discovery. Outside of the lab, he likes attending classical music concerts, making yogurt, and playing virtual reality games. Welcome Sean!

Aoxing Cheng has officially joined the lab! Welcome Aoxing!

We would like to introduce a graduate student who joins us for a rotation this winter, Larry Shue! Larry graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and a minor in bioengineering. He completed his senior thesis in Yibin Kang’s lab, where he studied the retinoic acid signaling pathway in tumor-associated dendritic cells. He joined the biological and biomedical sciences (BBS) PhD program at Harvard in 2023. He is excited to learn more about protein engineering in the context of cancer therapeutics. Outside of research, Larry enjoys knitting/crocheting, baking, and playing tennis! Welcome Larry!

Our first review paper has been published! See here:https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1iIuP_LoKFw7c0

Congratulations Xin for receiving the @NIHDirector’s New Innovator Award for the project named, “Engineering programmable enzymes for proteome editing”! See announcement here: https://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator/AwardRecipients

We would like to introduce another student doing a rotation in our lab this fall. Zhe is a graduate student in the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Science PhD program. Zhe comes from Peking University with a Biological Science BS and a second major in Psychology. After graduation, he joined Dr. Aaron Ring's lab at Yale University as a postgraduate associate, working on cytokine engineering, and cancer immunotherapy. He is interested in protein engineering and especially its application on disease therapeutics. Outside of research, he enjoys music, watching reality TV shows, and playing frisbee! Welcome, Zhe!

We’re excited to welcome Xunan Wang, a G1 student in the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program, for her rotation in our lab. She was originally from Beijing, China and she studied in Toronto, Canada before coming to Boston. In her undergraduate studies, she worked in Drs. Amy Ramsey, Ali Salahpour, and David Jenkins’s labs to conduct research in GRIN disorder, vesicular monoamine transporter 2 pharmacology, and the association between dietary glycemic index and cancer. Xunan is excited to learn how to become a smart protein engineer from the Zhou lab. Outside the lab, Xunan enjoys being a plant mom and a bunny mom, as well as playing with squirrels outside!

We're excited to welcome Azim Dharani a first-year Chemical Biology Ph.D. student, to the lab for his rotation! Azim studied Chemistry and Computational Biology at Duke University. After graduation, he studied at the University of Cambridge, pursuing enzyme electrochemistry research, and then worked at the D.E. Shaw Research Institute, working on computational drug discovery. Outside of the lab, Azim enjoys weight-lifting, hiking, and making yogurt!

The very first preprint from our lab has been released! We repurposed a rapidly internalizing receptor TfR1 for membrane protein degradation. We show it works on single-pass, multi-pass, native, and synthetic receptors. The overexpression of TfR1 on cancer cells offers potential tumor selectivity. See here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.10.552782v1

Sam Marglous joins us for her rotation! She majored in Biological Chemistry at the University of Chicago. After graduation, she worked in Dr. Jeff Gildersleeve’s lab at the NIH researching anti-glycan antibodies. She is now a student at Harvard Medical School interested in the intersection of chemical biology and cancer biology. Outside of the lab, Sam enjoys basketball, tennis, and cooking.  

Frances Liang joins us for her summer internship! She is a high school student from The Nueva School in California. She is passionate about bioinformatics and new computer science tools, especially when applied to medical research. In the lab, she is excited to apply data analysis to sequencing data and learn from everyone. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, and trying new crafts!

Keyede Oye from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! She was born in Nigeria and has a bachelor’s of Pharmacy degree from the OAU in Nigeria. Her undergraduate thesis focused on assessing the larvicidal activity of Bioactive compounds isolated from Nigerian Plants against Aedes Aegypti to develop a natural product against this mosquito vector for the virus that causes yellow fever. After graduating college, she joined Sanofi as a medical representative where she served as a scientific resource for the safe and effective use of antibiotics. In 2019, she moved to the US for a master's in Pharmacology and Drug Development at Tufts University where she worked on the role of Membrane Palmitoylated Protein (MPP1) on intracellular cholesterol trafficking to uncover its biochemical association with developmental defects observed in a Hemophilia A patient. After her masters, she worked as a Research Associate with Entrada Therapeutics where she worked with a team to develop oligonucleotides for devastating neuromuscular diseases. Welcome Keyede!

Daniel Guerra from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! He will be rotating with us for a couple of weeks. Daniel was born in Cuba and received a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 2020. After college, he researched the roles of mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes in cancer. Welcome, Daniel!

Benya Khowpinitchai from the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) PhD program joins us for a rotation! he is originally from Thailand and received her B.S. in Biology at Carroll university in WI. She spent the past two years working on CRISPR gene editing research at Harvard. She is interested in expanding her background in protein engineering and learning to harness immune pathways for therapeutics! Welcome, Benya!

Zhixing Ma from the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Program PhD program joins us for a rotation! Zhixing is from Beijing, China. He graduated from Peking University majoring in clinical medicine. He is interested in understanding immune signaling and how to harness it for therapy. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing tennis and taking photos of landscapes and wildlife! Welcome, Zhixing!

Tim O’Meara from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! Welcome, Tim!

Zhixing Ma, from the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) PhD program, has officially joined the lab in May of 2023! We are so excited to have you!

Jhoely Duque-Jimenez, our research technician/lab manager, was recently highlighted on the DFCI News in April 2023 for her fascinating work spearheading the "My Life, My Story" program for Spanish-speaking patients outside of the lab! Read more about the program's work here!

Itay Algov is awarded with a Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) fellowship for his project entitled “Profiling tumor proteolysis with genetically-encoded signaling integrators”. Congratulations Itay!

Kaitlin Rhee, a Harvard Chemical Biology graduate student, has officially joined our lab in March of 2023! We are so excited to have you!

Maggie Dreishpoon from the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) PhD program joins us for a rotation! She grew up in the south shore of Boston and graduated from UMass Amherst with a bachelor’s in microbiology after doing an honors thesis on the metabolic engineering of gut microbes. Before entering the PhD program, she spent the past 2 years at the Broad institute where she worked on a new cell death mechanism that is copper-dependent and also a unique vulnerability in some cancers.

Keyede Oye from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! She was born in Nigeria and has a bachelor’s of Pharmacy degree from the OAU in Nigeria. Her undergraduate thesis focused on assessing the larvicidal activity of Bioactive compounds isolated from Nigerian Plants against Aedes Aegypti to develop a natural product against this mosquito vector for the virus that causes yellow fever. After graduating college, she joined Sanofi as a medical representative where she served as a scientific resource for the safe and effective use of antibiotics. In 2019, she moved to the US for a master's in Pharmacology and Drug Development at Tufts University where she worked on the role of Membrane Palmitoylated Protein (MPP1) on intracellular cholesterol trafficking to uncover its biochemical association with developmental defects observed in a Hemophilia A patient. After her masters, she worked as a Research Associate with Entrada Therapeutics where she worked with a team to develop oligonucleotides for devastating neuromuscular diseases. Welcome Keyede!

Daniel Guerra from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! He will be rotating with us for a couple of weeks. Daniel was born in Cuba and received a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 2020. After college, he researched the roles of mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes in cancer. Welcome, Daniel!

Benya Khowpinitchai from the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) PhD program joins us for a rotation! he is originally from Thailand and received her B.S. in Biology at Carroll university in WI. She spent the past two years working on CRISPR gene editing research at Harvard. She is interested in expanding her background in protein engineering and learning to harness immune pathways for therapeutics! Welcome, Benya!

Zhixing Ma from the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Program PhD program joins us for a rotation! Zhixing is from Beijing, China. He graduated from Peking University majoring in clinical medicine. He is interested in understanding immune signaling and how to harness it for therapy. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing tennis and taking photos of landscapes and wildlife! Welcome, Zhixing!

Tim O’Meara from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! Welcome, Tim!

Nikita finished her high school summer internship with us. Good luck Nikita with the school year!

Susanna is leaving us for another postdoc position. We will miss you, best of luck!

Kaitlin Rhee from the Harvard Chemical Biology PhD program joins us for a rotation! Welcome, Kaitlin!

Itay officially joined the lab in July. Welcome, Itay!

Jhoely officially started her full-time position. Welcome again, Jhoely!

Welcome our first high school student Nikita to join us for the summer!

Madison from the Harvard BBS PhD program joins us for a rotation. Welcome, Madison!

Esther from the Harvard BBS PhD program joins us for a rotation. Welcome, Esther!

Xin gave a keynote Alumni talk at Stanford Department of Bioengineering!

Xin gave a Young Scientist Keynote Honoree presentation at the PEGS Boston Summit!

Jhoely joins the lab on March 14. Welcome, Jhoely!

Peng joins the lab on March 7. Welcome, Peng!

Susanna joins the lab on Feb 22. Welcome, Susanna!

Xin receives a Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation!