Meet the researchers and staff behind the Molecule Maker Institute!
August 2024 Featured Researchers
Staff Spotlight: Cindy Chan
Cindy Chan started her position as the managing director of MMLI on Aug 5, taking over from Ron Payne. Cindy joins us from the lab of Professor Stephen P. Long where she did her postdoctoral research to improve photosynthesis in sugarcane and energycane using genetic engineering. Besides postdoc-ing, she worked part time as the data manager of the RIPE project in the past 3 years. In her new role as managing director, she hopes to further improve the efficiency of MMLI management/administration to better support the research goals of MMLI. She was drawn to MMLI wanting to learn more about how small molecule making process can be accelerated using AI methods, and how we could safely democratize molecular innovation, as well as to use this opportunity to learn about research administration. [Click above to read more!]
Trainee Spotlight: Vikas Upadhyay
Vikas Upadhyay is a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Costas Maranas where he is currently working on the design of computational tools for chemical synthesis planning, with a focus on biosynthesis, which is a complex task requiring the consideration of numerous factors, including thermodynamics, novel reaction identification, and enzyme selection/design—often necessitating enzyme engineering to enhance activity for novel reactions. He is also exploring ways to incorporate chemical reaction space alongside biological reaction space, aiming to leverage the strengths of both in synthesis planning. Originally from India, Vikas completed his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad where he developed a strong interest in optimization algorithms. This fascination grew as he realized that many ML and AI algorithms are essentially sophisticated networks of optimization techniques, leading him to pursue a PhD in Chemical Engineering. [Click above to read more!]
2024:
- March 2024
- Nolan Green – Trainee Spotlight
- Ganesh Silvaraman – Staff Spotlight
- February 2024
- Kexuan Xin – Trainee Spotlight
- Richard Zanibbi – Faculty Spotlight
- January 2024
- Tiara Torres-Flores – Trainee Spotlight
- Ganesh Silvaraman – Faculty Spotlight
2023:
- November 2023
- Karn Pamar – Trainee Spotlight
- Costas Maranas – Staff Spotlight
- October 2023
- Elena Burlova – Trainee Spotlight
- Yifang Zhang – Staff Spotlight
- September 2023
- David Friday – Trainee Spotlight
- Nick Jackson – Faculty Spotlight
- August 2023
- James Planey – Trainee Spotlight
- Huimin Zhao – Faculty Spotlight