Principal Investigator
Julea Vlassakis, Ph.D. (she/her)
Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Rice University
CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research & Burroughs Wellcome Fund CASI Investigator
Training and Education:
Postdoctoral Scholar, Herr Lab, University of California, Berkeley (2018-2021)
Ph.D. in Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley (2012-2018)
B.A. in Chemistry and Physics, Smith College (2012)
Research Staff
Tanushree Dutta, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Ph.D. in Environmental Soil Science (2011), Pennsylvania State University
Postdoctoral Fellows and Graduate Students
Jocelyn (Jocie) Baker
BIOE Ph.D. student, NIH T32 Cancer Nanotech Fellow
B.S. in Bioengineering & Minor in German (2020), University of Pittsburgh
Viraj Ghosh
BIOE Ph.D. student
B.S. in Chemical Engineering (2021)
University of California, Santa Barbara
Edgar Ruiz Bello
ChBE Ph.D. student
B.S. in Sustainable Chemical Engineering (2018), Universidad de Guanajuato
Wesley Leung
Applied Physics Ph.D. student
B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Physics (2018), Pennsylvania State University
Wenchang Zhou, M.S.
BIOE Ph.D. student
M.S. in Applied Bioengineering (2022), Rice University
Carla Canales
MBE student
B.S. in Biomedical Sciences & Minor in Biomedical Engineering (2022), University of Texas at El Paso
Neica Joseph
BIOE Ph.D. student, NSF Fellow
B.S. in Biomedical Engineering & Minor in Cultural Anthropology (2023) at Duke University
Alison Lao
BIOE Ph.D. student
B.S. in Nanoengineering (2023) at UC San Diego
Undergraduates
Amelia Tsai
Rice University
Expected graduation: 2025
Mel Zhou
Rice University
Major: Bioengineering
Expected graduation: 2025
Naomi Sahle
Rice University
Majors: Health Sciences; Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology
Expected Graduation: 2025
Past Mentees
Graduate Students (in the Herr Lab, UC Berkeley)
- Ana Gomez, Graduate student (September 2019-January 2020).
- Louise Hansen, Graduate student (October 2018-2021).
- Anjali Gopal, Graduate student (June-August 2019).
- Nicole Luk, Rotation student in Biophysics (November 2017-February 2018).
- Alisha Geldert, Graduate student (June 2017-August 2017).
- Alison Su, Rotation student (January 2017-March 2017). NSF Graduate Research Fellow (assisted with fellowship application)
- Kristine Tan, Rotation student (March 2017-May 2017).
- Callie Jerman, Rotation student (September-November 2015).
- Thomas Carey, Rotation student (March 2016-May 2016)
- Jinny Sun, Rotation Student (September 2014-November 2014). NSF Graduate Research Fellow (assisted with fellowship application)
- Hector Neira, Rotation Student (September 2013-November 2013). Ford Foundation Fellow (assisted with fellowship application)
Undergraduate Students (in the Herr Lab, UC Berkeley and Prentiss Lab, Harvard University)
- Sean Purcell, SMART Research Fellow (Herr Lab, UC Berkeley).
- Alexandra Villada-Peacock, Research Assistant (Prentiss Lab, Harvard University).
- Joseph Shivers, Research Assistant (Prentiss Lab, Harvard University).
- Nicholas Pomata, Research Assistant (Prentiss Lab, Harvard University)