{"id":14,"date":"2017-09-08T15:20:38","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T15:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-04-10T12:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:30:46","slug":"lab-members","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/lab-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab Members"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Figure 1: <\/strong>The Chien lab, circa winter 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Principal Investigator<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Peter Chien, PhD<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

pchien@umass.edu<\/a>
PhD: University of California, San Francisco
Postdoc: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Graduate Students<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Graduate training and education is a crucial aspect of our laboratory culture. Here are our current students:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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K\u00fcbra Yi\u011fit<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a>kyigit@mcb.umass.edu<\/a>
5th year MCB PhD student; CBI trainee
Understanding how Lon manages oxidative stress.
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Dylan Frank <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a>dafrank@mcb.umass.edu<\/a>
4th year MCB PhD student; BTP trainee
Discovering new protein effectors of Lon.
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Hidayet P\u00fct\u00fcn <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>hputun@umass.edu<\/a>
3rd year MCB PhD student
Clarifying the role of Lon in stress response and DNA maintenance.
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James Russo <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>jamesrusso@umass.edu<\/a>
3rd year Microbiology PhD student; CBI trainee
Exploring adaptor-mediated degradation.
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Grace Jackson<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>gajackson@umass.edu<\/a>
1st year MCB PhD student
Exploring adaptor-mediated degradation.
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Ella Ahern<\/strong>
MCB MS student
Studying the effect of small molecules on degradation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Undergraduate Students<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Many of us gained our passion for science through undergraduate experiences, we are thrilled to host these students:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steph Amanze <\/strong>(BMB)
Khrystyna Fedak <\/strong>(BMB)
Kaylee McConnell <\/strong>(BMB)
Sam Liyanamana <\/strong>(BMB)
Jane Kungie<\/strong> (BMB)
Garret Chiu<\/strong> (BMB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Previous Lab Members<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The lab has had the privilege of hosting many scientists from all paths, cultures and career stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura I Francis<\/strong>\u00a0(postdoc 2010-2011, senior adviser) \u2013 provides needed guidance, insight, and general sanity. Instructor with the Biology Department here at UMass.
Justyne Ogdahl<\/strong> (MCB PhD, 2025) currently a postdoc at Johns Hopkins in the Goley Lab
Berent Ald\u0131ka\u00e7t\u0131<\/strong> (MCB PhD, 2025) currently working for the Unity Research Computing Platform
Alex Martinez<\/strong> (MCB MS, 2025) currently working at Amide Technologies
Chidinma Nwodo<\/strong> (BMB, 2025)
Anna Chapman <\/strong>(BMB, 2025)
Anastasia Amankwah<\/strong> (BS, 2024) currently working in the Boston area
Kylie LaBianca<\/strong> (BS, 2024) currently working in the Boston area
Sydney Correira<\/strong> (BS, 2024) currently working in the Boston area
Brian Lageman<\/strong> (BS, 2024) currently working in the Boston area
Busola Oreofe<\/strong> (BS, 2024)
Maxwell Campbell <\/strong>(MS, 2024) currently PhD student at UMass Chan Medical School
Thomas Scudder<\/strong> (MS, 2023) currently PhD student at University of Rochester
Samar Mahmoud<\/strong> (PhD, 2022) currently working at Becton Dickinson
Patrick Cann<\/strong> (BS, 2022) currently PhD student at Johns Hopkins University
Pheobe Kim<\/strong> (BS, 2021) currently working in the Boston area
Nathan Kuhlmann<\/strong> (PhD, 2021) currently working at New England Biolabs
Tommy Tashjian<\/strong> (Postdoc; PhD from Northeastern University, 2018) currently faculty at Amherst College.\u00a0
Dylan Doxsey<\/strong> (BMB, 2020) is currently a PhD student at UMass Chan.
Benjamin Barros <\/strong>(BMB, 2020) is working as a technician at MIT.
Kethney Massenat <\/strong>(BMB, 2020) is working as a technician at MGH.
Rilee Zeinert <\/strong>(MCB PhD, 2020) is now a postdoc with Gigi Storz at NIH.
Nina Conzelmann <\/strong>(visiting MS student from Germany) was characterizing the Lon protease.
James Spencer <\/strong>(BMB, 2019) is a lab manager for the Bernhardt lab at Harvard Medical School.
Liam Fitzgerald<\/strong> (BMB, 2019) is working at Sanofi.
Elizabeth Bond<\/strong> (BMB, 2019) is a graduate student at UCSF in the Tetrad program.
Jeff Gao <\/strong>(BMB, 2019) is working as a technician at MGH.
Robert Vass<\/strong> (MCB PhD) is working at Onyx Therapeutics.
Jing Liu <\/strong>(MCB PhD) is living in San Francisco.
Madeline Sutherland<\/strong> (lab assistant) is now a doctoral student at MIT
Jake Nascembeni<\/strong> (BMB, 2017) is working at Abbvie
Kamal Joshi<\/strong> (MCB PhD, 2017) is working at Genentech as a postdoc.
Lisa Hernandez Alicea<\/strong> (MCB PhD)
Joanne Lau<\/strong> (Microbiology PhD, 2016) is working as a postdoc at Caltech.
Vincent Borowy <\/strong>(BMB, 2015) worked on ClpC unfoldases in chloroplasts.
Saskia Heybrouck<\/strong>\u00a0(visiting student, Ruhr University, Germany; 2014) is finishing her diploma in Germany
Justin Li<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB, 2014) worked on determining how DnaA is degraded.
Daniel Dicorpo<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB, 2013) is currently a PhD student at Brown.
Ying Zhang\u00a0<\/strong>(BMB, 2013) is currently working as a technician in Boston.
Gagandeep Singh<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB, 2013) is currently an MD student at Brown.
Brian Shin<\/strong>\u00a0(Biology, 2013) is a technician in the Burton lab at Harvard MCB.
Alexander Duval\u00a0<\/strong>(BMB, 2013) worked on characterization of novel PAS domains in Caulobacter.
Nousheen Hamid Bhat, Ph.D.<\/strong> (postdoc) was developing new methodologies for discovery of novel ClpXP substrates.
Paula Muchlnickel\u00a0<\/strong>(MS, 2012-2013 Ruhr University, Germany) is currently a PhD student at the Max Planck Dortmund.
Amber Cantin<\/strong>\u00a0(MS 2012, BS BMB 2012) currently working at Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge.
Martin Susskind<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB, 2012) currently on the West Coast.
Patrick Stoddard\u00a0<\/strong>(BMB, 2012) currently a PhD graduate student at Harvard MCB.
Claudine Mapa<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB, 2012) currently a PhD graduate student at UMass Worcester.
Sid Avani<\/strong>\u00a0(MCB) was a rotation student in fall 2011.
Keith Ballard<\/strong>\u00a0(MCB) was a rotation student in spring 2010.
Keith Rood<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB MS) current position: Sasisekharan Lab at Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research (MIT).
Nathan Colon<\/strong>\u00a0(BMB, 2010; technician) graduated from MD program at Drexler University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal Investigator Peter Chien, PhD pchien@umass.eduPhD: University of California, San FranciscoPostdoc: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Graduate Students Graduate training and education is a crucial aspect of our laboratory culture. Here are our current students: K\u00fcbra Yi\u011fit kyigit@mcb.umass.edu5th year MCB PhD student; CBI trainee Understanding how Lon manages oxidative stress. Dylan Frank dafrank@mcb.umass.edu4th year MCB PhD … Continue reading Lab Members<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":437,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":71,"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":480,"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.biochem.umass.edu\/chienlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}