Principal investigator

Dr. Amy J. Karlsson
Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Affiliate Faculty Member, Fischell Department of Bioengineering

BS, Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University, 2003
PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2009
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University, 2009-2012

Dr. Karlsson is originally from Rush City, Minnesota, a very small town north of the Twin Cities. Although she misses the snow, she loves being so close to all the great restaurants and museums found in the DC area. When she's not busy with research or teaching, Dr. Karlsson likes to travel with her husband, read, make pottery, and attempt to keep her yard from getting overrun by ivy.
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Graduate students


​Sayanee Adhikari 
PhD Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
MS, Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2017
BTech, Petrochemical Engineering, Maharashtra Institute of Technology - Pune, 2010

Sayanee arrived at the University of Maryland after working at a petroleum company in India and enjoying a short layover in the Windy City of Chicago. She's now left the world of petrochemicals behind to become a protein engineer.
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Jesse Leissa
MS Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2017

Originally from Maryland, Jesse is (sort of) back at home in College Park after his undergraduate stint in the Midwest. He's been proclaimed the official lab extrovert and is helping us all stay in touch with our social side.

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Mahdi Ghorbani
PhD Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Tehran, 2017

Co-advised by Jeff Klauda, Mahdi is our bridge between the computational and experimental realms. We're hoping he'll hold our hands and walk us to the other side of the bridge once in a while!

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Undergraduate students


​Thomas Matherly
BS Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Thomas was first introduced to protein engineering during a guest lecture in BIOE120, and he was hooked! He joined the lab in the summer of 2018 and is putting his excitement about protein engineering into his lab work.
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Funke Okunrinboye
​BS Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering​ 
BS Candidate, Biochemistry

Funke joined our lab in the fall of 2018 after learning a little about our work in Dr. Karlsson's separations course. Her background in both engineering and biochemistry are the perfect combination for our lab.

Katherine Sniezek
​​BS Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering​

Katherine hails from Howard County, Maryland, and joined the lab in the summer of 2019 to help us kick start a new project. When she's not working in the lab or studying, you may find her practicing pirouettes with Ballet Company M.
 
Andrea Fox
​BS Candidate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Andrea is from Ellicott City, Maryland, and we were happy to have her join the group in the summer of 2019. When she's not watching fungal cells grow or doing work for her classes, you can catch her dancing with Ballet Company M.

High school student


​Vanessa Aguocha-Sam
Science and Technology Intern, Eleanor Roosevelt High School
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We are thrilled to have Vanessa join us in the lab this year! She is working on a collaborative project with Akua Asa-Awuku's lab to detect indoor mold.

Interested in the amazing people that previously were members of our lab?
Find them on the ALUMNI page.