People

Dr. Karmella A. Haynes, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator
Associate Professor
W. H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University

Biosketch: Online at SciENcv
E-mail: kahayne at emory dot edu

Bio: Karmella Haynes is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University. She earned her Ph.D. studying epigenetics and chromatin in Drosophila at Washington University, St. Louis. Postdoctoral fellowships at Davidson College and Harvard Medical School introduced her to synthetic biology. Her Davidson HHMI postdoc fellowship project on bacterial computers was recognized as “Publication of the Year” in 2008 by the Journal of Biological Engineering. Today, her research aims to apply the intrinsic properties of chromatin, the DNA-protein structure that packages eukaryotic genes, to engineer proteins and nucleic acids that control cell development. As an assistant professor at ASU (2011 – 2018), she received an NIH Young Faculty Award (K01) and a Arizona Biomedical Early Stage Investigator Award (AZ ESI). Dr. Haynes joined the faculty at Emory in 2018. She is a SynBioLEAP leadership development alum, a founding instructor of the Cold Spring Harbor Summer Course on Synthetic Biology, a Councilor of the national Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC), and Advisor and Judge Emeritus for the annual International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition. She is also a two-time featured guest on PRI’s Science Friday.

Dr. Natecia Baskin, Ph.D.

Senior Research Specialist
Emory University

B.A., Biochemistry (2004)
Ph.D., Neuroscience (2013)

Tamara Lambert

Student Research Assistant
Emory University

B.S., Biological Engineering (2016)
M.P.H., Global Environmental Health (2018)
M.Eng., Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering (2019)

PhD Rotation Students, Spring 2019

None this semester

Undergraduate Volunteers, Spring 2019

None this semester

Alumni & Past Members

2019 – Arizona State University

Dr. Cassandra Barrett – PhD 2019 Biological Design
Fatima Hamna – MS 2019 Biomedical Engineering, Fullbright Fellow (2017-2019), MORE Fellow (2018)
Dr. Stefan Tekel – PhD 2019 Biological Design; Strain Engineer at Sustainable Conversion Ventures
Daniel Vargas – MS (pending) Biological Design, WAESO BRIDGE Fellow (2014-2016)

2018 – Arizona State University

Jennifer DelGado – BS (2019, pending) Forensic Science, WAESO Fellow (2018)
Morgan Milke – BS (2021, pending) Biology, WAESO Fellow (2018)
Gabriela Palomo – BS (2020, pending) Biology, WAESO Fellow (2018)
Christina Smith – BS (2019, pending) Biomedical Eng., FURI Fellow (2017, 2018), iGEM (2017)
Cassidy Slusser – BS (2020, pending) Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology, Barrett Honors College, WAESO Fellow (2018)
Luis Sanchez De La Vegas Covarrubias – BS (2012, pending) Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Barrett Honors College, Mayo Clinic Research Fellow (2019)
Jiaqi Wu – BS 2018 Computer Science, Barrett Honors College, FURI Fellow (2016), iGEM (2016); MS student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2017 – Arizona State University

Dr. Rene Daer – PhD 2017 Biological Design, ARCS Scholar; Research Scientist at Progenity
Ernesto Luna – BS 2017 School of Molecular Sciences, iGEM (2016)
David Nyer – Research Technician (2014 – 2017); Research Associate at Caribou Biosciences
Jimmy Xu – BS 2017 Biomedical Eng., Barrett Honors College, Flinn Fellow (2014), FURI Fellow (2016), iGEM (2016)

2016 – Arizona State University

David Barclay – BS 2016 Biomedical Eng., Barrett Honors, FURI Fellow; Research Intern at Harvard Medical School
Brady Dennison – BS (pending) Biology, FURI Fellow, iGEM 2016
Brittany Flores – BS (pending) Biomedical Eng., WAESO Fellow, iGEM 2016
Theodore Kyriacou – BS (pending) Biomedical Eng., FURI Fellow
Baylee Murphy – BS 2016 Biomedical Eng., Synberc Scholar (2015)
Chuquan Shang – MS (non-thesis) Biomedical Eng.
Jan Simper – BS 2016 Biomedical Eng., Barrett Honors, FURI Fellow, TGen Helios Scholar; IRTA Post-Baccalaureate Fellow at the NIH
David Tze – BS 2016 Biomedical Eng., FURI Fellow; Clinical Research Coordinator at the Southwest Kidney Institute

2015 – Arizona State University

Cameron L. Gardner – BS 2015, Barrett Honors, Finance & Biomedical Eng., FURI Fellow; PhD student at Dartmouth
Ryan Muller – BS 2015 (SOLS), Barrett Honors, Biochem. and Mol. Biol., SOLUR Fellow; PhD student at UC Berkeley
Alexander Ellingson – MS (non-thesis), Biomedical Eng.

2014 – Arizona State University

Behzad Damadzadeh – MS 2014, Biomedical Eng.
Matsemela “Zazu” Maloi – BS 2015, Synberc Scholar
Hiram Rivera-Passapera – BS 2014, Synberc Scholar; Student at SUNY Upstate Medical University

2013 – Arizona State University

Caroline Hom – BS 2013, Biomedical Eng., FURI Fellow; Senior Post-Market Quality Engineer at Stryker
Amanda Ispas – BS, Biomedical Eng., FURI Fellow
Brady Laughlin – BS, Biomedical Eng., Barrett Honors, FURI Fellow, TGen Helios Scholar; MD, University of Arizona College of Medicine; Resident in Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic AZ

2012 – Arizona State University

David Dreher – MS (non-thesis), Biomedical Eng.; PhD student at ETH Zurich
Wesley Houston – MS (non-thesis), Biomedical Eng.
Vi Nguyen – MS (non-thesis), Biomedical Eng.; PhD student at ASU