People

Principal Investigator, Associate Professor
lzeng@tamu.edu 979-845-2961, twitter @ZengLanying

Lanying obtained her Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics with a minor in Computational Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007, under the guidance of Prof. S. Balachandar. Later in her graduate years she became increasingly interested in fundamental biological mysteries, in particular, she was fascinated by the great potential that insights and methodologies from mechanics could be merged to the study of biological systems with unique advantages. She then joined Prof. Ido Golding’s lab as a postdoctoral associate focusing on the research in Biophysics/Systems Biology. There, she learned the experimental arsenal of modern molecular and cell biology. During the later year of her postdoctoral training, she also spent time in the groups of Prof. Taekjip Ha and Prof. Nigel Goldenfeld, where she learned single molecule fluorescence microscopy and ecology modeling. In 2012, she joined the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Center for Phage Technology at Texas A&M University. She continues the line of research where she uses single-cell and single-molecule assays combined with mathematical modeling to study cellular decision-making process.

Kailun Zhang

Kailun Zhang
Graduate Student, 2016 –
kailun92@tamu.edu

Kailun received her B.S. in Biotechnology from Nankai University, China in 2015, and joined the Texas A&M Biochemistry and Biophysics graduate program the same year. She is impressed by how smart the creatures are, including the simplest viruses, for their developed mechanisms to survive in fluctuated environments. She is using the lysis-lysogeny decision-making system, E.coli upon infection by bacterialphage P1, to create a spatiotemporal map linking the microscopic infection parameters—number and position of infecting phages, cell age and growth rate, etc.—with the eventual decision made. Furthermore, by comparing P1 and lambda, which has been intensively studied in the Zeng lab, she aims to answer the questions about how the different regulatory networks contribute to the different cell-fate decision pattern, and how stochasticity plays a role in the decision-making process.

Laith Harb

Laith Harb
Graduate Student, 01/2017 –
harbla@tamu.edu

Howdy! I received my B.S. in Biotechnology from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. My research interests led me to pursue a Ph.D. at Texas A&M where I joined the Zeng Lab in 2017. I’m particularly interested in how bacteriophages can be used as tools to study biological phenomena. In addition to their antimicrobial potency, bacteriophages can be genetically engineered, providing new methods for research that are both powerful and diverse. I want to further explore their potential in biological research and expand our current understanding in the field.

Zihao Yu

Zihao Yu
Graduate Student, 12/2018 –
zihao.yu@tamu.edu

I received my B.S. in Biological Sciences at Chongqing University. During my undergrad, I began to grow a strong interest in microbiology and felt that fundamental microbiological processes attract me most. I am impressed by the evolution of these tiny little organisms, as well as their prototypic strategy of struggling for surviving. For my personal life, I am an enthusiast for landscape and natural photography. I am amazed by the dedicate structure of fern leaves and also the marvelous hue performed by sunrise and sunset. All these led me to pursue a PhD at A&M and join Zeng lab to start my research in cellular decision making of microorganisms with colorful fluorescent reporter system.

Matthew Theodore

Matthew Theodore
Graduate Student, 12/2018 –
matttheodore@tamu.edu

Matthew received his B.S in Biochemistry with a certificate in International Relations in 2016. Before entering Graduate School, he took a half year stent in Europe working in aid during the peak of the Syrian refugee crisis. After returning to the sciences in 2017 he joined the Zeng Lab to pursue a Ph.D in Biochemistry with hopes to contribute to the pool of knowledge necessary to develop innovative solutions around the globe. Matthew is passionate about PEOPLE and INNOVATION and seeks to promote public goods by bringing together interdisciplinary experts. Matthews current studies include the study of bacteriophage packaging and the mechanisms of ejection using live single-cell and single-molecule imaging. Other areas of interest include the ‘mining’ of viral genomes for novel protein functions and efficacy studies of Bacteriophage as antimicrobial agents for dosed, selective, and sustainable inhibition of pathogens.
www.linkedin.com/in/MatthewTheodore

Jesus Rubio

Jesus Rubio
Graduate Student, 01/2021 –
jesusrubio207@tamu.edu

Lab Alumni

Graduate Students

• Jingwen Guan, Graduate Student, 2014 – 2019. Postdoc in Bondy-Denomy lab at UCSF.
• Jimmy Trinh, Graduate Student, 2013 – 2018; Postdoc, 2018-2019. Research scientist at Intralytix, Baltimore.
• Qiuyan Shao, Graduate Student, 2012 – 2017; Postdoc, 2018. Postdoc in Danuser lab at UT Southwestern.

Postdocs

• Xu Shi, Postdoctoral Associate, 2014 – 2015
• Jingbai Guo, Postdoctoral Associate, 2012 – 2013

Visiting Scholars

• Sergei Smirnov, Visiting Scholar (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia), 2019-2020
• Aleksandr Kirillov, Visiting Scholar (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia), 2018-2019
• Julia Gordeeva, Visiting Scholar (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia), 2017
• Rui Wang, Visiting Scholar (Southwest University, Chongqing, China), 2015

Undergraduate Students

• Junho Lee, Undergraduate Student, 2019 – 2020
• James Corban, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2020. Graduate student, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
• Shivangi Patel, Undergraduate Student, 2018 – 2019
• Hau Duong, Undergraduate Student, 2018
• Alicia Paulino, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018
• Kiara Pankratz, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018
• Anastasia O’Neill, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018
• Sapphire Williams, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018
• Brennan Lytle, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018
• Ryan Bockoven, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018. Graduate Student, University of Texas at Austin.
• David Ibarra, Undergraduate Student, 2017 – 2018. Graduate Student, Rice University.
• Cameron Bennett, Undergraduate Student, 2017
• Ifeanyi Anyaoha, Undergraduate Student, 2017
• Roberto Burgos, Undergraduate Student, 2016
• Colby McIntosh, Undergraduate Student, 2015 – 2016
• Brita Christenson, REU student (University of Northwestern – St. Paul (MN)), 2015
• Elizabeth Li, Undergraduate Student, 2014 – 2015
• Johnathan Solis, Undergraduate Student, 2013 – 2015
• Dat Nguyen, Undergraduate Student, 2014
• Jaynish Amin, Undergraduate Student, 2013 – 2014
• Laura Moehlman, Undergraduate Student, 2013
• Michael Phillips, Undergraduate Student, 2013
• Alex Wang, Undergraduate Student, 2013
• Praewa Silapajarn, Undergraduate Student, 2013
• Yanell Ramos, Undergraduate Student, 2013
• Adrian Luna, Undergraduate and REU Student, 2012 – 2013. Graduate Student, Systems Biology, University of New Mexico.
• Shannon Curtis, Undergraduate Student, 2012

Research Assistant

• Alexander Hawkins, Research Assistant, 2012 – 2013. Medical Student, UT Southwestern Medical School.