Internship Program & Student Positions

This track will assist the Licensing Team in its technology commercialization process. Projects include preparation of non-confidential (tech briefs) summaries, market research, and technology assessments. The licensing track operates on an academic year cohort. Applications are accepted each year during May and June by sending a resume (or CV) and a writing sample to the program coordinator (contact below). Interviews will be held during July and the program will begin in August. If you are interested in the program out of cycle please reach out to the program coordinator.

Program Goals

• To provide educational opportunities to gain exposure to the process of intellectual property management, particularly in a university setting. 
• To provide opportunities for interns to improve analytical and writing skills.
• To provide guidance on a potential career in technology transfer.

Candidate Qualifications:

• Have a minimum of a bachelors degree in a life science, the physical sciences and/or engineering.
• Written and verbal fluency in English.
• Must be pursuing or have received an advanced degree in law, science or engineering.
• Have an interest in intellectual property as a career goal.

Please review our Intern Program Document for more detailed information.

If interested in the licensing track send a resume (or CV) and a writing sample with cover letter expressing interest to the program coordinator by June 30th:

Catherine Murari-Kanti
cmurari@emory.edu
Emory University
Office of Technology Transfer
1599 Clifton Rd, NE, 4th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30322

Additional Program Details

A five week "Boot Camp" at the start of the program which covers

• Week 1: Program overview, Intro to tech transfer, OTT & commercialization at Emory, Navigating OTT systems and processes
• Week 2: Basic business and marketing concepts, Marketing analysis, Marketing research tools
• Week 3: Patents 101, The anatomy of a patent, Prior art searches and tools, IP landscape analysis
• Week 4: Technology triage, Opportunity vetting, Commercialization evaluation reports
• Week 5: Final project presentations

Lunch & Learn series which includes topics such as

• Contracts 101
• Anatomy of a license agreement
• Negotiatinga license agreement

Rotations

• There are 3 to 4 rotations of two month duration during one year term
• First two rotations are with a licensing associate
• Follow on rotations can be with contract specialist, marketing manager, patent attorney, startups team

The internship program will assist the Emory Patent Group (the “EPG”) in its ongoing intellectual property evaluation and patent process procedures. Projects include conducting patent research, assisting in the evaluation of university technologies for patentability, and assisting in the preparation of patent applications and prosecution.

Program Goals

• To provide educational opportunities to gain exposure to the process of intellectual property management, particularly in a university setting. 
• To provide opportunities for interns to improve analytical and writing skills.
• To provide guidance on a potential career as a registered patent agent or attorney.

Candidate Qualifications

• Have a minimum of a bachelors degree in a life science, the physical sciences and/or engineering.
• Written and verbal fluency in English.
• Must be pursuing or have received an advanced degree in law, science or engineering.
• Have an interest in intellectual property as a career goal.

Please review our Intern Program Document for more detailed information.

If interested in the patent track send a resume or CV with cover letter expressing interest to the program coordinator:

James Mason
james.mason@emory.edu
Emory University
Office of Technology Transfer
1599 Clifton Rd, NE, 4th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30322

This track will assist the Marketing & Communications Team in the promotion of individual technologies, products, the office and technology transfer program in general. Projects include interviewing and preparing (written or video) featured innovations, blog pieces, general writing and research, and general video work.

Program Goals

• To provide opportunities for students to gain exposure to the process and facets of marketing & communications. 
• To provide opportunities for students to improve analytical, writing, and video skills.
• To provide real-world assignments to apply their educational experiences to and build their portfolio.

Candidate Qualifications

• Must be a current Emory undergraduate student and have completed some coursework in writing or video.
• Written and verbal fluency in English.
• Prefer a junior or senior level student.
• Have a potential interest in writing or video as part of a future career goal.

If interested in the marketing & communications track send a resume or CV and a writing or video sample, as appropriate, with cover letter expressing interest to the program coordinator:

Asher Alt
aalt@emory.edu
Emory University
Office of Technology Transfer
1599 Clifton Rd, NE, 4th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30322

Julia deAmorim

Julia recently defended her PhD from the Biochemistry, Cell, and Developmental Biology program at Emory University. She studied rare neurological diseases and the biological consequences of disrupted RNA processing in the Corbett Lab. Julia co-founded the Aspiring Medical Science Liaisons at Emory (AMSLE) in 2022 and is currently pursuing a medical science liaison (MSL) role in a pharmaceutical/biotech company. Julia is excited to leverage her transferrable skills from the invaluable experience at OTT and PhD to land her first role.

Jakob Habib

Jakob is a postdoctoral fellow working in the Emory Transplant Center researching therapies to improve outcomes for organ recipients. He attended Emory as an undergraduate where he received a Bachelor of Science in Biology. In Spring of 2023 he earned a PhD in Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis from Emory, mentored by Dr. Andrew Adams and Dr. Mandy Ford. His dissertation research was centered on investigating immune modulatory strategies to prevent costimulation blockade resistant rejection. He is currently leading a project investigating the role of NK cells during pig-to-nonhuman primate renal xenotransplantation.

Shuya Kyu

Shuya is licensing intern and a Research Specialist in the Dr. Cheryl Maier’s lab in Emory’s Pathology Department. He is currently studying the role of CD8+ T cells in platelet transfusion refractoriness. After receiving a Master’s degree in Immunology at University of Rochester, Shuya previously worked in a B-cell lab studying immune responses to infections and vaccines. Shuya has also completed the Juris Master program at Emory University with a patent focus and is excited to explore the licensing side of technology transfer.

Christina Lester

Christina is an intern and a 5th year graduate student in the department of Chemistry in Simon Blakey’s lab. Her research focus encompasses a broad range of peptide chemistry, ranging from total synthesis of small macrocyclic scaffolds to synthesis and modification of large 30-mer therapeutic peptides. She received her bachelor’s in chemistry from East Tennessee State University, and a master’s in chemistry at Emory.

Jacob Rayyan

Doctoral student studying deep brain stimulation therapy intraoperatively in patients with Parkinson's Disease. Interested in combining clinical and computational applications to improve therapy intraoperatively. Strong interest in Venture side of healthcare.

Josiah Rudge

Josiah is a PhD candidate in BioEngineering at Georgia Tech with Dr. Sarkar. His research is on feedback control systems for cell engineering and manufacturing. Outside of lab he is interested in business development and consulting.

Anushka Shinde

Anushka graduated with her MS in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech. She aspires to use the technical skills gained during this program to drive major growth and innovation in the healthcare industry through optimum strategy.

Lauren Simmons

Lauren is currently an Associate Professor of Physiology at Life University in Marietta, Georgia. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Spelman College. Subsequently, she received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from Morehouse School of Medicine where she focused on the neuroprotective roles and regulation of inflammatory responses by Neuregulin -1 (NRG-1) in brain ischemia involved NF-kB signaling pathway.

Sophie Yount

Sophie obtained her B.S. in Chemistry at Georgia State University. She is currently a PhD candidate in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology at Emory University. Her dissertation research aims to dissect molecularly defined neuron populations that contribute to decision-making. Her findings could shed light on innate learning systems that are “hijacked” by drug abuse. She is eager to leverage her scientific background and passion for problem-solving to contribute to innovation and growth within the medical biotechnology industry.

Shawn Alter

Shawn was an intern and a doctoral candidate in the molecular and systems pharmacology program. He is interested in how disruptions in neurotransmission cause neurological disease. Under his advisor Gary Miller, Shawn is studying how impeding the vesicular storage of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin differentially drive behavior and neurodegeneration in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. Prior to his graduate training, Shawn received his bachelor of arts in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Eric Andreansky

Eric was an intern and a Ph.D candidate in organic chemistry in Dr. Simon Blakey's lab at Emory. He is currently developing a synthetic route to a family of natural products that show potential promise as a novel treatment for malaria. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from New College of Florida in Sarasota, Florida.

Rachel Bender

Rachel was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry at Emory University. She is co-mentored by Khalid Salaita and Jennifer Heemstra and her work involves the synthesis and biophysical characterization of new molecular tension probes for studying cell mechanobiology. Prior to Emory, she earned a B.A. in chemistry and biochemistry with minors in mathematics and biology from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Rachel plans to pursue a career focused on better connecting the scientific community with the general population and is particularly interested in science policy and communication.

Anwesha Banerjee

Anwesha was an intern and a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Gary Bassell’s lab in the department of cell biology at Emory University. Her research involves designing and evaluating genetic and pharmacological strategies towards rescuing behavioral and molecular deficits observed in Fragile X Syndrome. Prior to Emory University, she completed her PhD at University of Texas at Dallas studying molecular basis of emotional learning in an animal model of autism.

Avijit Banik

Avijit was an intern and a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Thota Ganesh’s lab in the Department of Pharmacology, Emory School of Medicine. He investigates the role of EP2 inhibitors in suppressing/altering neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain and suppress associated neuropathology and cognitive deficits in transgenic rodent models of AD. At present, he is focused on developing a neuro-inflammatory assay using microglial cell lines to screen potent drug candidates for AD. He graduated from PGIMER, Chandigarh, India with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience.

Shirlene Jackson-Bedford

Shirlene was an intern in the office and a graduate student in the chemistry department at Georgia State University. The focus of her research is interactions of small molecules with nucleic acids. Her work involves the application of various biophysical techniques and computational methods to elucidate the molecular recognition patterns and rationalize the driving forces that give rise to the binding affinities and sequence selectivity exhibited by ligands that bind to DNA. Her work has been accepted for publication in JBSD. Shirlene holds a master of science in natural product chemistry and a bachelor of science in chemistry from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.

Srishti Bhutani

Srishti was an intern and a PhD candidate in Dr. Michael Davis’s lab in the Biomedical Engineering department at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Her research interests lie in developing novel strategies for regenerative medicine. Her PhD research focuses on developing therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases using cardiac stem cells and biomaterials. She received her undergraduate degree in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India.

Mitsi Blount

Mitsi was an intern and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and has an adjunct appointment in the Department of Physiology. Her laboratory investigates how second messenger signaling pathways maintain renal function in the face of various maladies including hypertension and diabetes. Prior to joining the faculty, Mitsi was a post-doctoral fellow at Emory University where she focused on the regulation of urea transport in the kidney. Mitsi earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from Vanderbilt University. Her thesis work investigated the unique binding properties of the various PDE5-inhbitors used to treat erectile dysfunction. She received her bachelor degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Angie Calderon

Angie was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in Biochemistry under the direction of Dr. Peng G. Wang and a GAANN fellow at Georgia State University. Her Ph.D. research has focus on the application of human glycosyltransferases on chemo-enzymatic synthesis of well-defined complex glycan structures which, are valuable as standards and probes for glycan analysis and elucidating functions of glycan-binding proteins. Angie received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Georgia State University.

James "JP" Canner

JP was an intern and a post-doctoral research fellow in Dr. Grace Pavlath’s laboratory in Emory’s Department of Pharmacology. He is examining how skeletal muscle stem cells are activated through direct cell-cell contact to repair muscle upon severe injury. He received his doctorate from Tufts University Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences in developmental biology and his masters in biotechnology from Boston University.

Austin Cape

Austin was an intern in the office as well as a freelance medical writer and founding editor of Concepta Science Communications, a writing firm specializing in academic biomedical publications. Austin earned his doctorate from the Human Genetics Department at Emory University studying the molecular mechanisms of insulin trafficking and secretion from pancreatic beta cells. Following graduate school, Austin trained in clinical research at the Emory Genetics Clinic, focusing on clinical trials in nutrition and newborn screening technologies. Austin's career interests are in developing scientific ideas and discoveries into useful applications and products.

Shuang Chang

Shuang was an intern and a registered patent agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Human Genetics at Emory University School of Medicine involved developing a large-scale drug screen for potential pharmaceutical treatment for Fragile X mental retardation. This work was published in Nature Chemical Biology. Shuang received her doctoral from Washington University in St. Louis, where she conducted close collaborated research with Monsanto Company in specialized biotechnology.

Jason Cloward

Jason was an intern and was a contract research microbiologist at IHRC, Inc. working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after completing his postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory University. Prior to obtaining his graduate degree, Jason worked for AT&T as a Technical Specialist in enterprise web hosting designing, negotiating, and implementing customer solutions while serving as a liaison between diverse corporate divisions. Eager to return to biotechnology, he joined the University of Georgia graduate program and obtained his post doctorate studying the role of a chaperone protein in the assembly of the attachment complex in Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Heather (Skye) Comstra

Skye was an intern and a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Michael Koval’s lab in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Her research focuses on molecular mechanisms regulating vascular barrier function. She is also interested in science education and communication and is supported by a Fellowship In Research and Science Teaching. Skye received her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology from Emory University where she studied cellular copper homeostasis and trafficking with an emphasis on the role of copper in neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Emily Crispell

Emily was an intern and a PhD candidate in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, training in Dr. David Weiss’ lab. She received her BS in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her thesis research focuses on deciphering novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms in multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Her current work includes developing inhibitors to target these resistance mechanisms, with the goal of reviving the available antibiotic arsenal to combat drug resistance. Emily is the recipient of an Antibiotic Resistance and Therapeutic Discovery training grant and is a supported scholar of the Atlanta chapter ARCS Foundation. Her long-term interests include helping scientists drive new discoveries from beyond the bench towards practical applications to achieve maximal impact.

Cierra Crowder

Cierra was an intern and a dual MBA and Doctor of Physical Therapy candidate at Emory University. Her interest in biotechnology developed while doing consultation work at Goizueta Business School. Her work involved developing business cases for newly developed biotechnology including identifying commercialization models and exit strategies. Prior to graduate school, Cierra received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University.

Erika Csatary

Erika was an intern and a chemistry PhD candidate using organic synthesis to study antibiotic resistance in the Wuest lab. A Cleveland, Ohio native, Erika attended Miami University (OH) for undergraduate studies majoring in biochemistry. When in graduate school, she developed an interest in commercializing scientific discoveries, founding the Emory Biotech Consulting Club where student teams consult professors with Emory-owned technologies on their marketability. This OTT internship has solidified her goals of leaving the bench and using her skills in career paths like technology transfer, patent law, business development, or product management. In her free time, Erika likes to hike, attend concerts, play Catan, and spend time with those important to her.

Kimberlynn Davis

Kim was an intern within the office while completing her graduate studies in the organic division of the chemistry department at Emory. Her graduate research focused on synthesizing novel nucleoside analogues as HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors and also on developing methodology to improve the regioselectivity of nucleoside base couplings. She obtained a bachelor of science in biochemistry from Xavier University in New Orleans, LA. After graduating from Emory, Kim joined the Atlanta office of Fish & Richardson, PC and then transitioned to the patent boutique firm of McKeon, Meunier, Carlin, & Curfman, LLC. Recently, Kim moved to Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP and is currently attending Georgia State University College of Law.

Dominic DeMichina

Dominic was an intern and a second year masters of business administration student at Emory's Goizueta Business School while interning at the Office of Technology Transfer. Dominic worked primarily with Kevin Lei and EmTech Bio. His interest in incubating startup technology companies began while he was Business Development Manager at Double Fusion, a technology startup that received $35 million in funding from Accel Partners, Norwest, and Jerusalem Venture Partners. Prior to Double Fusion, Dominic worked in digital media at Hollywood talent agency UTA. Prior to UTA, he was an investment banking analyst at Wells Fargo. Dominic received his bachelor's of business administration from Emory University and received his masters of business administration. Upon graduation, Dominic is working at Credit Suisse in Private Banking.

Zachary Ende

Zachary was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in immunology at Emory University. Working under Dr. Eric Hunter at the Emory Vaccine Center, Zachary researches the virology of HIV transmission in heterosexual couples in Sub-Suharan Africa. Prior to Emory University, he was at the Vaccine Research Center at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award recipient, studying T cell correlates of protection from HIV infection. Zachary received his bachelor of arts in philosophy from The University of Maryland.

Robert Esterberg

Robert was an intern as well as a postdoctoral fellow in the Biology Department of Emory University. His current research focuses on the generation and maintenance of stem cell pools in vivo through the integration of signaling inputs from different family members. He earned his doctorate in genetics and molecular biology from Emory, where he studied signaling cascades underlying the formation of cranial sensory organs. He is currently studying to take the PTO exam.

Dana Fallaize

Dana was an intern and a graduate student in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program at Emory University. Her research is being performed in the laboratory of Lian Li, PhD in the Department of Pharmacology. Dana's doctoral research focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which ubiquitin-proteasome system dysfunction results in neurodegenerative disease. Specifically, Dana is interested in how loss of Mahogunin RING finger 1 (Mgrn1) results in spongiform neurodegeneration. Dana received her bachelor of science in molecular biology from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.

Yanjun (Yan) Feng

Yan an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis at Emory University. Her thesis work in Dr. Edward Mocarski’s lab primarily focuses on exploring the mechanisms that regulate immune response during cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, a virus that infect 80% of human. She is interested in understanding how different cell death pathways impact immune cell activation as well as cell function for clearing infection. She received her M.S. degree in Biochemistry at George Washington University, where she worked in a clinical research lab running a clinical trial for hookworm vaccine and exploring diagnostic markers for cancers. In her spare time, she enjoys all kinds of outdoor/indoor activities. She started getting into rock climbing recently and enjoys it very much.

Rose Santangelo-Freel

Rose was an intern in the office while completing her doctoral degree in the Department of Chemistry under the advisement of Dennis Liotta, PhD. The focus of her research was the design and synthesis of novel subunit-selective modulators of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in collaboration with Stephen Traynelis, PhD in the Department of Pharmacology. These compounds have a range of potential therapeutic applications including Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, schizophrenia, and neuropathic pain. Some of her work has been published in Nature Communications as well as Bioorganic Medicinal Chemistry. Rose received a bachelor of science in chemistry from Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA. After completing her doctoral studies, Rose did a fellowship in the Technology Transfer Center at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD.

James Galloway

James was an intern in the office and recently spent a year, training as a preliminary surgical resident, at Emory. The focus of his research is a medical device he co-invented, which is designed for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. Over the last year his attention has been centered on the improvement and testing of a functioning prototype, with both animal and cadaver tissues. He has a medical degree from St. Matthew's University, Grand Cayman, British West Indies and a master of health administration from St. Joseph's College, Standish, ME. James began at Emory as an undergraduate, where he earned a bachelor of chemistry.

Jiafeng "Jeff" Geng

Jeff was an intern and a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Bridgette Barry's group in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Institute of Technology. He was born in a small town in northeastern China. He did his undergraduate study in Chemistry at Zhejiang University in China and continued his graduate research in Biochemistry at Georgia State University, where he earned his PhD in 2014. His graduate research lay at the interface of chemistry and biology, spanning a wide range of topics featuring mechanistic enzymology of metabolic pathways and protein cofactor biogenesis. As an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellow, his current research in the Barry lab is centered on mechanistic studies of complex biological systems. Specifically, he studies protein-drug interactions using resonance Raman spectroscopy and develops this technique as a novel diagnostic and mechanistic probe in cancer biology.

Kanika Ghai

Kanika was an intern in the office and a postdoctoral fellow at the Emory Eye Center where she conducts circadian biology research. She received her post doctorate in neuroscience from The Ohio State University and a masters in life sciences from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, India. Her doctoral work focused on studying specific cells in the human eye, the Müller glia, which possess the inherent capacity to behave like stem cells when the retina is injured. She has several publications, including one on the role of the Notch Signaling Pathway in Müller glial cells published in The Journal of Neuroscience. Kanika's interests lie in intellectual property research as well as entrepreneurship within the biotechnology industry.

Shweta Ghai

Shweta was an intern and an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine at Emory University. Her research is centered on identifying voice-based biomarkers that can aid early diagnosis of autism in infants and toddlers using electroglottography and longitudinal home audio recordings. Prior to attaining her faculty position as an Instructor, Shweta was a post-doctoral fellow in the Spoken Communication Laboratory at Marcus Autism Center where she focused on the application of speech engineering to autism research. Shweta earned her Ph.D. in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. As part of her Ph.D. thesis, she analyzed adults’ and children’s speech for differences in various acoustic correlates of speech and has developed methods, which address different acoustic sources of mismatch to improve automatic recognition of children’s speech.

David Giannantonio

David was an intern while working on his juris doctor degree at Emory's School of Law, and is a registered patent agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He previously attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor of science and a master of science in biology. David's research as a graduate student focused on the formation of bacterial and fungal biofilms on outdoor concrete surfaces, and has been published in International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation.

Chalonda R. Handy

Chalonda, a Mississippi native, completed a one year internship in the office while a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurosurgery at Emory. During her tenure in office she also began consulting with a number of groups and successfully wrote SBIR/STTR grants that were funded by the NIH. Chalonda holds a doctorate in integrated biomedical science with a minor in neuroscience from The Ohio State University (OSU). She has published in several peer reviewed journals including PNAS, Molecular Therapy and Science Translational Medicine. After leaving Emory, Chalonda moved back to Ohio and functioned in a junior licensing capacity at OSU, just prior to accepting her current licensing associate position at Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH). Chalonda also works with a number of business development firms in the central Ohio area including Bad Girl Ventures where she serves on the selection committee. Chalonda was named a Howard Bremer scholar in 2013 by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) where she is also active with the communications/website committee.

Ana Maria Hoffmann

Ana Maria was a licensing intern who received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of San Francisco and her M.A. at Emory University. She is currently a PhD candidate working with Dr. Lynne Nygaard in the Speech and Language Perception Lab, where her research interest focuses on how experience with perceptual and linguistic regularities in the environment affect language learning and communication. Ana Maria is passionate about engaging in work that helps the community. During her tenure at Emory, she has received both a T32 and an NSF GRFP for her research and has been heavily involved in diversity and equity efforts through the Emory Diversifying Graduate Education (EDGE) Initiative and as a Bouchet Fellow. She is particularly excited to be involved in the process of commercializing therapies and technologies that will make an impact on society in her role as an OTT intern.

Rae Hunter

Rae was a licensing intern and received a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Chemistry from Georgia State University. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree she was a Teach for America corps member, earning a M.A.T. in Secondary Science Education during this time. Hunter also obtained a M.S. in Biology from the same institution. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Dr. Christopher Porter. She is a NIH F31 grant recipient for her research focused on investigating IL-12 as an immunotherapeutic in pediatric leukemia. Hunter is passionate about developing cancer therapeutics that will help patients. She is also excited to be involved in the process of commercializing medical therapies and technologies that will make a significant impact in society in her role as an OTT intern.

Alina Ionescu

Alina was an intern and a PhD candidate in the Physics Department at Emory University working in Professor Kurt Warncke’s lab. Her thesis work focuses on understanding the molecular mechanism and structure of the EAL enzyme and EutL protein from the bacterial ethanolamine utilization (eut) metabolosome by using continuous-wave  (CW)  electron spin-labelling and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Previously she has worked in the lasers and spectroscopy field as a research assistant where she also did her thesis work for the master’s degree.

Hasan A. Irier

Hasan was an intern in the office and a postdoctoral research fellow in the Human Genetics Department at Emory. Hasan obtained his doctorate from the Pharmacology Department at Emory where he studied translational regulation of a member of ionotropic glutamate receptors family (GluR2) as potential drug targets in epilepsy. The focus of his current research is to identify genome-wide epigenetic signatures unique to learning and memory deficits during aging and associated disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease. As a part of his NIH-funded training program in translational research, Hasan has participated in clinical rotations at Emory's Genetics Clinic meeting patients; followed genetic tests conducted in the clinical laboratories and observed subsequent diagnosis procedures. Hasan’s career interests are in identifying discoveries made in basic science laboratories that have potential uses in clinical settings and public sector.

Meagan Jenkins

Meagan was an intern in the office and is also a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at Emory. Meagan is continuing work she began as a post-doctoral student at Emory with Stephen Traynelis, PhD studying ion channel structure and function. Specifically, she has spent the past several years studying how protein kinases enhance the activity of AMPA receptors in the brain, a phenomenon that is critical during learning. Meagan received her bachelor's degree from Smith College in Northampton, MA where she studied neuroscience and chemistry and did research on regulation of mammalian circadian rhythms. Her graduate work has been published in The Journal of Neuroscience and Nature Neuroscience.

Thomas Kaiser

Tom was an intern and a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Dennis Liotta in the Department of Chemistry at Emory. He conducts research into new antiviral nucleosides for the treatment and prevention of dengue hemorrhagic fever. He was an NIH Chemistry-Biology Interface predoctoral Fellow at Texas A&M where he received his doctoral degree in organic synthesis and enantioselective palladium catalysis.

Michelle Kim

Michelle was an intern and a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Dennis Liotta’s lab in the Department of Chemistry at Emory University. Prior to Emory, she received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis focusing on a total synthesis of a diterpenoid molecule with antimicrobial properties. In her current project, she examines the in vitro properties of small molecules using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. 

Ayush Kishore

Ayush was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular and Systems Pharmacology program at Emory University. He is studying the function and regulation of the adhesion GPCR GPR56/ADGRG1 in the lab of Dr. Randy Hall. Prior to his graduate training, Ayush received his bachelor of arts in Chemistry from CSU Stanislaus in Turlock, California.

Jeff Klenc

Jeff was an intern with the Emory Patent Group while conducting postdoctoral work in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Emory School of Medicine. His postdoctoral work under the guidance of Andrew Taylor, MD focuses on the development of renal radiotracers through medicinal chemistry. He has also recently received the Mitzi & William Blahd, MD, Pilot Research Grant to design, synthesize, and evaluate radiotracers which target a key receptor for the diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy.  In his current work, he relies on his doctoral training at Georgia State University as a synthetic/medicinal chemist where he designed and synthesized neuroreceptor ligands. After completing the internship, Jeff plans to continue his research while pursuing a career in intellectual property protection.

Malini Krishnamoorthy

Malini was an intern while working on her MBA at Emory's Goizueta Business School. She also works as a lead research specialist in Emory's Biomarker Service Center. Her work focuses on the application of high-throughput genetic and molecular techniques for disease research in a translational setting. Malini holds a bachelor of science in industrial biotechnology from Anna University and an master of science in microbiology from The University of Georgia. Her prior work experiences include research on self renewal pathways of human embryonic stem cells and using these cells as a diagnostic model for disease research.

Daniel Kueh

Daniel was an intern and works as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Biology at Emory. He received a postdoctoral in biological sciences from Western Michigan University where he studied the ability of individual heart neurons in medicinal leeches to selectively target the release of a distinct signaling molecule to specific areas of the animal’s heart tubes. His findings appeared to challenge the prevailing principle that individual neurons release the same signaling molecules at all of their targets areas. Building on his research interests in neural networks, Daniel currently studies the heartbeat central pattern generator in medicinal leeches with the goal of identifying the cells that alter the rhythmic activity of this neural network. His long-term research goal is to help advance current understanding of this neural network so that other investigators can use this system to address interesting questions on how neuromodulation of central pattern generators can alter rhythmic behaviors.

Trisha Lala

Trisha was an intern and a PhD candidate in Dr. Randy Hall’s lab in the Department of Chemical Biology & Pharmacology at Emory University. Her research investigates the structural determinants of signaling of a G protein-coupled receptor enriched in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning and memory, and implicated in Autism Spectrum Disorders & Schizophrenia. Prior to her graduate studies at Emory University, Trisha completed her BS/MS in Neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University, studying the molecular regulators of the process of encoding learning.

Sarah Lauinger

Sarah was an intern and in her third year of her graduate career in Emory’s Department of Inorganic Chemistry. Under her adviser Dr. Craig Hill, she is studying immobilization of water oxidation and reduction catalysts onto surfaces and electrodes for purposes of efficient production of hydrogen fuel and oxygen byproduct from water using sunlight. Prior to her graduate training, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biology from Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana.

Jessica Lin

Jessica was an intern and received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins and is currently a PhD candidate in the biomedical engineering program at Georgia Tech and Emory University. She works in Dr. Wilbur Lam's lab, where she designs bacteria-derived nanoparticles to treat hemostasis for patients with bleeding disorders, and thrombolytic nanoparticles for treatment of clotting disorders. She is interested in commercialization of research to benefit patients and hopes to pursue a career in translational science after graduation.

Kaifeng Lin

Lisa was an intern and a post-doc fellow in the laboratory of Edmund Waller in the department of hematology and medical oncology. Lisa is studying how to reduce graft-versus-host diseases after hematopoietic stem cell transplant by immune cellular therapy in small animal models and apply these methods to human clinical trials. She graduated from Duke University for her Ph.D. in immunology and received her Bachelor degree from National Taiwan University.

Pai Liu

Pai was a licensing intern and a neuroscience PhD candidate in Dr. Keqiang Ye's lab in the Department of Pathology at Emory University. The goal of her doctoral research is to understand the mechanism underlying the link between Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Some of her works were published in Molecular Cell, Molecular Psychiatry, and Progress in Neurobiology. Prior to her graduate studies, she also completed her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University.

Latika Luthra

Latika was an intern and a Biomedical Science PhD candidate at Georgia State University and Liaison (Emerging Leader Network) between Georgia Bio and GSU. I have worked with brilliant scientists on cancer drugs, mRNA vaccine for Influenza, Ulcerative colitis, novel drug delivery platform like Nanopatch. During my research at GSU, I developed an interest in Intellectual Property. Therefore, I completed online courses in IP, trademarks, trade secrets, patent law, copyright, etc. After exploring how to leverage my PhD transferable skills from bench to bedside, I stumbled upon licensing marketable technologies from university to companies, which sparked my interest in commercialization, technology transfer, business development, IP protection, and product management. My internship at Emory’s OTT has emboldened my future endeavors to work in tech transfer offices and law firms. I am currently crafting Tech Evaluation Reports, Licensee compliance, Patentability assessment, and IP protection.

Ranjna Madan-Lala

Ranjna Madan-Lala was an intern and a post doctoral fellow at the Emory Vaccine Center. Ranjna obtained her doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, India, where she studied the expression and functional significance of the bgl operon of Escherichia coli in the stationary phase of growth. As a post-doctoral fellow at Emory, Ranjna is addressing several fundamental questions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis and its interaction with the host. Her research focuses on understanding the modulation of host immunity by Mtb, and defining Mtb genes that promote its survival in the host. Her work has been published in Journal of Bacteriology, and Infection and Immunity.

Rhonda Moore

Rhonda was an intern and a scientist in Dr. Liotta’s lab in the Chemistry department at Emory University. Her research focus is designing and synthesizing compounds that are subunit selective in N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. This work is done in collaboration with Dr. Traynelis in the Pharmacology department. Rhonda obtained her BA in Chemistry from Middlebury College. After graduating she came to Emory to pursue her PhD in Chemistry with Dr. Liotta doing research in sphingolipids, synthetic methodology development and total synthesis. After a number of years she went back to school and received her Master’s in Business Administration from Goizueta Business School.

Lisa Matragrano

Lisa was an intern in the office and a graduate student in the Neuroscience department at Emory. Her doctoral work focuses on the effects of hormones on the auditory system in songbirds. Lisa received bachelor's degrees in biology and marine science at the University of Miami in FL, where she worked to develop a screening technique for harmful pathogens in water and sand samples. Her other prior experience include researching cognition in bottlenose dolphins and sequencing and localizing an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-like receptor in Aplysia. Lisa joined the Emory Office of Technology Transfer as an marketing associate after graduating from Emory.

Cliff Michaels

Cliff was an intern while completing his graduate degree at Emory. He was instrumental in helping the office develop our technology assessment program and current training material for our intern program. He is active in the local biotechnology community serving as the Dinner Series Coordinator for Georgia BIO's Emerging Leaders Network, and is a member and volunteer with the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). Cliff received his doctorate in neuroscience in 2007, with his research focusing on the impact of early-life stress on endogenous opioid systems and behavioral measures of reward. He also holds a bachelor of science degree in neuroscience from Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Cliff joined the office as an intellectual property associate after graduating from Emory, and is currently a licensing associate with the office.

Jeremiah Mitzelfelt

Jeremiah was an intern in the office and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology at Emory University researching the function and interactions of ion channels in epithelial cells. Prior to working at Emory, Jeremiah received his post doctorate in biomedical science from the University of Florida, where he studied the interactions between chronic pain, opioids, and aging. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in honors in neuroscience from Regis University, CO where he helped develop a perceptual taste profile for the umami basic taste. His work has been published in Neuroscience and Journal of Gerontology among others.

Billie A. Moore

Billie was an intern after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory. She has a doctorate in molecular medicine from the Medical College of Georgia, an masters of art in biochemistry from the University of South Dakota and nine published manuscripts. Here graduate thesis work focused on: 1) the growth promoting properties of UV in a melanoma cell line, specifically focusing on the induction of the transferrin receptor promoter; and 2) the role of sonic hedgehog in pharyngeal development and organogenesis of the parathyroid and thymus. Her postdoctoral work involved: 1) the identification of developmental paradigms in order to develop strategies to push stem cells to a pancreatic fate; and 2) the identification of unknown, chemically induced mutations and the characterization of developmental phenotypes in mutant mice.

Cara Mosley

Cara was an intern while concurrently completing her doctoral degree in Emory's Department of Chemistry under Dennis Liotta, PhD. Her research focused on the design and synthesis of novel subunit-selective N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor modulators in collaboration with Stephen Traynelis, PhD of Emory University's School of Medicine. These compounds have a range of possible therapeutic uses including ischemic stroke and traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and neuropathic pain. Cara obtained a bachelor of science in chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology. After completing her doctoral studies, she joined Pabst Patent Group LLP as a Scientific Advisor.

Amanda Mulligan

Amanda was an intern and a Research Specialist in Dr. Arthur English's lab in the Department of Cell Biology at Emory where she is studying peripheral nerve injuries. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics at the University of Georgia and her Juris Doctorate at Georgia State University College of Law.

Paul Musille

Paul was a licensing intern and a graduate student in the molecular and systems pharmacology graduate program under the supervision of Eric Ortlund, PhD. His research utilizes macromolecular X-ray crystallography to study lipid regulated transcription and the structure-activity relationships of pharmacologically relevant nuclear receptors. Paul’s research on the orphan nuclear receptor, LRH-1, has helped to elucidate its ligand regulation and species-specific differences for ligand responsiveness. Prior to his doctoral research at Emory, Paul attended Gannon University where he received his bachelor of science in chemistry.

Paula-Dene Nesbeth

Paula was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in the Nutrition and Health Sciences program at Emory University. She is co-mentored by Jessica Alvarez and Thomas Ziegler. Prior to Emory, she earned a B.A. in biological chemistry from Grinnell College and a M.S. in biochemical and molecular nutrition from Tufts University. Paula plans to pursue career paths in life sciences consulting and commercialization of new technology.

Sharon K. Ngwenya

Sharon was an intern in the office as well as a postdoctoral fellow in the Fellowship in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) program. Her current research in the Division of Digestive Diseases is on the effect of the bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), on the gene expression of KLF5 in intestinal epithelial cells. Sharon earned her doctorate from Texas A&M University in a multidisciplinary program with the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Toxicology Program of the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology. The title of her doctoral dissertation is "Regulation of E2F-1 Gene Expression in Human Breast Cancer Cells." She graduated with a bachelor in science in biochemistry from Oakwood College, in Huntsville, AL. After completing her postdoctoral studies at Emory, Sharon joined intellectual property practice of the law firm Ballard & Spahr as a technology specialist. Sharon later transitioned into technology transfer as a licensing associate at The University of Tennessee Research Foundation in Knoxville, TN. Currently, she is a senior licensing associate at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston, TX.

John Nicosia

John was an intern and a PhD candidate in the biomedical engineering program at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He is working in Dr. Wilbur Lam's lab designing synthetic platelet-like particles to treat patients suffering from severe thrombocytopenia. John is passionate about translating biomedical research into viable products to benefit patients, and hopes to commercialize his own research after graduating. Before graduate school, John received his bachelor of science in biomedical engineering at the University of Rochester.

Eugenia N. S. Addie-Noye

Eugenia was born in Tema, Ghana (West Africa), but has been in ATL since 2006. She attended Emory University as an undergrad, majored in Anthropology and Human Biology, and participated in biomedical research. Post-graduation, she joined her family's R&D business where they focus on creating advanced battery technologies. Eugenia returned to Emory in the Goizueta Business School as a 1-Year accelerated MBA Candidate, concentrating on Entrepreneurship, Alternative Investments(VC/PE), and Leadership. After graduating with her MBA, she started the Juris Master's program at Emory Law to gain a legal understanding of Business and Technology Law. She was excited to get the opportunity to round out her current law studies as an Emory OTTer-Licensing Intern.

Michael Nullet

Michael was an intern in the office and in his second year at the Emory's School of Law. His studies are focused on patent law and internet law. After law school, he hopes to specialize in patents and commercialization strategies for new intellectual property. Prior to law school, Michael worked as a project manager at Prometheus Research, and managed the development of custom online databases for autism research. He earned his bachelor's in biochemistry and chemistry at Cornell University, NY.

Yvonne Ogbonmwan

Yvonne was an intern and a graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Her doctoral research is conducted in the laboratory of David Weinshenker, PhD in the Department of Human Genetics. She is currently studying how chronic voluntary exercise reduces the incidence of relapse in individuals with a history of substance abuse. Specifically, she is studying how the therapeutic effects of exercise are mediated by the interaction of the norepinephrine neurotransmitter system and the galanin system in the brain. Yvonne received her bachelor degree in biology from Georgia State University.

Lola Olufemi

Lola was a licensing intern and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at Emory. Initially serving as an intern to the Emory Patent Group, Lola chose to take advantage of the opportunity and also learn the licensing and marketing aspect of technology transfer. She completed her doctoral research at Southern Illinois University in the area of molecular biology, biochemistry, and microbiology. Her research focused on examining the domain architecture and function of the ISWI family of chromatin remodeling complexes. During her graduate studies, Lola was a contributing writer for ASBMB Today, a monthly publication of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Prior to her graduate school, Lola worked as a consultant to both Amgen and Dentsply Pharmaceuticals. Lola plans to collectively draw from these experiences, and pursue a career in patent law.

Eric Owens

Eric was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in medicinal chemistry and a graduate fellow in the Center for Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Georgia State University. Under the direction of Dr. Maged Henary at Georgia State and Dr. Hak Soo Choi at Harvard Medical School, Eric researches the synthetic and structural optimization of targeted near-infrared fluorophores that, for the first time, allows surgeons to delineate diseased and healthy tissue in real-time during cancer-resection surgery. Prior to joining Georgia State, Eric received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Bridgette Peake

Bridgette was an intern and a Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular Systems and Pharmacology under the mentorship of Dr. Lily Yang. Her Ph.D. studies focus on chemoresistance in breast cancer and biomarker targeted nanotherapy. Particularly, breast cancers that have increased expression of the cytokine growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15). She has determined that GDF15 overexpression promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition, significantly increases cell invasion, proliferation and migratory potential. Furthermore, exogenous stimulation with promotes increased expression of the transcription factor FoxM1. This proliferation associated transcription factor is a central mediator of EMT and invasion. Interestingly, Bridgette has shown that IGF-1R inhibition or knockdown blocks GDF15-mediated FoxM1 up-regulation, EMT, and invasion. Bridgette’s studies have provided further insight for the advancement of targeted molecular therapeutics in breast cancers. Bridgette received her Bachelor of Science in Human Biology from Michigan State University, and her Masters of Science in Biology from Western Illinois University.

Sameshnee Pelly

Sameshnee was an intern and holds a doctorate in the field of synthetic organic chemistry from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Her research focused on novel methods for the synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted pyranonaphthoquinones, a structural class of compounds which possess antibiotic as well as anti-cancer properties. Her work culminated in the first total synthesis of the naturally occurring quinone, cardinalin 3. She is currently working towards her law degree at the University of South Africa.

Chris Petersen

Chris was an intern and an immunology PhD candidate at Emory University in the Department of Hematology and Oncology. In Dr. Edmund Waller’s lab, he studies the role of vasoactive intestinal peptide in T cell immunosuppression in settings of acute leukemias. Prior to graduate school, Chris received his Bachelor of Science degree in cellular biology from the University of Georgia.

Cornel Phillip

Cornel was an intern in the office and a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. As a post-doctoral fellow, his work focused on designing and identifying therapeutic strategies and targets for prostate cancer as well as understanding disease progression. In addition, he completed his doctoral work in cancer biology/pharmacology from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. As a graduate student, he identified possible therapeutic agents and targets for multiple myeloma using a transcription inhibitor, small molecule inhibitor, and shRNA. He has peer reviewed publications in Cancer Research and Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology. Cornel is currently a medical writer at Articulate Science in Atlanta, GA.

John V.K. Pulliam

John was an intern and a postdoctoral fellow in the Fellowship in Research and Science Teaching program (FIRST) program in the Department of Physiology at Emory and Department of Neurobiology at Morehouse School of Medicine. His former research involved the investigation of transcription factors which may be neuroprotective targets for stroke and other forms of brain injury. John also completed a postdoctoral appointment in Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development at Clark Atlanta University (CAU). At CAU John investigated the genetic regulation of a androgen independence in the development of prostate cancer. John earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Emory. For his doctoral dissertation John investigated a role for cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript peptide in social stress induced anxiety-like behavior. Prior to his graduate education, John received his bachelors degree in Molecular Cell Biology (Neurobiology) from the University of California at Berkeley. Johns interests lie in the commercialization and business development of biotechnology. Following his postdoctoral research appointments, John joined the Marketing group as a Marketing Application Scientist at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) in Manassas, Virginia. John role is to serve as a technical service liaison for scientists while assisting in the promotion and development of current and new products of the American Type Cell Systems and Cell Biology product lines.

Adam Raymond

Adam was an intern while completing his doctoral degree in biochemistry, cell, and developmental Biology in the Department of Cell Biology at Emory. His research was focused on the molecular and physiological aspects underlying male fertility and included investigating mechanisms important for sperm maturation and the integrity of the male reproductive tract. Prior to joining the doctoral program, Adam earned a bachelor of science in Biological Sciences from the University of Notre Dame, IN, and worked as a Research Specialist at Emory's Department of Biochemistry, identifying host factors that affect integration of the yeast retrotransposon Ty1. After completing his doctoral studies, Adam joined Pabst Patent Group, LLP, as a Scientific Advisor in the areas of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Adam drafts patent applications, invalidity, freedom to operate and non-infringement opinion letters, prosecutes U. S. patent applications (drafts responses, amendments, and appeal and reply briefs), and corresponds with foreign associates to guide the prosecution of foreign applications. Adam is registered U.S. Patent Agent.

Patrick Reynolds

Patrick was an intern in the office and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at Emory. His research focused on examining the combinatorial role of genetic mutations and environmental or drug-based insults in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's Disease. He received his post doctoral from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he studied the role of specific Roc-Cullin interactions in E3 Ubiquitin Ligases. This research led to publication in Molecular Biology of the Cell and PLoS One. Patrick's interests lie in the areas of technology commercialization and business development. Patrick is currently a licensing associate at the University of Tennessee Research Foundation, where his portfolio is focused on life science and medical technologies.

Kaitlyn Roman

Kaitlyn was a licensing intern while working on her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Emory University. The goal of her doctoral research is to enhance therapeutic development for patients with dystonia and Parkinson's disease by understanding how dysregulated striatal neuron signaling influences motor control. She earned her B.S. in biology from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Kaitlyn’s career interests include life sciences strategy consulting and biomedical entrepreneurship. 

S. Anna Sargsyan

Anna was an intern in the office and a postdoctoral fellow in Emory's Department of Ophthalmology. Anna is currently working on characterizing the influence of light and dark adaptation on neuronal cell coupling in the retina. Prior to joining Emory, Anna obtained her doctoral degree from University of Sheffield, UK, and received postdoctoral training at University of Colorado Denver. Her diverse background involves research in the involvement of the glial cells in the pathogenesis of an orphan neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a study on the role of Epstein Barr virus in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, and detection of complement activation in the kidney with non-invasive methods, such as magnetic resonance imaging.

Anjali Shah

Anjali was an intern in the office while pursuing her doctoral studies in genetics and molecular biology at Emory. The focus of her research is on neurodegenerative diseases, more specifically, the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis involved in the polyglutamine disease, Spinocerebellar Ataxia 17. Before matriculating, Anjali worked as a research specialist at a small start-up biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel therapeutics to treat staphylococcal infections. She holds a master of science in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, MD and a bachelor of science in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University, TN.

Preety Shakya

Originally from Nepal, Preety is a PhD candidate in the joint degree program in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. She also holds a master’s degree from the same program and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Howard University. Her research focuses on investigating the synergistic effect of cell and biomaterial-based therapies for cardiac repair in pediatric patients. Fueled by a desire to make real-world impact, she is currently pursuing the technology transfer internship at Emory University to help accelerate new technologies to market. She is thrilled at the prospect of working with a wide range of potent technologies and transforming them from academic inventions into viable products for patients.

Renee Shaw

Renee is a 2020 graduate of Emory University School of Law with a Juris Master's degree in Health Care Regulations and Patent Law. She is currently completing her MS in Public Health Policy and Health Law through Emory's School of Public Health. Having served as a technical research specialist for 25+ years in the School of Medicine at Emory, Renee is pivoting her career to understand the life science commercialization process and socially responsible licensing strategies. She is looking forward to translating this knowledge to support university technology transfer offices in Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as other under-served communities.

David Shore

David was an interna and a post-doctoral service fellow with the influenza division at Center's for Disease Control (CDC). His research focuses on the structural basis for antigen recognition and contributes towards the development of novel strategies for influenza vaccines. Prior to working with CDC David worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the field of structural biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. David received his doctoral in philosophy in biochemistry from the University of Oxford, UK and his bachelors degree in medical microbiology at University College London, UK, David's career interests lie in the development of scientific products from the bench to the marketplace.

Monica Fernandez-Sierra

Monica was an intern and a biophysical chemist currently working as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Physics at Emory, where her research focuses on understanding the modulation of DNA topology by enzymes such as the type-II topoisomerases. Monica received her doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico, where she studied DNA mechanics and enzymatic reactions using fluorescence spectroscopy and single-molecule microscopy. As a result of her doctoral research, she established a single-molecule method to measure the torque stored in supercoiled DNA molecules and developed fluorescence-based assays to monitor the kinetics of exonucleases and restriction enzymes in real time. Upon completing the internship at the Emory OTT, she plans to pursue a career in intellectual property.

Sharon Soucek

Sharon was an intern and a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry under the supervision of Anita Corbett, PhD. Her research seeks to elucidate how gene expression is regulated by RNA binding proteins. Sharon is characterizing the poly(A) RNA binding protein, ZC3H14, by identifying its target mRNAs and its role in post-transcriptional RNA processing events in order to understand why mutations in ZC3H14 lead to intellectual disability. Prior to starting doctoral research at Emory, Sharon received her bachelor of science in biology from Northeastern University.

Samantha Summer

Samantha was an intern and a doctoral candidate in the Chemistry Department at Emory University. Her work is in the Liotta lab making small molecule modulators of the NMDA receptor to study and treat various neurological disorders. Before Emory, she studied DNA aptamers at Augusta University while obtaining a B.S. in Chemistry. As a hobby, she has taken up writing about science for non-scientists. She plans to pursue a career at the intersection of business, law, and science after graduating.

Aaron Thornton

Aaron was an intern in the office while finishing his doctorate in the organic division of the chemistry department at Emory. His graduate work focused on the development of new methods for the synthesis nitrogen-containing molecules using highly reactive metallonitrenes. Aaron's graduate research was published in multiple peer-reviewed journals and he has received multiple awards for this work. Aaron received his bachelors of arts with honors in chemistry from Knox College in Galesburg, IL. Aaron is currently working as a Global Marketing Manager for BASF Corporation in Iselin, NJ.

MaKendra Umstead

MaKendra was an intern and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Cancer Biology Program at Emory University. She is completing her dissertation in the laboratory of Dr. Haian Fu where her research focuses on understanding how novel protein-protein interactions contribute to altered cellular signaling and cancer development. While MaKendra fostered a love for science at a young age, her passion for cancer research and drug development was kindled through an industry internship at Merck Research Laboratories in Boston, Massachusetts prior to starting graduate school. MaKendra received her bachelor of science in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a minor in Chemistry from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina.

Brandy Wade

Brandy was an intern and a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Roy Sutliff’s lab in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. She studies how dysregulation in the ubiquitin proteasome system contributes to Pulmonary Hypertension. She is specifically interested in ubiquitination as a novel regulatory mechanism for 14-3-3 eta that promotes proliferation in Pulmonary Hypertension. She graduated from Emory University with a PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology.

Shuaishaui (Shawn) Wang

Shuaishuai (Shawn) Wang is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Georgia State University. His current project focuses on the field of glycomics and glycobiology. He earned his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Georgia State University and his graduate research focused on the synthesis of mammalian glycans and glycopeptides. 

Robert (Rob) Wilson

Rob was an intern and a postdoctoral fellow working for Dr. Dennis Liotta in the Department of Chemistry at Emory. Rob works in several areas of disease including the development of CXCR4 antagonists for potential use in cancer therapy and small molecule inhibitors of Respiratory Syncytial Virus. He has also helped to develop a kilogram scale synthesis of an antiviral nucleoside precursor. Rob conducted my graduate work at Syracuse University where I received a doctorate in organic chemistry. Rob’s research during his graduate training focused on transition metal catalyzed methodology used towards the synthesis of complex exocyclic diene systems and distinct heterocycles.  

Sylvia Hsu-Chen Yip

Sylvia was an intern and postdoctoral fellow at Department of Biochemistry, Emory University. She holds a bachelors in biochemistry from National University of Malaysia and a doctoral degree in chemistry from the Australian National University. Sylvia's doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on protein engineering and the understanding of how proteins evolve secondary activities. Her work has been published in Journal of American Chemical Society, Protein Engineering Design and Selection and Inorganic Chemistry etc. After completing her postdoctoral training and OTT internship, Sylvia accepted a position as a patent agent in the boutique intellectual property law firm Alchemy-Partners PC in Northern Virginia. Outside her profession, Sylvia serves in the national committee of the non-profit organization Women in Bio and writes for the Scientific Malaysian magazine. Sylvia speaks 6 languages fluently.

Huanyu Zhao

Huanyu was an intern in the office as well as a postdoctoral fellow at the Emory Institute for Drug Discovery (EIDD). Her research interests lie in the discovery of novel antagonists of C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR-4), which is a co-receptor for the entry of HIV into host cells and hence a potential target for the treatment of AIDS. In addition, since the receptor is involved in hematopoietic stem cell mobilization, these compounds could also be used as immunostimulant. She received her post doctoral degree from Columbia University, NY, where she showed that exquisitely-modified polymers can be used as artificial enzymes to catalyze organic reactions in aqueous media with dramatically-improved robustness under extreme conditions.

Jing Zhao

Jing was an intern and a postdoctoral research fellow working in both Dr. Khalid Salaita and Dr. Brian Dyer’s labs in Department of Chemistry, Emory University. His current research focuses on developing nanoscale responsive hydrogel system that resembles artificial muscles and characterizing such system via time-resolved spectroscopy and imaging techniques. He received his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry at North Carolina State University. Besides his routine role in fundamental research, he is a long-term tech-innovation and tech-transfer follower. He is enthusiastic about providing data-driven solution design by applying cutting-edge machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. 

Sommer Zimmerman

Sommer was an intern in the office while working as a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry at Emory under the advisement of Dennis Liotta, PhD. Her research, performed in collaboration with Stephen Traynelis, PhD in the Department of Pharmacology, focuses on the design and synthesis of novel, subunit-selective potentiators of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) function. Sommer obtained a bachelor of science in chemistry in 2006 and psychology, with a double major in criminology, in 2004 from Florida State University. Sommer recently joined the law firm of Ballard Spahr LLP as a part-time technical specialist while continuing to complete her doctoral degree.