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This summer, thirteen exceptional students immersed themselves in the dynamic field of synthetic biology through the Center for Synthetic Biology at Northwestern’s undergraduate research programs. Over ten weeks, students participated in cutting-edge, mentored research projects, hands-on lab experiences, skill-building workshops, and career-focused seminars. Their work culminated in an end-of-summer symposium showcasing innovative projects in front of peers, faculty mentors, and invited guests.

With generous support from the National Science Foundation and Walder Foundation, eight outstanding undergraduates from across the country joined the Synthetic Biology Research Experience for Undergraduates (SynBREU) program. This intensive experience gave students the opportunity to develop practical laboratory skills, gain exposure to advanced synthetic biology techniques, and engage in interdisciplinary activities aimed at strengthening their communication, ethics, design thinking, and entrepreneurial mindsets.

“In Puerto Rico, we don’t have a lot of opportunities related to synthetic biology, so this was a whole new field to me,” said Linoshka Nieves-Gonzalez. The University of Puerto Rico student worked in the Rocklin lab this summer. “I love how collaborative the people are here — there’s engineers, biologists and chemists. I’ve never been to a place like this before. It’s amazing because that’s really what STEM is about.”

In parallel, five rising Northwestern juniors and seniors were selected for the prestigious DeFeo Family Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Synthetic Biology, a two-year program supported by the Ron and Andrea DeFeo Family Foundation. These fellows are exploring the intersection of biology, chemistry, math, and engineering through sustained research, specialized coursework, workshops and site visits to local biotech startups and research centers.

Working full-time throughout the summer, students tackled a range of high-impact projects from synthetic biology approaches for modeling specific diseases to developing new workflows for prototyping RNA-binding proteins for CRISPR editing.

Their research was conducted under the mentorship of leading CSB faculty from departments spanning Molecular Biosciences, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Pharmacology, Chemistry, Applied Mathematics, and Environmental Engineering.

In addition to lab work and a tailored academic curriculum, DeFeo Fellows’ research journey was further enriched by direct exposure to the synthetic biology industry and workshops.

“A lot of undergrads who get into research just join a lab and are thrown in. This program really helped walk us through the research process,” said Ella Khazzari, a rising junior at Northwestern and DeFeo fellow. “Since I had already joined the Hartmann lab and had the background and the foundation of the lab, I was able to focus on an individual project. The workshops really allowed us to start from the beginning, teaching us how to write an abstract and develop our project.”

The symposium kicked off with a morning coffee social followed by individual presentations. During lunch, students and guests heard remarks from Eric DeFeo, Treasurer of the Ron and Andrea DeFeo Family Foundation, and Candace Tebbenkamp, Program Director, Science Innovation, at Walder Foundation.

DeFeo’s lifelong love of synthetic biology began as an undergraduate in the Leonard lab at Northwestern working on chimeric antigen receptors.

“The concept of going from basic science to engineering is something that continues to be very interesting to me,” DeFeo said. “Equipping undergraduate students to participate in industry beyond research science requires focusing on practical problem solving.”

After spending years as a consultant and entrepreneur, he pivoted to a role at Biogen to help bring life-changing therapies to people.

“Don’t think that you need to win a Nobel Prize to make a difference,” DeFeo said. “Engineering biology is a foundational way to make an impact. I’ve met children with genetic diseases that are still alive because of the technologies that have come out of the field.”

The day concluded with a poster session with presentations by Rachel Daso (Rivnay Lab),
Sammi Huang (Karim Lab), Caleb Nunes (Volpatti Lab), Daniel Payan (Karim Lab) and Sara Volz (Rocklin Lab), and a networking reception, allowing students to engage in deeper conversations about their research and future ambitions in synthetic biology.

“In science philanthropy, we’re able to think in big ways, but we really rely on connection with the scientists to be able to understand how we can be responsive, especially in times like this,” said Tebbenkamp. “At the heart of the Foundation, across all of our pillars, is this strong belief in the impact and the power of investing in people. We are building and elevating the work of Chicago and feel privileged to be able to support this.”

2025 Undergraduate Symposium Participants

Below is the list of this year’s SynBREU and DeFeo Fellowship participants, along with their home institutions, host Northwestern labs, and project titles.

SynBREU Program Participants:

NSF-funded students:

  • Hanhbit Kang: University of Maryland College Park | PI Mentor: Arthur Prindle | Lab Mentor: Heather Hirsch | Title: “Investigation of Lysine Acetylation on the Function of Nucleoid-Associated Protein Rok”
  • Samantha Schulz: Georgia Institute of Technology | PI Mentor: Jonathan Rivnay | Lab Mentor: Rachel Daso | Title: “Cation-loaded Polymer for Use in Implantable Cell Therapy Devices”

Walder Foundation-funded Students:

  • Amber Cheng: Smith College | PI Mentor: Ludmilla Aristilde | Lab Mentor: Kelly Teitel | Title: “Quantitative Flux Analysis Reveals Metabolic Strategies for Processing Multiple Carbon Substrates in Wild-Type and Engineered Pseudomonas Strains”
  • Kathleen (Laney) Druhan: Tulane University | PI Mentor: Julius Lucks | Lab Mentor: Xav Bower | Title: “Establishing a Rapid Low-Cost High-Purity Workflow for Prototyping RNA-Binding Proteins to Increase RNA Accessibility for CRISPR Editing”
  • Laniya Hinton: Loyola University Chicago | PI Mentor: Danielle Tullman-Ercek | Lab Mentor: Shiqi Liang | Title: “Investigating the effect of single amino acid mutations on the assembly morphology of the MS2 coat protein”
  • Brianna Lemisch: University of Massachusetts Amherst | PI Mentor: Krishna Shrinivas | Lab Mentor: Jackson Boodry | Title: “Designing Binders to Intrinsically Disordered Protein Sequences”
  • Diego Negrete: Triton College | PI Mentor: Neha Kamat | Lab Mentor: Delfin Buyco | Title: “A synthetic biology approach for modeling Niemann Pick Disease”
  • Linoshka Nieves-Gonzalez: University of Puerto Rico | PI Mentor: Gabriel Rocklin | Lab Mentor: Sara Volz | Title: “Benchmarking a High-throughput cDNA Platform to Assess SpyCatcher Reactivity and Stability”

DeFeo Family Fellows (Northwestern Students):

  • Jenny Chen | PI Mentor: Neha Kamat | Lab Mentors: Maddie Briggs & Matthew Lucia | Title: “Engineering evolution to use bacteria’s weapons against them”
  • Owen Eskey | PI & Lab Mentor: Ashty Karim | Title: “Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Degradation in Multi-Enzyme Systems”
  • Alex Kanu | PI Mentor: Joshua Leonard & Julius Lucks | Lab Mentor: Xav Bower | Title: “RNA level Control of VEEV replicon activity in HEK cells”
  • Ella Kharrazi | PI Mentor: Erica Hartmann | Lab Mentor: Yilin Feng | Title: “Identification of Host Ranges and Defense Genes Against the JG024 Phage in Clinical Isolates of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (PA)”
  • Anastasia Smirnova | PI Mentor: Monica Olvera de la Cruz | Lab Mentor: Han Kossio | Title: “Backbone hydrophobicity effects on the polymer translocation of lipid bilayers”

by Lisa La Vallee