Principal Investigators
 | Karen McDonald, PhD kamcdonald@ucdavis.edu Biographical Sketch Professor, Dept. Chemical Engineering 3008 Bainer Hall Office Phone: (530) 752-8314 |
 | Somen Nandi, PhD snandi@ucdavis.edu Biographical Sketch Adjunct Professor, Dept. Chemical Engineering 3112 Bainer Hall Office Phone: (916) 838-0918 Managing Director, Global Healthshare® Initiative 318A Life Sciences Building http://ghs.ucdavis.edu Office Phone: (530) 752-3613 |
Project Scientists
 | Imran Khan ikhan@ucdavis.edu Imran Khan received PhD fellowship from German Academic and Exchange Service (DAAD) for his doctoral study at Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He also served Vienna Institute for Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria, as researcher where he investigated expression and targeting of recombinant proteins in plant tissues. He also received research funding as PI and supervised PhD and master students working as Assistant Professor at Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Islamabad, Pakistan. He completed his postdoctoral study from University of Bonn, Germany that was also funded by DAAD, Germany. In 2019, Imran received Penn Biomedical Postdoctoral fellowship for postdoctoral study at School of Dental Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, where he worked on oral delivery of plant made biopharmaceuticals using Chloroplast production system, in collaboration with Takeda, Japan. He joined Dr. McDonald/Nandi lab in 2021 at University of California, Davis, USA, as Project Scientist. His current research focus on development of platform technologies for bio-manufacturing on Mars to provide food and pharmaceuticals for colonists, funded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA. |
Staff
 | Seongwon (Steve) Jung stejung@ucdavis.edu Seongwon Jung is a Junior Specialist. He earned B.S. in Chemical Engineering at UC Davis and started working in the McDonald-Nandi lab in April 2019. He previously worked as a process engineer for optimizing the production of recombinant butyrylcholinesterase(rBChE) in transgenic rice cell suspension cultures under Kantharakorn Macharoen. He is currently working on the COVID project to produce ACE2-Fc fusion proteins which are promising targets for a COVID-19 therapeutic. |
 | Liber McKee ltmckee@ucdavis.edu |
Graduate Students
 | Katherine (Katie) Haddad khaddad@ucdavis.edu Katie joins as a PhD student in the biomedical engineering graduate group after earning her B.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Oklahoma. Her graduate work focuses on developing a platform for rapid production of plant-made biologics. |
 | Eric Knapp egknapp@ucdavis.edu Eric is a master’s degree student and began working in the McDonald/Nandi lab in January 2019. He is studying the use of Nicotiana benthamiana plant cell suspension cultures for the transient expression of useful proteins. Eric received a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa. |
 | Matt McNulty mmcnulty@ucdavis.edu Matt received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He previously worked as a process engineer for Sanofi Genzyme. His current research focuses on the technoeconomic analysis of a plant-made antimicrobial for food safety and on developing a novel biologically-derived bioseparations platform. |
 | Patrick Negulescu pgnegulescu@ucdavis.edu Patrick is a first-year PhD student in the Chemical Engineering Department at UC Davis. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley. His current research in the McDonald-Nandi lab is developing techno-economic analyses. |
 | Brandon Pizarro bspizarro@ucdavis.edu Brandon is a first-year masters student in the Chemical Engineering Department at UC Davis. He earned his B.S in Chemical Engineering at UC Irvine and previously worked as a packaging engineer/label process lead at Johnson & Johnson. His current research in the McDonald-Nandi Lab focuses on immobilizing transgenic rice cells in a hydrogel for scalable production of recombinant butyrylcholinesterase. |
 | Justin Wong juhwong@ucdavis.edu Justin is a first year PhD student in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University and worked as a bioprocess development engineer for Synlogic before returning to school. His current work focuses on using plant cell suspension cultures to produce cell cultured meat. |
 | Kevin Yates kyates@ucdavis.edu Kevin earned a BS in Chemical Engineering with minors in Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences from Michigan Technological University. He has a strong interdisciplinary background from his time working in a variety of industries. His PhD research involves the production of pharmaceuticals in transgenic plants within the scope of the NASA CUBES project. |
Undergraduate Students
 | Dylan Estrada eeestrada@ucdavis.edu Dylan is an undergraduate student pursuing a chemical engineering degree. His current work involves the development and optimization of a novel hand-powered centrifuge for limited resource environments. |
 | Olivia Hart omhart@ucdavis.edu Olivia Hart is an undergraduate student majoring in Global Disease Biology and minoring in Neuroscience at UC Davis. She is currently working on analyzing variant plant nanoparticle vectors and predicting their functionality based off of their structure and ligands. |
 | Anika Varma aavarma@ucdavis.edu Anika is an undergraduate honors student, pursuing a double major in chemical engineering and biochemical engineering. She joined the McDonald-Nandi lab in September 2019. She is currently exploring the feasibility of immobilizing transgenic rice cells in a hydrogel for rapid, scalable production of recombinant butyrylcholinesterase. |
 | Stephan Alfaro salalfaro@ucdavis.edu Stephan Alfaro is an undergraduate student majoring in Biochemical Engineering. His current research is in the utilization of rice cells in cultured meat production. |
Former Lab Members
| Name | Former Position | Thesis/Dissertation Title | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas Arzola | Post-doctoral Scholar + Graduate Student (PhD) | Transient Expression of Recombinant Therapeutic Proteins and Vaccines Using Agroinfiltration in Nicotiana benthamiana | Director of Operations Puerto Rico Science and Technology Trust Parallel18 Program |
| Kalimuthu Karuppanan | Post-doctoral Scholar | Post-doctoral Scholar Oxford University, UK |
|
| Jose Antonio Rocha-Valadez | Post-doctoral Scholar | Bayer CropScience West Sacramento, CA |
|
| Remi Shih | Post-doctoral Scholar | ||
| Salem Alkanaimish | Graduate Student (PhD) | Bioprocess Engineering Approaches for Production and Purification of Recombinant Plant Made Human Butyrylcholinesterase | Assistant Professor University of Kuwait |
| Elizabeth Anthony Gill | Graduate Student (PhD) | Evaluation of Agrobacteria-mediated Transient Expression of Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes as a Biological Pretreatment Process for Cellulosic Biofuel Production | Electric Generation System Specialist at California Energy Commission, Sacramento, CA |
| Shivaun Archer | Graduate Student (PhD) | Effect of Light on the Production of Sulfolipids from Cyanobacteria | John and Jent Swanson Senior Lecturer Biomedical Engineering Cornell University Ithaca, NY |
| Nishant Bhatia | Graduate Student (PhD) | Ribosome Inactivating Proteins from Trichosanthes kirilowii Cultures | Director, Technology and Business Development Advent Engineering Services |
| Ching I. Chen | Graduate Student (PhD in Microbiology) | Analysis and Modelling for the Oscillatory Behavior of Saccharomyces Cerevisia in a Continuous Bioreactor System | Currently an Independent Consultant to Biotech Industry Formerly Director, Process Development and Manufacturing Tocagen, Inc San Diego, CA |
| Michael Cooney | Graduate Student (PhD) | Multivariable, Dynamic Model Development for Pure Continuous Cultures of E. Coli and C. Utilis | Tenured Researcher Hawaii Natural Energy Institute University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Jasmine Corbin | Graduate Student (PhD) | Process Development for the Production of Recombinant Butyrylcholinesterase in Metabolically-Regulated, Transgenic Rice Cell Suspension Cultures | Scientist, Cell Culture Process Development Allakos Inc |
| Seher Dagdeviren | Graduate Student (MS) | Sulfolipid Production from the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 in Fed-Batch Photobioreactors | QC Supervisor Baxter International |
| Corey Dodge | Graduate Student (PhD) | Production of Recombinant Human Gelatin in Transgenic Rice Cell Cultures | Director, Upstream Process Development, Molecular Templates, Austin, TX |
| Sifti Duhra-Gill | Graduate Student (MS) | Transient Expression of an Anthrax Decoy Fusion Protein in Nicotiana benthamiana | Technician II, California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, CA |
| Iftikar Gohar | Graduate Student (MS) | Numerical Simulation of Natural Convection in Liquid Semiconductor Metals in Modified Bridgman Furnace | Van den Bergh Foods Columbia, Maryland |
| Annette Hagewiesche | Graduate Student (MS) | Plan II | Senior Engineer Recovery Sciences Genentech, Inc. South San Francisco, CA |
| Bryce Hashimoto | Graduate Student (MS) | Development of a Transgenic Rice Cell Line for Production of Butyrylcholinesterase: A Protective Bioscavenger against Sarin | Sandia National Laboratories Kansas City, MO |
| Ting-Kuo Huang | Graduate Student (PhD) | Development of Plant Cell Suspension Cultures as a Bioproduction Platform of Recombinant Human Therapeutic Proteins | Senior Engineer Genentech South San Francisco |
| SangKyu Jung | Graduate Student (PhD) | Agrobacterium-Mediated Transient Expression of Plant Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes in Detached Sunflower Leaves | Assistant Professor, Biochemical Engineering Hongik University Korea |
| Kirolos (Kiro) Kelada | Graduate Student (MS) | Techno-Economic Analysis and Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Intensely Sweet Protein Thaumatin Large-Scale Bioproduction | Process Technology Intern E. & J. Gallo Winery |
| Nathaniel Kingsbury | Graduate Student (PhD) | Selective Recovery from the Interstitial Spaces of Nicotiana species | Senior Engineer, Late Stage Development Kite Pharma Santa Monica, CA |
| Yen Ko | Graduate Student (MS) | Cyanobacteria Photoproduction in a Stirred Reactor | Unknown |
| Rajesh Krishnan | Graduate Student (PhD) | The Expression, Localization and Characterization of Recombinant Trichosanthin, a Type I Ribosome-Inactivating Protein, in Transgenic Tobacco | Director, Biologics Process Development Gilead Sciences Oceanside, CA |
| Ingrid Leth | Graduate Student (PhD) | Production of Agrobacterium tumefaciens for Large-Scale Transient Expression of Recombinant Proteins in Plants | Scientist I CBR International Boulder, CO |
| Ben Lindenmuth | Graduate Student (PhD) | In Planta Expression of Heterologous Cell Wall-Degrading Enzymes | Drug Substance Tech Lead Bayer Healthcare Berkeley, CA |
| Michael Lucas | Graduate Student (MS) | Production Manager ConAgra Foods |
|
| Kantharakorn (Korn) Macharoen | Graduate Student (PhD) | Process Intensification and Scale-up of Metabolically Regulated Rice Cell Culture Bioreactors for Biopharmaceutical Applications | Lecturer KMUTT Thailand |
| Christine Owlett | Graduate Student (MS) | Therapeutics from Plant Cell Suspension Cultures | Deceased |
| Sinyoung Park | Graduate Student (PhD) | Mammalian Cell Respiration and O2 /CO 2 Transfer in High-density Perfusion Culture with Microsparge Oxygenation and On-line Mass Spectrometry | Clinical Research Coordinator Breast Oncology Stanford University Stanford, CA |
| Kirti Patel | Graduate Student (MS) | Plan II | President and CEO Executive Board Director Eppendorf, Inc. |
| Michael Plesha | Graduate Student (PhD) | Development of a Viral Amplicon-Based Process for Production of Biopharmaceuticals in Plant Tissues | Principal Scientist, Pilot Plant Lead Bayer CropScience Sacramento, CA |
| Kittipong Rattanaporn | Graduate Student (PhD) | Quantitative RNA Analysis and Roles of Viral RNA Silencing Suppressors in Transient Therapeutic Protein Production in Plant Tissues using a Viral Amplicon-Based System | Associate Dean for International Relations Lecturer, Department of Biotechnology Faculty of Agro-Industry Kasetsart University Bangkok, Thailand |
| Melody (Trexler) Schmidt | Graduate Student (PhD) | A Cyclical Semi-Continuous Process for Production of Heterologous Proteins in Metabolically Regulated Plant Cell Suspension Cultures | Senior Scientist, Recovery Sciences Genentech, Inc. South San Francisco, CA |
| David Silberstein | Graduate Student (PhD) | Process Development and Characterization of Plant-Made, Oxidation Resistant, Recombinant Alpha-1 Antitrypsin | Scientist I BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. |
| Sara Sukenik | Graduate Student (PhD) | Transient Expression of an Anthrax Decoy Fusion Protein in Glycoengineered Plant Cell Suspension Cultures | |
| Masaru Shiratori | Graduate Student (PhD) | Studies of a TMV-Based Expression Vector in Plant Cell Cultures | Senior Engineer Genentech, Inc. South San Francisco, CA |
| John Thorup | Graduate Student (MS) | Purification and Identification of Ribosome Inactivating Proteins from Plant Cell Cultures of Trichosanthes Kirilowii | Senior Manager, Process Development Amgen Thousand Oaks, CA |
| Tiffany Tu | Graduate Student (MS) | Scale-up Simulation of Cellulase Enzymes Production for Biofuel Application: Fungal, Transgenic, and Transient Production of Cellulase Enzymes | Engineer Lumileds Milpitas, CA |
| James Wong | Graduate Student (PhD) | Classification of Process Trends Based on Fuzzified Symbolic Representation and Hidden Markov Models | Senior Software Developer OSIsoft San Leandro, CA |
| Qing Xie | Graduate Student (MS) | Recombinant Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Production in Transgenic Tobacco Cells | Biocatalytic South San Francisco, CA |
| Yongao (Mary) Xiong | Graduate Student (PhD) | Process Development and Characterization of Plant Recombinant Fc-Fusion Therapeutics | Scientist I, Downstream Process Development LakePharma, Inc. |
| Greg Young | Graduate Student (PhD) | Thermal and Stress Analysis of Single Crystal Growth in a Horizontal Bridgman Furnace | Emeritus Professor and Department Chair, Chemical Engineering Department San Jose State University San Jose, CA |
| Liz Zapalac | Graduate Student (MS) | Purification of Alpha-1-Antitrypsin using a Three-Step Chromatography Process - Factors Effecting Dynamic Binding Capacity, Production Rate and Costs | Senior Plant Engineer Bayer Corporation Berkeley, CA |
| Rupak Goswami, PhD | Visiting Scholar | ||
| Hiroto Hirano | Visiting Scholar | ||
| Pauline Famy | Visiting Scholar | ||
| Oscar A. Ortega-Rivera | Visiting Scholar | ||
| Alexandra Ramirez Celis | Visiting Scholar | ||
| Trenton Smith | Visiting Scholar |
Former undergraduate researchers:
Karen has supervised the following students in undergraduate research projects (ECH199, PUFF program, NSF REU, MORE program, McNair Scholars program, NSF LURE, NSF CREATE-REU, UCD GREAT etc.)
An asterisk (*) indicates that the student went on to graduate school
Mark Johnson*, Darrell Lewis-Sandy, Sara Stokes, Monica Gomes, Richard Cheung, Caroline Crispino, Tuyen Do, Yvette Mangaladin, Anh Nguyen, Mondana Panymanian, Eunice Tan*, Ruth Chan (MORE), Arlene Adela, James Fred Johnson*, Michelle Bishop*, Rachael Balog, Dave Reichmuth*, Casey Bunker*, Cynthia Buenviaje*, Michael Costello, Nicole Dennis, Richard St. John*, Tracy Horsfield, Yea-Lian Huang, Linda Leong, Khan Nguyen, Katrina Meehan, David Mills*, Phuong Anh Nguyen, Bill Ristenpart* (PUFF), James Corpuz, Chris Humphrey, Michael Stoner*, Devin Eselius, Danielle Coutts, Shaelyn Hurst (McNair Scholar), Ruth Chan, Christine Owlett*, Shane Hall, Annie Chou (MORE), Megumi Noguchi, Tammy Adamson (LURE), Phillip Tuet, Jolie Wu, Mark Sanford, Andrew Tung, Diemchi Nguyen, Jennifer Mikovich, Jeff Luk*, Ming-Wai Chen, Debby Kolbeck, Sandra VanDusen, Kali Campbell, Jennifer Chen, Lo-Ming (Alison) Hong*, David Trombly*, Javier Lacayo, Nathan Parker, Drew Erlich, (Vista) Li, Tammy Chan, Fareed Rudy Mohammed, Quyen Truong*, Kaushal Parikh*, Stacey Cox*, Michael Cheung, Marisa Harano* (MORE), Yanto Yanto*, Javier Cardenas*, Sinath Prom*, Randy Cross, Yevgeniya Mulina, Jeremy Lee*, Joel Thomas*, Jeffrey Upton, Marissa Roush, Yuchen Gu, Christian Millsop, Helena Keller* (Michigan Technological University) Li Qian (Grace) Bai, Allen Reed, Dane Emmerson, Debika Mitra* (CREATE-REU, Georgia Tech), Anh (Annie) Tran, Junxing (Cici) Chen, Huang (Sunny) Yan, Anna Iris Correa Muler (CREATE-REU, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez), Derrick Hicks* (Integrated Studies Honors Thesis, PUF award), Alexandra Moskaluk * (BioChE Honors Thesis, UC Davis Veterinary School), Thuy Thanh Le*, Jacob Partlow, George Correra, Jerrine Wong, Kaylee Thatcher, Jack Morel, Darwin Constantino, Vincent Reyes, Katie Mains (BioChE Honors), Mathew (Peter) Kedzierski (BioChE Honors), Anthony Tsai * (UC Irvine), Ben Chang (ChE Honors), Zachary Kyser, Aaron Hwong, Kevin Tom (BioChE Honors), Jessie Delzio (BioChE Honors), Jacqueline Kelly, Vuthithorn Chinthammit, Min Du, Joshua McMillan, Garrett Barton, Kostyantyn (Stan) Luferov,