People

The Kunjapur Lab is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment.
We celebrate the different backgrounds and perspectives that every lab member brings to our team.

We are hiring! We are looking for a lab manager and 3-4 graduate students to start in the 2022-2023 academic year:

Postdocs who have backgrounds in the following areas are welcome to apply anytime:
Immunology, Protein Engineering, Chemical Biology, or Mammalian Cell Culturing
PD applicants can email Dr. Kunjapur directly with their CV and a brief cover letter.

If you are a prospective graduate student who has an engineering undergraduate degree and is interested in our lab, then apply to the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering PhD program.
If you are a prospective graduate student who has an undergraduate degree in the natural sciences and is interested in our lab, then apply to the Microbiology Graduate Program.

Principal Investigator: Aditya M. Kunjapur

2019 Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware
2018 Post-Doc, Genetics, Harvard Medical School (Advisor: George Church)
2015 PhD, Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Advisor: Kristala Prather)
2010 BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Texas (Advisor: Bruce Eldridge)

Aditya is from Houston, Texas, and interned for 5 summers with Shell and ExxonMobil during his undergraduate years. His interest in biomolecular engineering was sparked by a desire to develop renewable liquid transportation fuel alternatives, and he is always excited to discover what chemicals can be formed from renewable sources using biocatalysis. During his post-doc, he became fascinated by the enormous potential and creative opportunities to harness designer bacteria for biomedical applications. Whether for healthcare or sustainability purposes, Aditya is most interested in adding new functional group chemistries to metabolites and proteins. When outside of lab, Aditya enjoys playing board games, watching basketball/football, and traveling.
For more info on how Aditya became interested in synthetic biology, see this blog post from 2015.

Recent Awards
2022 - NIH Director's New Innovator Award
2022 - Office of Naval Research Young Investigator
2021 - New Innovator Award from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research
2021 - Langer Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence
2020 - American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 35 Under 35
2019 - Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative (ELBI) Fellow

Graduate Students & Postdocs

Shelby Anderson

NIH CBI Fellow
B.S., Georgia Institute of Technology
sander(at)udel(dot)edu

Neil Butler

NSF GRFP Honorable Mention
B.S., Penn State University
ndb(at)udel(dot)edu

Avaniek Cabales

B.S., Rutgers University
avaniekc(at)udel(dot)edu

Roman Dickey

B.S., Penn State University
rdickey(at)udel(dot)edu

Amanda Forti

NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. University of Rochester
aforti(at)udel(dot)edu

Madan Gopal

(Co-advised by Wilfred Chen)
B.S. University of Texas
mgopal(at)udel(dot)edu

Surendar Jakka

Ph.D., Indian Inst. of Science
srjakka(at)udel(dot)edu

Michaela Jones

NIH CBI Fellow, NSF GRFP Honorable Mention
B.S., Cornell University
majones(at)udel(dot)edu

Chris Mayhugh

NIH CBI G1/G2 Fellow
B.S. University of Alabama
cmayhugh(at)udel(dot)edu

Priyanka Nain

Ph.D., Indian Inst. of Tech - Delhi
prinain(at)udel(dot)edu

Amanda Rosier

Ph.D., University of Delaware
amandaro(at)udel(dot)edu

Sabyasachi Sen

B.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
sen(at)udel(dot)edu

D'Jana Wyllis

NIH CBI Fellow, GEM Fellow
B.S., Columbia University
djanaw(at)udel(dot)edu

Undergraduate Students

Ishika Govil
Barry Goldwater Scholar

Miyu Mudalamane

Alexander Tiso

Past Mentees from Delaware: (UG = Undergrad / G = Grad / T = Technician / P = Post-Doc)
Sean Wirt - 2019-2022 - UG - MIT (Ph.D.)
Shalom Fadullon - 2021 - UG - Northeastern (Ph.D.)
Khai Khee Kho - 2020-2022 - UG - Minnesota (Ph.D.)
Soumili Chattopadhyay - 2020-2021 - G - VaxCyte
Nathan Edwards - 2020 - UG - Delaware (M.S.)
Ryan Buchser - 2019-2021 - UG - UT-Austin (Ph.D.)

Before Delaware:
Emily Niu - 2018 - UG - Then: MIT - After: Bain & Company
Aditya Jog - 2018 - UG - MIT
Lucas Brown - 2018 - T - Then: Harvard - After: Rice University
Karen Noguera - 2017-2018 - T - Then: Harvard - After: U. Indiana - Bloomington
Peter Smith - 2017-2018 - G - Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Devon Stork - 2016-2018 - G - Then: Harvard - After: Tenza Bio
Jason Hyun - 2014-2015 - UG - Then: MIT - After: Manus Biosciences
Asmawaw Wassie - 2013 - UG - Then: MIT - After: MIT Biological Engineering PhD
Nikita Khlystov - 2012-2014 - UG - Then: MIT - After: Stanford Chemical Engineering PhD
Spencer Wenck - 2012-2013 - UG - Then: MIT - After: Boston Consulting Group
Bernardo Cervantes - 2012 - UG - Then: Berkeley - After: MIT Microbiology PhD