The Kunjapur Lab is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment.
We celebrate the different backgrounds and perspectives that every lab member brings to our team.
For Prospective Members
We are hiring! We are looking for 2 graduate students and 2 post-docs to start in Summer/Fall 2026:
We are currently looking for postdocs who have expertise in the following areas:
(1) New-to-life biocatalysis: biocatalysis and protein engineering, familiarity with synthetic chemistry
(2) Environmental biocontainment: experience engineering non-model soil bacteria at higher throughput
Postdoc 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.
We celebrate the different backgrounds and perspectives that every lab member brings to our team.
For Prospective Members
We are hiring! We are looking for 2 graduate students and 2 post-docs to start in Summer/Fall 2026:
We are currently looking for postdocs who have expertise in the following areas:
(1) New-to-life biocatalysis: biocatalysis and protein engineering, familiarity with synthetic chemistry
(2) Environmental biocontainment: experience engineering non-model soil bacteria at higher throughput
Postdoc 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.
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Principal Investigator: Aditya M. KunjapurAppointment
2025- Thomas Willing Early Career Associate Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UD 2025 Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor, DTU Biosustain, Technical University of Denmark (Jun.-Dec.) 2024-2025 Thomas Willing Early Career Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UD 2019-2024 Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, UD Education 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) Bio Aditya is from Houston, Texas, and interned for five summers with Shell and ExxonMobil as an undergraduate. His initial interest in biomolecular engineering was sparked by a desire to create renewable liquid transportation fuels by engineering microbes. As a graduate student, he realized the potential of microbial engineering to instead produce higher value products that are still often sourced from petroleum, especially those that contain naturally rare functional group chemistries. During his post-doc, he became fascinated by the enormous potential of designer bacteria for biomedical applications. Whether for healthcare or sustainability goals, Aditya is most interested in designing cells to create and harness new-to-nature building blocks. When outside of lab, Aditya enjoys CrossFit, building in his woodshop, playing pop covers on the alto sax, and chasing his toddler and newborn. For more info on how Aditya became interested in synthetic biology, see this blog post from 2015 or this short chat with Science in 2024. Recent Awards 2025: Department of Energy Early Career Award; Gerard Mangone Young Scholar; Roberta Colman Innovation Award Co-Recipient; Biotechnology & Bioengineering Journal Daniel I.C. Wang Award 2024: University of Delaware College of Engineering Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award; American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Delaware Valley Section Outstanding Faculty Award; BioInnovation Institute & Science Grand Prize for Innovation 2023: Invited Contributor to the AIChE Journal Futures Issue; Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology Early Career Award 2022: NIH Director's New Innovator Award; Office of Naval Research Young Investigator 2021: New Innovator Award from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research; Langer Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence |
Doctoral Students & Postdocs
Ethan Bolinger
B.S., U. Maryland - College Park
bolinger(at)udel(dot)edu
bolinger(at)udel(dot)edu
Neil Butler, Ph.D.(Part-time Post-Doc, Co-Founder & CEO of Nitro Biosciences)
Ph.D., University of Delaware B.S., Penn State University ndb(at)udel(dot)edu |
Avaniek Cabales
B.S., Rutgers University
avaniekc(at)udel(dot)edu |
Jessica GambaNIH T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Fellow
M.S., University of Sao Paulo jgamba(at)udel(dot)edu |
Saloni Gupta
B.S., Visvesvaraya NIT
salonig(at)udel(dot)edu |
Gordon Ko
B.S., University of California - Irvine
lmko(at)udel(dot)edu
lmko(at)udel(dot)edu
Kiseok Lee, Ph.D.
Ph.D. University of Chicago
Ecology and Evolution kiseok(at)udel(dot)edu |
Chris MayhughNIH T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Fellow
B.S. University of Alabama cmayhugh(at)udel(dot)edu |
James VanAntwerp
(Co-Advised by Kelvin Lee)
NIH T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Fellow B.S., Michigan State University vanantj(at)udel(dot)edu |
D'Jana Wyllis
NIH T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) Fellow,
GEM Fellow B.S., Columbia University djanaw(at)udel(dot)edu |
Ciara Young
B.S., Worcester Polytechnic Institute
ciayoung(at)udel(dot)edu
ciayoung(at)udel(dot)edu
Master's Students and Undergraduates
Anu Buddhikot
B.S. Chemical Engineering
2026 |
Defne Elbeyli
(Co-advised by Prof. Victoria Muir)
B.S. Chemical Engineering 2026 |
Jacob Escobar(Co-advised by Prof. Kelvin Lee)
B.S. Chemical Engineering 2029 |
William HerronB.S. Chemical Engineering
2027 |
Jae-June Jang
B.S. Chemical Engineering
2027 |
Braden RogersB.S., Chemical Engineering
2027 |
Ryan Stewart
B.S., Chemical Engineering
2028
2028
Trainee Alumni
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Kunjapur Lab Alumni:
Name - Years in Lab - Status in Lab (UG = Undergrad | G = Grad | T = Technician | P = Post-Doc) → Next Institution/Entity Roman Dickey - 2021-2025 - G → Shelby Anderson - 2021-2025 - G → Amanda Forti - 2021-2025 - G → Madan Gopal - 2021-2025 - G → Northwestern (Post-Doc) Austin Desmarais - 2023-2025 - G → Open to work Abigail Spangler - 2023-2025 - UG → U. Michigan (Ph.D.) Vishal Somasundaram - 2023-2025 - UG → U. Illinois (Ph.D.) Niteesha Adapala - 2024-2025 - G → Open to work Sabyasachi Sen - 2019-2025 - G → Integral Molecular Michaela Jones - 2019-2024 - G → MIT (Post-Doc) ChemE Rising Star Neil Butler - 2019-2024 - G → Nitro Biosciences (Co-Founder) Priyanka Nain - 2022-2024 - P → Corteva Agriscience Amanda Rosier - 2022-2024 - P → Corteva Agriscience Nastassja Corrado - 2023-2024 - UG → U. Wisconsin (Ph.D.) Miyu Mudalamane - 2021-2024 - UG → MIT (Ph.D.) Goldwater Scholar & NSF Fellow Josh Bryan - 2023-2024 - UG → U. Delaware 4+1 (M.S.) Alexander Tiso - 2023-2024 - UG → U. Delaware 4+1 (M.S.) Ishika Govil - 2020-2023 - UG → MIT (Ph.D.) Goldwater Scholar & NSF Fellow Morgan Sulzbach - 2019-2023 - G → Proskauer Sean Wirt - 2019-2022 - UG → MIT (Ph.D.) NSF Fellow Shalom Fadullon - 2021 - UG → Northeastern (Ph.D.) NSF Fellow Khai Khee Kho - 2020-2022 - UG → Minnesota (Ph.D.) [declined] Soumili Chattopadhyay - 2020-2021 - G → VaxCyte Nathan Edwards - 2020 - UG → U. Delaware 4+1 (M.S.) Vicky Lin - 2019 - UG → Johnson Matthey Natalie Fuhr - 2019 - UG → ExxonMobil Ryan Buchser - 2019-2021 - UG → UT-Austin (Ph.D.) Before Delaware: Emily Niu - 2018 - UG @ MIT → Bain & Company Aditya Jog - 2018 - UG @ MIT → U. Michigan Medical School Lucas Brown - 2018 - T @ Harvard → Rice University Karen Noguera - 2017-2018 - T @ Harvard → U. Indiana - Bloomington Peter Smith - 2017-2018 - G @ Harvard Devon Stork - 2016-2018 - G @ Harvard → Tenza Bio Jason Hyun - 2014-2015 - UG @ MIT → Manus Biosciences Asmawaw Wassie - 2013 - UG @ MIT → MIT Biological Engineering PhD Nikita Khlystov - 2012-2014 - UG @ MIT → Stanford Chemical Engineering PhD Spencer Wenck - 2012-2013 - UG @ MIT → Boston Consulting Group Bernardo Cervantes - 2012 - UG @ Berkeley → MIT Microbiology PhD |
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Snapshots of the Team
2025
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2024
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2023
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2022
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2021
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2020
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2019
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