Team – Laboratory for Synthetic Immunity

Meet Our Team

We are a research group with diverse scientific expertise that thrives on teamwork and collaboration. We share a common approach to innovation, bringing together creativity, scientific rigor, and grit to solve problems that have not been solved before.

Principal Investigator

Gabe A. Kwong

Director, Laboratory for Synthetic Immunity
Postdoctoral Fellowship, MIT
Ph.D. Bioengineering, Caltech
B.S. Bioengineering, UC Berkeley

Short Bio

Dr. Kwong is the Robert A. Milton Endowed Chair and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory School of Medicine. He earned his B.S. from UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. from Caltech both in Bioengineering. Dr. Kwong joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2014 after completing postdoctoral studies at MIT.

Dr. Kwong’s research program is centered at the interface of synthetic immunity and medicine. His groundbreaking accomplishments in advancing biosensors and cell therapies to address frontier challenges in biomedicine, particularly within oncology, have resulted in first-in-class biotechnologies, the founding of multiple start-up companies, and widespread recognition.

Among his distinctions, Dr. Kwong is a recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator and Pioneer Awards, and currently leads the $49.5 million Cancer and Organ Degradome Atlas (CODA) project, a multi-institutional research enterprise supported by ARPA-H to revolutionize multi-cancer early detection. Dr. Kwong co-founded 2 biotechnology companies and holds 40 issued or pending patents.
Awards
Outstanding Achievement in Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, College of Engineering Faculty Award, 2025

Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2024

Petit Institute Entrepreneurship Award, 2022

NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, 2022

Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellow, 2021

Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Fellow, 2021

Isabella & Jerome Karle Symposium Lecture, University of Michigan, 2020

Donald S. Coffey Lecture, Society for Basic Urologic Research (SBUR), 2020

Sigma Xi Best Faculty Paper Award, 2020

TEDMED Hive Innovator, 2020

Georgia Tech CTL/British Petroleum Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, 2018

National Academy of Engineering, US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium Alumnus, 2017

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, 2016

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, 2013

Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award, 2011

Nanotechnology in Biomedicine Keystone Symposium Scholar Award, 2007

Charles Lee Powell Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 2003

Highest Honors, UC Berkeley College of Engineering, 2002

Golden Key National Honor Society, 2002

Phi Beta Kappa, 2002

Guidant Corporation Undergraduate Research Fellowship, 2001

General Motors Scholarship, 1998–2002
Contact Info

Operations

Evan Goldberg

Program Manager, Project CODA (ARPA-H)
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, UCLA
M.S. Biomedical Engineering, UCLA
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, UT Austin
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, UT Austin

Dr. Evan Goldberg is the Program Manager for the ARPA-H CODA project. Prior to taking on this role, Dr. Goldberg held several positions at the Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI) / T3 Labs managing hundreds of preclinical research projects for medical device, pharmaceutical and therapeutics companies of varying complexity ranging from model development and initial prototype testing to GLP safety and efficacy studies in many therapeutic areas. He has previously led the program leadership team and business development for preclinical testing at T3 Labs. He maintains his appointment with GCMI as the academic liaison working with faculty and students to help commercialize their early-stage technology through GCMI’s product development team. Prior to joining GCMI, he served as a Research Engineer at the UCLA Center for Cerebral Palsy, where he managed a clinical laboratory serving patients with musculoskeletal disorders.

Lina Mancipe Castro

Program Manager
Ph.D. Bioengineering, Georgia Tech
B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Univ. Andes

Lina Mancipe completed her doctorate at Georgia Tech where she studied tissue-binding microgels as an intra-articular drug delivery system for osteoarthritis treatment. Then, she expanded this technology for the intra-articular delivery of stem cells at the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact at the University of Oregon under the supervision of Dr. Robert Guldberg. Later, Lina joined Mimedx Group Inc. as a Research Scientist, where she supported the Biologics License Application (BLA) for an arthritis therapeutic by studying the product’s pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Currently, Lina serves as a Research Scientist for the CODA project at the Laboratory for Synthetic Immunity.

Anirudh Sivakumar

Program Manager
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech & Emory University
B.S. Chemical Engineering, UT Austin
B.S. Math, UT Austin

Anirudh grew up in Dallas and earned B.S. degrees in ChemE and Math from UT Austin before joining LSI to pursue a PhD in BME from Georgia Tech and Emory. His thesis focused on developing new classes of synthetic biomarkers that implement Boolean logic to unlock higher specificity for cancer diagnostics. After doctoral studies, Anirudh has continued working with LSI as a Research Scientist to lead bioanalytical pipelines and product development strategy for project CODA. He fosters cats and loves trying new food in his free time.

Research Scientists and Postdoctoral Fellows

Hathaichanok "Noina" Phuengkham

Research Scientist
Ph.D. Nano Engineering, SKKU
M.E. Biomedical Engineering, Mahidol Univ.
B.E. Biomedical Engineering, Mahidol Univ.

Noina was born in Thailand where she graduated from Mahidol University with B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in BME. Afterward, Noina received the H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s scholarship to continue her Ph.D. studies at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in South Korea with Prof. Yong Taik Lim. During her Ph.D., Noina developed biomaterial platforms to modulate the tumor microenvironment to improve response rates to cancer immunotherapy. At LSI, Noina is developing technologies to improve clinical problems in cancer therapy. She spends her free time cooking Thai food, swimming, and shopping.

Ali Zamat

Research Scientist
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech & Emory University
M.S. Bioengineering, UCSD
B.S. Bioengineering: Biotechnology, UCSD

Ali was raised in San Diego before moving to São Paulo, Brazil, for three years. He attended UCSD for his B.S. and M.S. in Bioengineering. He earned his Ph.D. at LSI through the Joint GT and Emory University’s Biomedical Engineering program, where he developed for tumor-localized control of CAR T cell therapies. Ali loves to travel, eat, and play pick-up sports in his free time.

Ying “Olina” Chen

Postdoctoral Researcher
Ph.D. Analytical Chemistry, Fudan Univ.
M.S. Analytical Chemistry, SCUT
B.S. Pharmaceutical Engineering, SCUT

Olina grew up in Tianjin, China, and graduated from South China University of Technology with B.S. and M.S. degree. She earned her Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry at Fudan University, where she focused on developing near-infrared luminescent materials for in vivo disease detection. Olina joined the LSI in 2024 to develop activatable sensors for early cancer detection. Olina enjoys working out and she loves swimming, hiking, and playing table tennis.

Kefan Song

Postdoctoral Researcher
Ph.D. Bioengineering, Univ. of Washington
B.S. Bioengineering, Rice Univ.

Kefan grew up in Beijing and graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in bioengineering from Rice University, where she worked with Dr. Junghae Suh on constructing caspase-activatable adeno-associated virus vectors. She earned her Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of Washington, advised by Dr. Suzie Pun, where she developed dendritic-cell targeted, polymer-based platforms for cancer immunotherapy. Kefan enjoys playing the guitar, playing board games and spending time with her dog, Mochi.

Chulyong Kim

Postdoctoral Researcher
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech
B.S./M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech

Chulyong is from Seoul, South Korea, and earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, where he also completed the B.S./M.S. program. He was first introduced to medical ultrasound as an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Levent Degertekin’s lab. For his doctoral thesis, he worked under the mentorship of Dr. Costas Arvanitis to develop ultrasound-mediated strategies for cancer therapy and diagnosis. His research focused on using focused ultrasound to control thermal-responsive CAR T cells and to improve drug delivery from thermosensitive nanoparticles in brain tumors. His work has been recognized with the Andrew J. Lockhart Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. Chulyong joined the lab to explore synthetic biology and is now focused on developing novel bioengineering technologies to combine with ultrasound for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing guitar and watching movies.

Anisha Datta

Postdoctoral Researcher
Ph.D. Biological Engineering, MIT
B.S. Biomedical Engineering, UT Austin
adatta43@gatech.edu

Anisha was born and raised in Texas, and she graduated with her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. in Biological Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was advised by Dr. Doug Lauffenburger. In her doctoral thesis work, she developed human in vitro model systems and utilized computational modeling to study the effects of Axl inhibition on cell-cell communication between tumor cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Outside of lab, Anisha enjoys spending time with friends and family, reading, and building Legos.

Graduate Students

Aaron Silva Trenkle

B.S.E. Biomedical Engineering, Univ. of Iowa
NSF Graduate Fellow | GT President’s Fellow | GT CTEng Trainee | Emory Laney Graduate Fellow

Aaron was born in Monterrey, Mexico, before moving to Iowa at the age of 8. He graduated from UIowa with highest distinction with a B.S.E. in BME and minor in German. At UIowa, Aaron worked in Dr. Fatima Toor’s lab on optimizing nanowire arrayed silicon biosensors, which won the COE’s Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award. Then, as an NAE Grand Challenges Scholar, he investigated how copper oxide toxicity is affected by serum and plasmid DNA in Dr. Aliasger Salem’s lab. Additionally, he performed research for two summers in Germany through the DAAD RISE program at IMTEK and CHyN. Now, he is improving the manufacturing process of CAR T cells. Aaron enjoys to travel, play sports (especially basketball and soccer), and watch F1.

Zizhen "Jane" Zha

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, WashU St. Louis

Jane grew up in Shanghai, China, and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in BME and minor in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis. As an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Lori Setton’s lab, she worked on tissue clearing for optical imaging and quantification of cellular changes post-trauma, for which she was awarded the BioSURF fellowship. Beyond this project, she went on to study changes in the temporal behavior and dorsal root ganglia after mild sciatic nerve injury in mice. She received the Outstanding Junior Award and the Outstanding Senior Award. Now, she is joining LSI to study T cell engineering for cancer therapy. Jane loves to explore new food and places, play badminton, play board games, and watch TV shows.

Hee Jun "Eric" Lee

B.A. Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley
B.A. Public Health, UC Berkeley
NSF Graduate Fellow

Eric was born in Seoul, South Korea, before immigrating to the United States at the age of 9. He graduated with high honors from the University of California, Berkeley with dual concentrations in Immunology and Infectious Diseases. Eric spent the last four years at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center where he led various preclinical stage projects on ways to improve CAR T cell therapy and its related technologies against solid tumor diseases, which led to multiple patents and ultimately resulted in the initiation of a phase 1 clinical trial for targeting ovarian cancer (NCT05225363). At LSI, Eric is excited about exploring synthetic biology toolkits to develop novel technologies in the field of immunoengineering. In his free time, Eric likes to hang out with friends and family or relax at home after workouts.

Jamison "Jamey" Siebart

B.S. Bioengineering: Nano & Molec. Engineering,
University of Washington
NSF Graduate Fellow

Jamison grew up in Uniontown, PA, and graduated cum laude from the University of Washington with departmental honors in Bioengineering: Nano and Molecular Engineering. As a Levinson Emerging Scholar and Mary Gates Research Scholar, Jamison worked in Dr. Andre Berndt’s lab to develop a new high-throughput pipeline that can generate and screen thousands of optogenetic biosensors in parallel. He utilized this pipeline to develop new classes of biosensors to monitor opioid binding in neural networks. Jamison joined LSI to develop new immunotherapies that are effective and widely accessible. Outside of the lab, you can find Jamison hiking Appalachia, finding new breweries, and dancing at concerts.

Chloé Thiveaud

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech
GT President’s Fellow | GT CTeng Trainee

Chloé grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in BME. As an undergraduate at Georgia Tech, Chloé worked in Dr. Gabe Kwong’s lab on using synthetic antigens to improve the efficacy of CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors. Additionally, she developed synthetic filtration membranes for industrial bioreactors at Entegris Inc. Chloé returned to LSI to pursue her PhD and continue to focus on engineering T cells for cancer immunotherapies. Chloé loves to play tennis, cook, watch sports and spend time with friends and family.

Ching Shen "Sean" Chan

M.S. Chemical & Biomolec. Engr., Johns Hopkins
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Univ. of Michigan

Sean was born in Malaysia before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his undergraduate degree. He graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Sean spent the last three years in startup environment around the Boston region. He worked in Rubius Therapeutics where he was exploring non-viral transfection methods for erythroid cells. Most recently, he led process development effort of lipid nanoparticles to support several pre-clinical projects in Moderna. At LSI, Sean is excited to bridge drug delivery with immunology to develop robust immunotherapy platforms. Outside of the lab, Sean likes to explore different restaurants, cook, and play video games.

Riya Sen

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Boston University
NSF Graduate Fellow | Women in Natural Sciences Fellow (Emory LGS)

Riya grew up in Rhode Island and graduated cum laude from Boston University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering along with the Adam M. Miller and Student Advisor Awards. As an undergraduate Distinguished Lutchen Fellow and UROP Awardee, she developed biomaterial-based drug delivery methods for stroke and spinal cord injury repair and polymer-derived coatings for neural implant devices at Dr. Timothy O’Shea’s Glia Engineering Lab. Also, as an NSF Cell Manufacturing Technology REU trainee, she computationally optimized iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation with Dr. Melissa Kemp at Georgia Tech. Riya joined LSI for her PhD to explore immunoengineering and delivery for cancer therapies. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, drawing, and spending time with friends.

Matthew Wang

B.S.E. Biomedical Engineering, Duke University
B.A. Chemistry, Duke University
NSF Graduate Fellow

Matthew grew up in Sharon, MA, and graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a B.S.E. in BME and B.A. in Chemistry. While at Duke, Matthew worked under Professor Sharyn Endow studying kinesin motor proteins and under Professor Ashutosh Chilkoti engineering intrinsically disordered proteins for controlled drug delivery systems. Matthew also spent a summer at BMS working on their commercially available CAR T cell therapies. At LSI, Matthew hopes to push the boundaries of cell therapies and immunotherapies. In his free time, Matthew enjoys cooking, playing board games, playing/watching sports, and listening to country music.

Jicheng "Carl" You

M.S. Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University
B.S. Cell and Molecular Biology, Duke Kunshan & Duke University
jyou75@gatech.edu

Jicheng was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. He graduated from Duke Kunshan University with a dual B.S. degree from Duke University in Cell and Molecular Biology with the honor of magna cum laude. With the SELF fellowship, he analyzed the biochemical function of a domain from plant polymerases IV. Jicheng then travelled to Columbia University in the city of New York, where he spent 1.5 years at Dr. Tal Danino’s lab exploring bacterial therapy against cancer. He studied chemical coatings for elongating bacteria circulation, built in vitro models for co-culturing bacteria in Glioblastoma spheroids, and engineered bacterial sensors for cancer diagnosis. At LSI, he wants to further explore improved cancer diagnosis strategies. Jicheng loves to watch animations, read novels, workout, and play the violin.

Claire Su

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
NSF Graduate Fellow

Claire grew up in Taichung, Taiwan, before moving to the United States to pursue her undergraduate degree. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. While at CMU, she worked in Dr. Siyang Zheng’s lab to investigate early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer utilizing extracellular vesicles from blood samples. She also worked with Dr. Daphne Chan to analyze the how the secondary structure of protein copolymers affects their mechanical properties, where she received the Geoffrey D. Parfitt Award for excellence in Chemical Engineering research. Claire is excited to join LSI to delve into using immunoengineering for cancer diagnosis. Claire likes to play sports, work out, and spend time with family and friends.

Emma Pastor Goodingham

B.S.E. Biomedical Engineering, Duke University

Emma grew up in Barcelona, Spain, and graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering and an Innovation and Entrepreneurship certificate. While at Duke, she worked under Professor Ashutosh Chilkoti developing next-generation PEG-like lipid nanoparticles to reduce immunogenicity. She synthesized distinct formulations of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA LNPs and evaluated their uptake and toxicity in mammalian cells with the goal of advancing safer drug delivery technologies. Emma also gained research experience at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia, where she worked with Professor Samuel Sánchez on engineering urease-powered nanomotors for bladder cancer treatment. She also interned at Grifols, optimizing protein purification methods for plasma-derived medicines. Emma joined LSI to pursue her Ph.D. with the goal of leveraging immunotherapies to address cancer and autoimmune disorders. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing soccer, scuba diving, running, and spending time with family and friends.

Hsuan-Yi "Terry" Chen

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Boston University

Terry grew up in Albany, NY and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering along with the Harold C. Case Scholarship. As an undergraduate researcher interested in the intersection of oncology and chemical biology, he worked in Dr. Erica Pratt’s lab to develop cell-deliverable activity-based probes profiling cancer-specific kinase activity as a diagnostic tool for tumor biopsies. Motivated to gain experience in programming synthetic biological systems, he also worked in Dr. Miguel Jimenez’s lab to develop whole-cell biosensors profiling bacterial metabolic biomarkers as a point-of-care diagnostic tool for bacterial infections. His undergraduate research was awarded funding through the Distinguished Summer Research Fellowship, UROP Student Research Award, Summer Term Alumni Research Scholars Program, and STEM Pathways Research Program. Terry joined LSI as a PhD student to explore his interest in developing cell-based therapeutics for cancer using immunoengineering and synthetic biology. In his free time, he enjoys gaming, cooking, and listening to electronic music.

Thomas Neuman

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech

Tommy grew up in Kingwood, Texas, and graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. As an undergraduate, he worked under Drs. Ahmet Coskun and Levi Wood to investigate the role of astrocytes in driving Alzheimer’s disease pathology. He later joined LSI as an undergraduate researcher, where he worked to improve CAR T cell therapies for solid tumors. Tommy returned to LSI to pursue his Ph.D., with a focus on developing novel immunotherapies for cancer. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking, cooking, and playing guitar.

Visiting Students

Jinhee Mun

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, UNIST
jmun40@gatech.edu

Jinhee grew up in Jeollabuk-do, South Korea and graduated cum laude from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) with departmental honors in Biomedical Engineering and a minor Entrepreneurship. Jinhee spent the first two years of her PhD studying early cancer screening markers with 17 different cancer types and gathered more than 1500 patients’ blood for metabolites analysis in Dr. Jinmyoung Joo’s lab. More recently, she developed cell membranes coated nanoparticles to prevent metastasis. As a visiting student at LSI, she is developing new immunotherapies for cancer specific delivery. Outside of the lab, Jinhee likes to dance, cook food, and play board games.

Research Technicians

Michael Cawthon

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech
mcawthon3@gatech.edu

Michael grew up in Roswell, Georgia, and graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in chemistry. He is currently pursuing a M.S. in biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech where his main interests are in immunoengineering and cancer technologies. He plans to go into the biopharma industry aimed at working in the development of immunotherapies or cell culture. At LSI, Michael works as a research technician/assistant in the ARPA-H CODA project. In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games, spending time with friends, chess, and fishing.

Sydney Fábrega

B.S. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech
sfabrega3@gatech.edu

Sydney grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and Massachusetts, and graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She has been a member of LSI for nearly four years, joining in January 2023 as an undergraduate researcher and transitioning to a full-time research technician in June 2026. During her undergraduate studies, she interned at Regeneron, where she worked on scaling up adeno-associated virus production for gene therapies targeting congenital deafness and blindness. At LSI, Sydney is a research technician on the ARPA-H CODA project. In her free time, she enjoys running, going on long walks, painting, and spending time with her cat, Kitty.

Grace Wilson

B.S. Biology, Caltech
gwilson68@gatech.edu

Grace grew up in Alpharetta, Georgia, and graduated from Caltech with a B.S. in Biology. As an undergraduate, she was a member of the Caltech women’s tennis team and conducted research in the Hay Lab, where she contributed to a project focused on developing a gene therapy contraceptive for invasive mammalian species. Grace is interested in research that explores the mechanisms driving cancer development and aims to contribute to advancements in cancer treatment. Outside the lab, she enjoys playing tennis, crocheting, and baking.

Ji Yoon Jung

B.S. Bioengineering, Cell Biology and Molecular Biochemistry Minor, Rice University
jjung380@gatech.edu

Ji Yoon was born in Seoul, South Korea, before moving to Shanghai, China at the age of 12. She graduated with a B.S in Bioengineering with a minor in Cell Biology and Molecular Biochemistry from Rice University. At Rice, she studied signaling dynamics of early human development through visualization of morphogens in human gastruloid models under Dr. Aryeh Warmflash. After graduation, she completed her M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, where she designed de novo protein antagonists against bacterial secretion systems under Dr. Andrew McShan. At LSI, Ji Yoon is a research engineer in the ARPA-H CODA project. In her spare time, she enjoys doing arts and crafts, rock climbing, and traveling.

Julie Tobin

M.S./B.S. Immunology, Microbiology, and Virology, Univ. of Rochester
jtobin9@gatech.edu

Julie grew up in Newtown, Connecticut and graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.S. and M.S. in Immunology, Microbiology, and Virology. During her undergraduate studies, she characterized cytokine profiles and gene expression in systemic sclerosis/rheumatoid arthritis murine models and clinical patients under Dr. Benjamin Korman. As a Master’s student, she worked under Dr. Brian Ward to determine the mutation rate of vaccinia virus with a cell-based fluorescent assay. After graduation, she worked as a lab technician at ADM where she evaluated the viability and functionality of probiotic spore-forming bacteria. At LSI, Julie is a research technician working on the ARPA-H POSEIDON and CODA projects. In her free time, Julie enjoys trying new restaurants, playing video games, and playing with her two cats, Everything Bagel and Bartholomu.