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

2024 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering | 2022 Petit Institute Entrepreneurship Award | 2022 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award | 2021 Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellow | 2021 Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Fellow | 2020 Isabella & Jerome Karle Symposium Lecture, U Michigan | 2020 Donald S. Coffey Lecture, SBUR | 2020 Sigma Xi Best Faculty Paper Award | 2020 TEDMED Hive Innovator | 2018 Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation Award | 2018 Georgia Tech CTL/British Petroleum Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award | 2017 National Academy of Engineering, US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium Invitee | 2016 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award | 2013 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface | 2012 Future Leader in Cancer Research and Translational Medicine, Selected by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from greater Boston area | 2011 Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award | 2007 Nanotechnology in Biomedicine Keystone Symposium Scholar Award | 2003 Charles Lee Powell Foundation Graduate Fellowship | 2002 Highest Honors, UC Berkeley College of Engineering | 2002 Golden Key National Honor Society | 2002 Phi Beta Kappa | 2001 Guidant Corporation Undergraduate Research Fellowship | 1998–2002 General Motors Scholarship
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.

Research Scientists and Postdoctoral Fellows

Fang-Yi "Ida" Su

Research Scientist
K99/R00 Fellow
Ph.D. Bioengineering, Univ. of Washington
M.S. Chemical Engineering, NTHU
B.S. Materials Science & Engineering, NTHU

Ida was born in Taiwan and graduated from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) with B.S. and M.S. degrees before completing her Ph.D. at University of Washington. Advised by Prof. Patrick Stayton, Ida developed polymeric antibiotic prodrugs for pulmonary bacterial infections, and was awarded the HHMI International Student Research Fellowship, the Taiwan MOE Technologies Incubation Scholarship, and the Taiwan Studying Abroad Scholarship. Currently, Ida is focused on T cell delivery for influenza and cancer. When she is not in lab or on her way to lab, Ida can be found training for her next half marathon race. She has completed 7 half-marathons in Taipei, Seattle, and San Francisco!

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.

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.

Lina Mancipe Castro

Research Scientist
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.

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.

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.

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
csu70@gatech.edu

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.

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

Tyler Hansen

M.S.E. Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Villanova University
thansen32@gatech.edu

Tyler grew up in Lyndhurst, New Jersey and graduated from Villanova University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, where he studied the improvement of CAR T manufacturing and processing through perfusion and selection under Dr. William Kelly. Following his graduation, he completed an M.S.E. degree in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked as a research specialist under Dr. Saar Gill focusing on a novel engineered cytokine to selectively stimulate CAR T cells in vivo. He is interested in research that improves the safety and efficacy of adoptive cell therapies through gene editing and combination therapies. Outside of the lab, he likes to cook, hike, and watch basketball or rugby with his friends.

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.

Sisasenkosi "Sisa" Mandi

B.S. Biology, Immunology Specialization, Brown University
smandi3@gatech.edu

Sisa grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and graduated from Brown University with a B.S. in Biology with an Immunology specialization. After graduation, she worked as a research technician under Dr. Adam Sperling at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she studied the mechanisms of resistance to immunomodulatory drugs for Multiple Myeloma. Sisa is interested in developing safe, efficacious cancer therapies and believes immunotherapies are key in this endeavor. At LSI, she is working on early cancer detection and better immunotherapies. Outside of the lab Sisa enjoys reading, trying new recipes and hiking.

Abigail Sim

B.S. Biology, Cellular and Molecular Bioscience Certification, Georgia Tech
asim3@gatech.edu

Abby grew up in Dunwoody, Georgia, and graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Biology and a certificate in Cellular and Molecular Biosciences. As an undergraduate, Abby worked in Dr. Shuichi Takayama’s lab to characterize the mechanical properties of breast epithelial mammary organoids and explore their influence on cancer invasion studies. After graduation, she worked as a research technician at RayBiotech where she optimized ELISA test kits and provided testing services to various universities and organizations. At LSI, Abby is excited to progress the development of immunotherapies and improve cancer diagnostics in the ARPA-H CODA project. In her free time, Abby enjoys arts & crafts, trying new restaurants, collecting trinkets, and spending time with friends and family.