Lab History

Alumni & Previous Members

55+Former Members
2012Lab Founded
15+Countries Represented
20+PhDs Mentored

Postdocs & Research Associates

9 members
Khurram Shahzad
2024 – 2025

Khurram Shahzad

UNL Postdoc

Ph.D., Northwest University, China (2019)

Zhisong Cui
2024 – 2025

Zhisong Cui

UNL Postdoc

Ph.D., Ocean University of China (2014)

Now: cGMP Lab Tech, UNL Biological Process Development Facility

Minal Khatri
1/2024 – 12/2024

Minal Khatri

UNL Postdoc

Ph.D., University of Nebraska Lincoln (2023)

Now: Postdoc, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Xuehuan Feng
2017 – 2024

Xuehuan Feng

UNL Postdoc

Ph.D., Northern Illinois University (2016)

Nousias Orestis
2021 – 2023

Nousias Orestis

UNL Postdoc

Ph.D., University of Crete, Greece (2021)

Now: Postdoc, Yale University

Jinfang Zheng
2019 – 2023

Jinfang Zheng

UNL Postdoc

Ph.D., Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2019)

Now: Principal Investigator, ZheJiang Lab, Hangzhou, China

Tang Li
2019 – 2022

Tang Li

UNL Research Associate

BS, UNL FDST (2019) · MS, UNL FDST (2021)

Now: Bioinformatician, BGI-Shenzhen

Elisabeth Fitzek
2014 – 2017

Elisabeth Fitzek

Part-time Postdoc

Ph.D., Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2012)

Now: Faculty, Bielefeld University

Huansheng Cao
2012 – 2014

Huansheng Cao

Postdoc

Ph.D., Fordham University (2012)

Now: Faculty, Duke-Kunshan University

Graduate Students

24 members
Yi Xing
2023 – 2025

Yi Xing

UNL FDST MS Student

BS, UNL FDST (2023)

Now: PhD student at OSU

Dulcie Archuleta
8/2024 – 12/2024

Dulcie Archuleta

UNL CBIO PhD Rotation

BS, Nebraska Wesleyan University (2023)

Vaishnavi Annabhemoju
1/2023 – 7/2024

Vaishnavi Annabhemoju

UNL CSE MS Student

BS, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (2019)

Houman Kosarirad
7/2023 – 8/2024

Houman Kosarirad

UNL CSE MS Student

BS, Azad University, Tehran, Iran (2016)

Nishanth Vangara
5/2023 – 5/2024

Nishanth Vangara

UNL CSE MS Student · MS 2024

BT, Vellore Institute of Technology, India (2016)

Now: Software Developer, Thomson Reuters

Ved Piyush
2021 – 2023

Ved Piyush

UNL Statistics PhD Student · PhD 2023

MS, University of Minnesota (2018)

Now: Senior Data Scientist, IBM

Qiwei Ge
2021 – 2023

Qiwei Ge

UNL CSE MS Student · MS 2023

BE, UNL CSE (2021)

Now: Software Engineer, HSBC Bank, Xi'an, China

Bowen Yang
2017 – 2023

Bowen Yang

UNL FDST PhD Student · PhD 2023

BS, Dalian University of Technology (2015) · MS, Rutgers University (2017)

Now: Bioinformatics Scientist, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Boyang Hu
5/2022 – 8/2022

Boyang Hu

UNL CSE PhD Student (Rotation)

MS, University of Maryland (2013)

Michael Israel
Summer 2021

Michael Israel

UNL CBIO PhD Rotation

MS, UIUC (2019)

Catherine Ausland
2017 – 2020

Catherine Ausland

NIU BIOS PhD Student · PhD 2020

BS, Elmhurst University (2014) · MS, Northern Illinois University (2016)

Now: Genomic Data Analyst, NIH Genomic Data Commons, U of Chicago

Daniel Paterson
2018 – 2020

Daniel Paterson

NIU Bioinfo MS Student · MS 2020

BS, Southern Illinois University (2015)

Fei Xing
Fall 2019

Fei Xing

UNL CBIO PhD Student

BS, Sichuan University, China (2016) · MS, Shandong University (2019)

Lauren Orton
2015 – 2020

Lauren Orton

NIU BIOS PhD Student · PhD in BIOS coadvised with Dr. Duvall

BS, Iowa State University (2009) · MS, Northern Illinois University (2015)

Now: Professor, Sauk Valley Community College

Sarah Entwistle
2017 – 2019

Sarah Entwistle

NIU Bioinfo MS Student · MS 2019

BS, Northern Illinois University (2017) · also Undergrad RA 2016–2017

Now: Bioinformatics Scientist, UNC Chapel Hill

Dikshyant Gautam
2018

Dikshyant Gautam

BIOS PhD Student

BS, Purbanchal University (2016)

Philippe Dovoedo
2018

Philippe Dovoedo

Statistics PhD Student Intern

MS, Heriot-Watt University, UK (2014)

Xueqiong Li
2015 – 2018

Xueqiong Li

Bioinfo MS Student · MS in Bioinfo

BS, Southeast University of China (2015)

Bandana Sharma Chapagain
2016 – 2018

Bandana Sharma Chapagain

Bioinfo MS Student

BS, Kathmandu University, Nepal (2014)

Now: PhD student, UT Arlington

Marcus Nguyen
2015 – 2017

Marcus Nguyen

CS Master Student

BS, Northern Illinois University (2014)

Now: Researcher, Argonne National Laboratory

Yasong Yang
Fall 2016

Yasong Yang

Statistics PhD Student (Volunteer)

Statistics MS, Northern Illinois University (2014)

Qasim Rajih
– Spring 2016

Qasim Rajih

MS Student · MS 2016

BS, Babylon University, Iraq (1995)

Rahil Taujale
– 2015

Rahil Taujale

MS Student · MS Received

BS, Kathmandu University (2012)

Now: PhD student, UGA Bioinformatics

Chenshuang Lu

Chenshuang Lu

Statistician Intern · Statistics MS

Now: PhD student, Kansas State University Statistics

Hao Shen

Statistician Intern · Statistics MS

Now: PhD student, NIU Statistics

Visiting Scholars

7 members
Liwei Hu
2024 – 2025

Liwei Hu

Visiting Scholar

PhD, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2007)

Associate Professor, Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute, China

Zhaolan Han
2023 – 2024

Zhaolan Han

Visiting PhD Student · Nanjing Agricultural University

BS, Guizhou University, China (2018)

Ria Feidaki
2/2021 – 8/2022

Ria Feidaki

Visiting PhD Student · University of the Aegean

Xiaoming Song
2019 – 2020

Xiaoming Song

Visiting Scholar · North China S&T University

Associate Professor

Xin Cheng
2019 – 2020

Xin Cheng

Visiting Scholar · JiangXi Agriculture University

Associate Professor

Bo Zheng
2019 – 2020

Bo Zheng

Visiting PhD Student · Beijing Institute of Technology

Now: Postdoc, Tsinghua University

Xueqiong Li visiting
2015

Xueqiong Li

Visiting Research Fellow

Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, China

Undergraduate Students

29 members
Qihua Chen
1/2024 – 3/2024

Qihua Chen

Undergrad RA · UNL FDST

Kevin Prososki
9/2022 – 5/2023

Kevin Prososki

Undergrad RA · UNL Biochem

Xiaoxiao Liu
8/2022 – 5/2023

Xiaoxiao Liu

Undergrad RA · UNL FDST

Now: Student, University of Copenhagen

Xinyuan Zhang
9/2022 – 12/2022

Xinyuan Zhang

Undergrad RA · UNL FDST

Yuxiao Lu
3/2022 – 6/2022

Yuxiao Lu

Undergrad RA · UNL FDST

Ran Ye
2/2022 – 3/2022

Ran Ye

Undergrad RA · UNL Math

Tram Nguyen
5/2021 – 8/2021

Tram Nguyen

Undergrad RA · UNL Math

Yiyi Cheng
2019 – 2020

Yiyi Cheng

Research Intern · UNL FDST

Now: PhD student, University of Glasgow

Yifan Wu
UNL FDST undergrad 2020 Spring

Yifan Wu

Research Intern

Liyuan Wu
Fall 2020

Liyuan Wu

FDST Research Assistant · UNL

Alisha Blake
Summer 2017 – 2018

Alisha Blake

BIOS RA · NSF Grant

Tanner Yohe
Summer 2017 – 2018

Tanner Yohe

CS Undergrad RA · BS in CS 2018

Now: Software Engineer, Publicis.Sapient

Javi Gomez
Spring 2018

Javi Gomez

CS Undergrad RA · NSF Grant

Now: Discover Bank

Mohamad Majd Raslan
Spring 2018

Mohamad Majd Raslan

CS Undergrad RA · NIH Grant

Samuel Ogunbode
Fall 2018

Samuel Ogunbode

BIOS RA · NSF Grant

Natalie Yass
Spring 2018

Natalie Yass

BIOS 370 Student

Harry Chieng
Spring 2018

Harry Chieng

BIOS 370 Student

Kyle Inthabandith
Summer 2017

Kyle Inthabandith

BIOS 370 Student

Jingwan Li
Fall 2016 – Spring 2017

Jingwan Li

CS Student Volunteer

Sydney Wieczorek
Spring 2016

Sydney Wieczorek

BIOS 370 Student

Slafa Aslam
Spring 2016

Slafa Aslam

BIOS 370 Student

Amol Shah
Spring–Fall 2015

Amol Shah

BIOS 370 Student · BS in BIOS, MS in CS 2018

Now: Abbott Laboratories

Jessica Morgan
Spring–Summer 2015

Jessica Morgan

BIOS 370 Student

Rhiannon Balazic
Spring 2015

Rhiannon Balazic

BIOS 499 Honors Student

Now: Kent State College of Podiatric Medicine

Ashley Purintun
Fall 2014 – Spring 2015

Ashley Purintun

BIOS 370 Student

Now: NIU Teacher Licensure Program

Summer 2014

Emrose Bachhal

BIOS 370 Student

Daniel Sorensen
Summer 2013 – Spring 2014

Daniel Sorensen

BIOS 370 / Undergrad RA Award

Summer 2014

Michael Lewis

BIOS 370 Student

Joel Dennison

Summer Intern · BIOS

Research Assistants

8 members
Yinchao He
5/2020 – 7/2021

Yinchao He

UNL CSE Research Assistant

Now: Grad student, UCSD

Pengxiang Zhang
5/2020 – 7/2021

Pengxiang Zhang

UNL CSE Research Assistant

Now: Grad student, Northwestern University

Alex Ekstrom
2013

Alex Ekstrom

CS RA · R&A Award 2013

Now: Software Engineer, Backstop Solutions, Chicago

Blake Fritz
2014

Blake Fritz

CS RA · R&A Award 2014

Tony Pergrossi
2013

Tony Pergrossi

CS RA · R&A Award 2013

Nathan McGinn
Fall 2012

Nathan McGinn

CS RA · Undergrad RA Award

Now: Software Developer, Graybar, St. Louis, MO

Manju Rupani

Manju Rupani

Data Analyst

Vamshi Polapally

CS Research Assistant