Institute for Chemical Imaging of Living Systems

Ke Zhang combines polymer chemistry with nucleic acid chemistry to realize better, more potent DNA-based therapeutics that address unmet clinical needs. Students learn a variety of skills spanning synthesis, materials characterization, biological techniques, and advanced animal models.

The Lopez Research Group is highly collaborative and uses computational chemistry and machine learning techniques to study the mechanisms of sustainable sunlight-driven reactions. Steven Lopez hosts an annual research program for community college students. Dr. Lopez teaches Organic 1 and Physical Organic chemistry.

Leila Deravi’s group builds adaptive biomaterials inspired by systems in biology that are designed to interface with or enhance human performance. Dr. Deravi teaches General Chemistry and Cosmetic Chemistry and is passionate about diversifying science through local and national workshops.

Neel Joshi’s group genetically programs microbes to make materials for manufacturing, sensing, and biomedical applications. Dr. Joshi teaches Chemical Biology and Biopolymeric Materials. Dr. Joshi is part of the cross-departmental NU Synthetic Biology consortium.

Professor Venkatachalam’s group develops tools to measure and manipulate whole-brain activity in freely-behaving animals.

Professor Spring’s group bridges biophysics, biomedical optics and cancer biology to selectively target micrometastases left behind by standard therapies that limit our ability to cure many cancers. Optical spectroscopic imaging and photophysics are applied to visualize and mop up these residual tumors. The ultimate goal of the program is to reduce cancer recurrence and mortality…

We aim to understand the cellular and molecular basis of tissue regeneration by studying the highly-regenerative axolotl salamander.

In 2020, Erin Cram was appointed Associate Dean for Research. As a member of the College Senior Leadership team, Dr. Cram provides creative, goal-oriented leadership for funding research-based initiatives, including PhD training. She also provides strategic planning for grant proposals, identifies funding and award opportunities, communicates success stories, and promotes entrepreneurship. Dr. Cram earned her…

The Day Lab investigates the molecular role of G quadruplex DNA in genome stability and human disease. G quadruplexes are non-canonical DNA structures that form readily in repetitive, guanine-rich sequences. While they play an important role in normal cellular physiology, G quadruplexes also trigger genome instability and are associated with cancer. Our lab studies the…

Research in Dr. Shansky’s lab focuses on the neural connections between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the amygdala, and sex differences in how this circuit processes fear and responds to stress. The mPFC and amygdala are frequently reported to be sites of dysfunction in stress-related mental illnesses like Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Post-Traumatic…

Sijia Dong’s multidisciplinary research group develops and applies physics-based and data-driven computational methods on classical and quantum computers to understand and design chemistry in complex environment for sustainability and health applications. Dr. Dong teaches Computational Chemistry.

The Ondrechen Research Group develops methods for genomics, studies how enzymes work, and collaborates in drug discovery using computation. Mary Jo Ondrechen teaches Molecular Modeling, featuring active research in the classroom. Diversity is a passion of Dr. Ondrechen and is active in the Native American STEM community.