Principal investigator

Professor A. James Link

ajlink@princeton.edu

207 Hoyt Laboratory
609.258.7191

Jamie Professor Link grew up in Newburyport, MA and obtained his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 2000. Following undergraduate studies, he moved to southern California to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Caltech under the direction of David Tirrell. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2005, Prof. Link was an NIH Kirschstein Fellow at the University of Texas, Austin, in the lab of George Georgiou. He began his appointment as assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton in July 2007 and was promoted to associate professor in 2013 and professor in 2018.





Current postdocs

Toby Johnson

tj3116@princeton.edu

Toby Toby is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Link group, working to develop stimuli-responsive supramolecular systems from interlocked lasso peptides. He recently completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Oxford, working with Prof. Matthew Langton on molecular machines for the control of transmembrane transport. Toby recently moved to the US with his wife, supported by a Lindemann Trust Fellowship, and is excited to let as many people know that he was born in the original Jersey (a small island nestled between England and France) and the state's namesake.











Current graduate students

Drew Carson

dvcarson@princeton.edu

Drew Drew is a fifth-year graduate student in the CBE department from Lititz, Pennsylvania, a small town outside of Lancaster, PA. He graduated from Penn State University and its Schreyer Honors College with a major in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. At Penn State, he worked with Dr. Manish Kumar to develop novel biomimetic membranes using amphiphilic block copolymers and the protein, Outer Membrane Protein F (OmpF). He is excited to join the Link lab and hopes to expand what is known about lasso peptides as well as discover new and exciting enzymology. In his free time, Drew enjoys traveling and experiencing different cultures, spending time with friends, and playing with his dog, a miniature poodle named Tia.











Angela Zhu

az1864@princeton.edu

Angela Angela is a third-year graduate student in the CBE department. She grew up in Maryland and graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her undergraduate research with Dr. Jamie Spangler involved developing novel protein therapeutics through directed evolution. Outside of lab, Angela likes reading and swimming.











Current undergraduate students

Dawood Virk '25

dvirk@Princeton.EDU

Dawood Dawood is a rising senior in the CBE department from Riverview, Michigan. He joined the lab in the summer of 2023 and is investigating thermally-resistant PETases. Outside of the lab, he enjoys traveling, gardening, and anything involving espresso.







Jessica Wang '27

jw3356@princeton.edu

Jessica Jessica is a rising sophomore in the CBE department from Montréal, Canada. She joined the lab during the summer of 2024 to study the development of thermostable PETases. Beyond working in the lab, she enjoys painting, crocheting, playing video games, and swimming.











Alumni

Visitors

  • Prof. Danielle Guarracino, 2021-2022, TCNJ
  • Prof. Jin Montclare, 2015-2016, NYU

Postdocs

  • affiliation after Princeton/current affiliation
    • Truc Do, PhD 2020-2023, Merck
    • Hader Elashal, PhD 2018-2022, NJ Bio/Pfizer
    • Hendrik Schröder, PhD 2019-2021, Universität Ulm/Robert Bosch
    • Yi Zhang, PhD 2019-2020, AbSci

    Graduate Students

  • affiliation after Princeton/current affiliation
    • Brian Choi, PhD *24, Genentech
    • Alina Thokkadam, PhD *24, Oddity Labs
    • Li Cao, PhD *23, Bain
    • Wai Ling Cheung-Lee, PhD *19, Merck
    • Joseph Koos, PhD *19, enEvolv/ArkeaBio
    • Frank Piscotta, PhD *18, Rockefeller University/Lieber Institute for Brain Development
    • Chuhan Zong, PhD *18, Merck/Qatar Investment Authority
    • Caitlin Allen, PhD *16, enEvolv/ArkeaBio
    • Alan Futran, PhD *16, BMS/Schrodinger
    • Mikhail Maksimov, PhD *15, Illumina/Mitra Chem
    • Diya Abdeljabbar, PhD *12, Merck
    • Siyan Zhang, PhD *12, Merck
    • Jessica Pan, PhD *12, postdoc at Sloan-Kettering/Merck
    • Moises Alejo Hernandez (2024), visiting student from UNAM
    • Larry So, MA *19
    • Jack Lu, MA *14, Johnson and Johnson
    • Jingjing Sun, MA *09

    Undergraduates

  • affiliation after Princeton/current affiliation
    • Eoin Gaffney '24
    • Aavi Gupta '24
    • Seyi Jung '24
    • Arthur Acuña '23, Aquinas Institute
    • Kelly Gallagher '23, research tech at Penn
    • Monica Patiño '22, Stemloop
    • Nathan Alam '21, SpaceX/Amazon
    • Jane Brown '21, Princeton M.Eng. program/Booz Allen Hamilton
    • Basira Daqiq '21 (Smith College exchange student, spring 2020)
    • Maggie Orlova '20, research tech at Harvard/Vanderbilt PhD program
    • Devorah Saffern '20, Marwood Group/Progyny
    • Megan Whitley '20, Anheuser-Busch/University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
    • Angelo Kayser-Browne '22 (summer research, summer 2019)
    • Moshe Beiser '19, MD program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/NYU Langone Health
    • Annie Wang '19, Research tech at Rutgers/MS program at Rutgers Med
    • Isabel Hsu '19, McKinsey
    • Heather White (Mississippi St, REU student, summer 2018), PhD program at Northwestern
    • Theo Yang (Caltech, SURF student, summer 2018)
    • Madison Parry '18, Merck/DPS Group Global
    • Michelle Richardson '18, MD program at Rochester/NYU Langone Health
    • Danielle Taylor '18, MS program, Duke/ZS Associates
    • Shubham Chatterjee '17, Boston Consulting Group/masters program at Penn
    • Aastha Chokshi '17, MD program, New Jersey Medical School, Newark/Resident, Brown University
    • Garrett Skrbich '17, Pfizer/Abbott
    • Aded Yako '17, DDS program, Columbia/Resident, OHSU School of Dentistry
    • Rebecca Philpott (REU student, summer 2016, Lyon College)
    • Kenneth Hubbell '16, MD program at Columbia/Resident, UCSF
    • Caroline Kim '16, USDA
    • Jason Qin '16, Kallyope/PhD program at Stanford
    • Chad Wangsanuwat '16, PhD program, UCSB/Moderna
    • Lawrence Yu '16, Beyond Meat/United Dwelling
    • Cat Nguyen '17 (summer research, summer 2015)
    • Steven Tsai '17 (independent work, spring 2015), MD Program at UPenn
    • Ariel Kunkel '15, Seilevel/dv01
    • Dan Thanh (Nini) Le '15, Medtronic/Pramand LLC
    • Caitlin Wood '15, PhD program, University of Delaware/Merck
    • Cathy Chen '14, MD program, University of Mississippi/Resident Physician, University of Mississippi Medical Center
    • Maria Chen '14, MD-PhD program, Baylor/resident at Mass General Hospital
    • Bozhena Lisko Murphy '14, Goldman Sachs
    • Allyse Terrell '14, Capital One/NuBank
    • Michelle Wu '14, PhD program, Stanford/Verily Life Sciences
    • Michael Foglio (REU student summer 2013, Richard Stockton College), Atlanticare
    • Yan Wu '14, PhD program, UCSD/Altos Labs
    • Edwin Jeng '13, PhD Program, Stanford/Abbvie
    • Hannah Kaplan '13, Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Duolingo
    • Santiago Martinez Legaspi '13, PhD program, Rice
    • Jen Siegel '13, Integra Life Sciences/Verily
    • Eugenia Zah '13, PhD Program, UCLA/Amgen
    • Norah Ashoura (REU student summer 2012, Florida Inst. of Tech.), PhD program, UT Austin/Elevate Bio
    • Angel Placeres Beltran (REU student summer 2012, University of Puerto Rico), PhD program CWRU
    • John Tian '12, Epic Systems Corporation/ECS
    • Mehek Punatar '12, Masters Program, Columbia University/Adobe
    • Michelle Luo Petkov '12, PhD Program, NC State/BMS
    • Moises Montalvo (REU student summer 2011, University of Puerto Rico), Merck/Michelin
    • Hank Song '11, Princeton in Latin America/Associacao Saude Crianca
    • Angel (Long) Hatef '11, MD Program, Duke University/Radiologist
    • KL Huang '11, Epic
    • Jakub Rajniak '11, PhD Program, Stanford University/Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford
    • Molly Herring '10, DO Program, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine/Internal Medicine Resident, Geisinger Medical Center
    • Jayne Choi '10, CNT Energy/Architecture Research Office
    • Wai Ling Cheung-Lee '10, Exelus/Merck
    • TJ Klein '09, MD-PhD Program, Wright State/Attending Physician Beaumont Health
    • Jay Kwak '09, MD Program, Yonsei University
    • Igor Dikiy '09, PhD Program, Weill Cornell Medical School/Regeneron
    • Nicole Clarke '09, PhD Program, Stanford University/BioNTech
    • Lucy (Xu) Chang '08, Nomura/Investment Officer, University of California
    • Dave Uppal '08, Chevron/Moveworks
    • Ishani Sud '08, Federal Government
    • Rochelle (Murray) Robertson '08, General Mills/Meta
    • Karen Aherne Hayes '08, University College Dublin/Medtronic

    High School Students

  • affiliation after Princeton/current affiliation
    • Melody Tang, Harvard-Westlake School, summer 2021 (virtual), now at U Chicago
    • Katherine Li, Garnet Valley HS, summer 2020 (virtual), now at MIT
    • Aneesh Karuppur, Pingry School, summer 2019, now at Penn
    • Caren Ju, Princeton HS, summer 2016, attended Princeton/BCG
    • Akhil Dondapati, West Windsor Plainsboro HS, summer 2014, attended NJIT and Rutgers Med
    • Karen Zhang, Lawrenceville School, summer 2014, attended Princeton/Meta
    • Angelo Villaneuva, Union City HS, summer 2013, attended Rutgers/Rahway Public Schools
    • Kimberly Perez, Union City HS, summer 2012, attended Princeton/HTNB
    • Christian Ugaz, Union City HS, summer 2011, attended St. Peter's College/ resident at Mt. Sinai
    • Shruti Patel, Union City HS, summer 2011, attended Rutgers/Johnson and Johnson
    • Paola Severino, Union City HS, summer 2010, attended Yale/L'Oreal
    • Emma Russo, Union City HS, summer 2010, attended Brown/The Groden Network
    • Yan Wu, Montgomery HS, summer 2009, attended Princeton/Altos Labs
    • Ana Kakkar, Lawrenceville School, summer 2008, attended Claremont McKenna College/Athelas