Meet our lab members

David Kovar

Principal Investigator

BS – Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
PhD – Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (Go Boilers)
Postdoc – Yale University, New Haven, CT

Actin cytoskeleton self-organization

Hobbies:
Anything sports, especially coaching my kids, finding my inner fission yeast

Cristian Suarez

Staff Scientist

csuarez@uchicago.edu

PhD – Commissariat á l’énergie atomique (CEA), Grenoble, France

Exploring actin filament nucleation in fission yeast

Hobbies:

Boiling eggs, pairing peanuts & cheese, working out, squash, tv series, reading, getting decorative hair designs

Rachel Kadzik

Staff Scientist

rkadzik@gmail.com

PhD – University of Pennsylvania

Actin network assembly and disassembly in C. elegans

Hobbies:

Woodworking, baking, painting/drawing and other arty activities, gardening, slingshot aficionado

Katie Homa

Postdoctoral Researcher

homak@uchicago.edu

PhD – University of Chicago

Self-organization of the actin cytoskeleton

Hobbies:

Sports, music, eating candy, obsessively tracking the PGA Tour, walking my dog

Vilmos Zsolnay

Graduate student (Biophysical Scienes)

vzsolnay@uchicago.edu

BA – Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Material properties of the actin cytoskeleton (Co-advised by Gregory Voth)

Hobbies:

Swimming in the lake, chess, learning something new, wearing hats

Sarah Yde

Graduate student (CMB)

seyde@uchicago.edu

B.S. and B.A. – Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Actin organization

Hobbies:

Running, hiking, traveling, cooking, petting dogs

Kash Baboolall

Graduate student (Biophysical Sciences)

kdbaboolall@uchicago.edu

BA – Amherst College, Amherst, MA

LIM mechanotransduction (Co-advised by Margaret Gardel)

Hobbies:

Kickboxing, Cooking, Meeting new cats, writing, reading

Wen-Hung Chou

Graduate Student (Biophysical Sciences)

whchou@uchicago.edu

BS – National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Regulation of non-muscle myosin assembly by F-actin (Co-advised by Margaret Gardel)

Hobbies:

Baseball/softball, reading, watching YouTube videos, winning lab game night

Aidan McCambridge

Graduate student (CMB)

amccambr@uchicago.edu

B.S. – Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana

Actin sorting in C. elegans

Hobbies:

Going on road trips, chasing cats, doing automotive and home remodeling work, hiking

Ali Erani

Research Technician

aerani@uchicago.edu

B.S. – University of Chicago

Alignment of filaments in the cytokinetic ring

Hobbies:

Crocheting, reading (especially philosophy), Dungeons & Dragons, crossword puzzles

Hannah Ye

Undergraduate researcher

hannahye@uchicago.edu

BA – University of Chicago, expected 2023

Biological characterization of actin-binding proteins in C. elegans

Hobbies:

Reading (if it’s not for school!), swimming, playing the piano, painting, cooking

Liam Leeming

Undergraduate researcher

lleeming@uchicago.edu

BA – University of Chicago, expected 2025

In vitro characterization of nucleation promoting factors

Hobbies: IM sports, lifting weights, bagpiping, reading

LAB ALUMNI

Former postdocs & graduate students
– Meghan O’Connell – Senior Scientific Writer, Shirly Ryan AbilityLab
– Caitlin Anderson
– Maximax Weiss – Meat man, Memphis & Meats
– Alisha Morganthaler – Scientist II, CSL Behring
– Alyssa Harker – Data Scientist, The J.M. Smucker Company
– Thomas Burke – Postdoc, University of Wisconsin, WI
– Dennis Zimmermann – Senior scientist, NanoView Biosciences
– Jenna Christensen – Postdoc, UCSD School of Medicine, San Diego, CA
– Jonathan Winkelman – Postdoc, UChicago, Chicago, IL
– Yujie Li – Computer nerd, Computer & Stuff
– Jen Sees – Works at “Be the Match”
– Andrew Bestul – Postdoc, Stowers Institute, Kansas city, MO
– Bonnie Scott – No one knows
– Colleen Skau – No one knows
– Erin Neidt – Teacher in Chicago

Former undergraduates

Arnau Argemi
Adrianna Vera
Diane Alkatout
Namrata Garg
Alice Fok
Agnieszka Grzegorzewska
Agnieszka Pawlik
Bonnie Scott
Noah Younger
Wenjing Zong
Rachel Brown