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:

Ceramics, woodworking, 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

Sarah Yde

Graduate student (CMB)

seyde@uchicago.edu

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

Effect of capping protein on network competition

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

Aidan McCambridge

Graduate student (CMB)

amccambr@uchicago.edu

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

Contribution of profilin to network competition in vitro

Hobbies:

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

Sarah Christensen

Graduate student (Biophysical Scienes)

sarahchristensen@uchicago.edu

BS – McGill University, Montreal

In-vitro characterization of TTH-1 (Co-advised by Allison Squires)

Hobbies:

Zoning out, ballet, flute, various stereotypical Canadian sports, maple leaves, sewing

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

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

Julia Mastracci

Undergraduate Researcher

jmastracci@uchicago.edu

B.A. – University of Chicago, expected 2026

Characterization of C. elegans ACT-2 in vitro

Hobbies:

Being an undergraduate

LAB ALUMNI

Former postdocs & graduate students

– Wen-Hung Chou
– Vil Zsolnay – Bain & Company Consulting
– Meghan O’Connell – Senior Scientific Writer, Shirly Ryan AbilityLab
– Caitlin Cash – Medical Writer, Clinical Thinking
– Maximax Weiss – Meat man, Memphis & Meats
– Alisha Morganthaler – Senior Scientist, 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
Rae Brown
Hannah Ye