Lab alumni
Bioinformatics Scientist
Alexandria D'Souza was born and raised in California, where she did her undergraduate in Bioengineering and Bioinformatics at UC Santa Cruz. She worked in proteomics and drug discovery for 7 years at a non-profit Research for Aging organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2016, she began her Master's in Computer Science at the University of Chicago, focusing on Data Science, Algorithmic proficiency and Machine Learning. Alexandria started working in the Woo Lab September 2019, where she continues her Bioinformatic work of quantitative analysis and creating pipelines for the team to use!
Postdoctoral fellow
yuka_amako(@fas.harvard.edu)
Yuka did her undergraduate studies at Chiba University in Japan and obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the same university under the supervision of Prof. Atsushi Nishida, where she focused on organic chemistry. Her previous research experiences included development of new methodologies using nickel-catalyzed hydrocyanation of allenes. After her graduate studies, she was interested in chemical biology and joined the Woo lab to study the interaction of small molecule in proteome in April 2017.
Postdoctoral fellow
yunge(@g.harvard.edu)
Yun received her Ph.D. in Chemical biology at Peking University, China. She conducted research under supervision of Prof. Peng Chen, focusing on developing tools to manipulate protein activities and capture cell-cell interactions. Her projects included applying bioorthogonal cleavage reactions on unnatural amino acids and evolving better enzymes for protein labeling. After her graduation, she joined the Woo lab as a postdoctoral fellow to study and regulate glycosylation in October 2018.
Postdoctoral fellow
boyang(@g.harvard.edu)
Bo received his Ph.D. in bio-analytical chemistry at University of Missouri-Columbia. He conducted research under supervision of Prof. C. Michael Greenlief and Prof. Grace Y. Sun, focusing on the application of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and proteomics, especially in the areas of phytochemicals and their impact on oxidative/inflammatory responses in the mammalian systems. After his graduation, he joined the Woo lab as a postdoctoral fellow to study glycolproteomics in April 2019.
Postdoctoral fellow
saki_ichikawa(@fas.harvard.edu)
Saki is originally from Tokyo, Japan and obtained a BS in Chemistry from the University of Tokyo (2014), where she conducted undergraduate research in the laboratory of Professor Eiichi Nakamura. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT, under the guidance of Professor Stephen L. Buchwald. While at MIT, she focused on the development of copper-catalyzed carbon–heteroatom bond forming reactions. After graduation, she joined the Woo lab as a postdoctoral fellow to study small molecule–protein interactions. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking as well as eating, and listening to classical music and musical soundtracks. Her favorites are Beethoven Symphony 6 (a great healing effect!) and La La Land.
Postdoctoral fellow
dachengshen(@g.harvard.edu)
Dacheng was born and raised in Zhejiang, China. After he got his BS from University of Science and Technology of China in 2013, Dacheng joined Biao Yu's group in Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, where he first entered the field of sugar chemistry and in June of 2016, he got MSc in organic chemistry. After graduation, Dacheng joined the Seeberger group in Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and Free University Berlin, working on the development of chemical synthetic vaccines and obtained Dr. rer. nat. in March, 2020. In June of 2020, Dacheng joined Dr. Christina Woo's lab as a postdoc and he is now focusing on the study of O-GlcNAc related chemical biology.
BBS Graduate Student
danielramirez(@g.harvard.edu)
Daniel is a second-year PhD student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) program at Harvard. His previous research experience involved studying the role of SUMOylation on Influenza virus infection in the lab of Dr. Germán-Rosas Acosta at The University of Texas at El Paso. He also worked on the crystallization of nuclear pore associated proteins in the lab of Dr. Günter Blobel over the 2014 and 2015 summers at The Rockefeller University as part of the HHMI EXROP and Capstone programs. In 2016, Daniel joined the Woo lab to develop new tools to study glycosylation and probe their functions.
CCB Graduate Student (G6)
hflaxman(@g.harvard.edu)
Hope is a graduate student in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology PhD program. She received a BS from MIT with majors in Chemistry and Biology and minors in Economics and History. While at MIT, she studied the metal-binding and redox properties of the human immune protein S100A15 in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Nolan. She joined the Woo lab in 2016 to study small molecule-protein interactions.
MCO Graduate Student (G6)
pschwein(@g.harvard.edu)
Paul is a graduate student in the Molecules, Cells & Organisms PhD program. He received his BS from MIT in Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Music. While at MIT, he trained in the labs of Laurie Boyer, Jean-Francois Hamel, and Jing-Ke Weng working on various projects in molecular and cellular biology. Paul joins the Woo lab in 2017 to study the role of post-translational modifications in cellular function.
CCB Graduate Student (G6)
avwest(@g.harvard.edu)
Alex is an aspiring young graduate student in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology PhD Program. He received his BS in Chemistry from Indiana University, where he trained in the lab of Dr. Michael VanNieuwenhze synthesizing dynamic fluorescent probes. He joined the Woo lab in 2017 to conquer the mighty diazirine and improve the methods used to study small molecule-protein interactions.
Postdoctoral fellow
davidmiyamoto(@g.harvard.edu)
David received his BS from UC Berkeley in Chemistry while working in the lab of Dr. Daniel Nomura where he worked on covalent ligand discovery for new cancer targets. He joined the Woo lab in 2017 to study small molecule-protein interactions.
CCB Graduate Student (G5)
zhilin(@g.harvard.edu)
Lindsey grew up in Shanghai, China and obtained her BS from Peking University in 2017 where she conducted her undergraduate research with Prof. Peng Chen developing novel transition metal catalyst-mediated bioorthogonal cleavage reactions and multi-functional super-resolution imaging probes for CLEM (Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy). As a senior, she was co-advised by Prof. Yadong Li at Tsinghua University to develop a modified palladium nanocrystals for intracellular reactions. Outside Peking University, she studied the peptide substrate of a P. falciparum proteasome inhibitor in Prof. Matthew Bogyo’s lab at Stanford and also studied perlene dyes for organic field effect transistor (OFET) devices in Prof. Zhaohui Wang’s lab at Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS), China. Now, Lindsey is interested in studying the small molecule-protein interactome in the Woo lab. In her spare time, Lindsey likes to play piano, go to live concerts, and watch her favorite shows: Doctor Who, Orphan Black, and Game of Thrones.
Lab Technician
Nate is a recent graduate from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Biochemistry and Computer Science. He previously studied cytochrome c biogenesis as a model system for heme trafficking proteins in the Kranz lab and has collaborated with the Baker group (UW) to update the Rosetta modeling software and model membrane protein-ligand interactions. Currently, Nate is supporting projects which elucidate the protein targets and binding sites of specific small molecules. Outside of research, he enjoys staying active, cooking new recipes, and performing diabolo.
Konstantin is a visiting scholar from ETH Zurich. He was born and raised in Berlin, Germany and received his BS from ETH Zurich in chemistry (2018). He is currently pursuing a MS degree at the same university, where he worked in the labs of Professor Renato Zenobi, Professor Gunnar Jeschke, Dr. Alexander Leitner and Professor Ruedi Aebersold on projects in the areas of analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, and proteomics. He joined the Woo lab in 2020 to study small molecule-protein interactions.
Undergraduate student
zehanzhou(@college.harvard.edu)
Zehan Zhou grew up in Vancouver, Beautiful British Columbia, Canada, and he is currently pursuing a concentration in Chemical and Physical Biology, with a secondary in Government and a citation in French. His past research encompassed determining evolutionary differences between virulent and non-virulent strains of Proteus mirabilis bacteria and the role of chromosome 2 in determining mouse cerebellar volume. He joined the Woo lab in the summer of 2020 to study alternative ways to target the proteasome. In his free time, Zehan can be found skiing black diamond runs, attempting to perfect his latke recipe (the key is lots of eggs!), or even curling up to a David Attenborough nature documentary!
Undergraduate student
sfrome(@college.harvard.edu)
I am from Buffalo, New York, and will be pursuing a Master’s degree this year through the AB/AM Program in Chemistry and Chemical Biology. I joined the Woo lab in the summer of 2020 to study how E3 ligases can be used to expand the targetable proteome. When I am not in the lab, I enjoy watching or playing sports, cooking, and playing the guitar.
Undergraduate student
kkitarovic(@college.harvard.edu)
Katarina is a third-year undergraduate studying Chemistry with a secondary in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She joined the Woo lab in the fall of 2021, and her research interests include protein degradation and small molecule design. In her free time, she enjoys reading, figure skating, and sewing.
Undergraduate student
matthewsu(@college.harvard.edu)
Matthew is an undergraduate from San Antonio, Texas pursuing a double concentration in chemistry and computer science at Harvard. He is interested in exploring the intersection between organic synthesis, molecular biology, and data science/machine learning. In his spare time, Matthew enjoys speedsolving the Rubik’s cube, juggling playing cards, and building software.