Group Members
The Wayback capture preserved 27 of 29 profile photographs. The Saima Aktar Sumaiya and Livan Alonso Sarduy images were not available in the inspected captures and are shown with placeholders.
Ozgur Sahin
Ozgur is a Professor of Biological Sciences and of Physics at Columbia University. His research group investigates energy conversion in biological nanostructures, develops nanomechanical approaches to determine structures of biomolecular complexes, and studies cell mechanics. He is recognized for inventing a nanoscale microscope that visualizes mechanical properties of molecules, cells, and materials. Ozgur received a Junior Fellowship from the Rowland Institute at Harvard and holds a Packard Fellowship. His research has also been recognized with a U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award and a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health.
Christina A. McBean
Christina is a PhD student in the Physics Department. She is interested in applications of physics in biological systems. Her research involves probing nanomechanical properties of hygroscopic materials using atomic force microscopy. Email: cam2415[at]columbia.edu.
Adedayo Timothy Ogunlana
Dayo is a junior in Columbia College studying Biophysics. He is interested in cell mechanics and the intersection of electronics and biology. When not in the lab, he can be found playing basketball or making electronic music.
Saima Aktar Sumaiya
Saima is a postdoctoral research scientist at the Sahin Lab. She received her PhD from the University of California, Merced, and has a background in Mechanical Engineering. Her interests include high-resolution surface imaging, nanomechanics, and nanotribology. Her current research focuses on bacterial spores using nanomechanical approaches.
Brunvens Sejour
Brunvens is a staff associate in the Sahin Lab. His interests include mammalian and bacterial cell-growth promotion. Outside the lab he plays piano and saxophone and works on EDM and JDM classic cars.
Leonardo I. Ruiz Ortega
Leonardo received a PhD in Experimental Biophysics and Nanotechnology from King’s College London. He applies advanced scanning-probe microscopy beyond topographic imaging to problems in biophysics. At Columbia his research focuses on the dynamic mechanical response of hygroscopic biological matter.
Michael Shilo DeLay (Alum)
Michael pursued a PhD in Biological Sciences. He studied optimization and characterization of the biological mechanism underlying bacterial-spore-based energy. Email: md3235[at]columbia.edu.
Steven Glenn Harrellson (Alum)
Steve is a PhD student in Physics interested in the intersection of physics and biology. His research involves the physics of biological adhesion. Email: sh3379[at]columbia.edu.
Eran Schenker (Alum)
Eran is a research scientist developing biomaterials for challenges in energy and healthcare. With a background in neuroscience and biotechnology, he served as entrepreneurial lead in technology-commercialization efforts in drug delivery funded by Columbia’s Biomedical Technology Accelerator Program. Email: es3349[at]columbia.edu.
Juan Manuel de Flores Quijano (Alum)
Juan Quijano is a PhD student in Biological Sciences at Columbia University. He develops methods for generating improved biomaterial building blocks using biophysical and synthetic-biology tools. Email: quijano.j[at]columbia.edu.
Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu (Alum)
Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu is a Chemical Engineering PhD candidate whose research focuses on biology, energy, and the environment, including theoretical and experimental approaches to hygroscopic actuators for energy and robotic applications. Email: ac3236[at]columbia.edu.
Youngkyu Kim (Alum)
Youngkyu is a postdoctoral research scientist. He received his PhD from POSTECH, Korea. His research focuses on applications of torsional harmonic cantilevers to observe fast dynamics in biological systems.
Suleyman Ucuncuoglu (Alum)
Suleyman is a postdoctoral research scientist. He received degrees from Bogazici University and Emory University. His research interests include single-molecule biophysics and nanoimaging of nucleic-acid–enzyme complexes.
John A. Jones Molina (Alum)
Archived profile image and name recovered; no biography was visible in the directory capture.
Onur Cakmak (Alum)
Onur is a postdoctoral research scientist. He received degrees from Istanbul Technical University and Koc University in Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on bacterial-spore-based evaporation-driven engines. Email: oc2226[at]columbia.edu.
Zhenghan Gao (Alum)
Zhenghan graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China and pursued a PhD in Physics. He is interested in biological physics. Email: zg2191[at]columbia.edu.
Ju Yang (Alum)
Ju is a PhD candidate in Biological Sciences whose research focuses on the mechanical properties of cells. Email: jy2487[at]columbia.edu.
Nicola Mandriota (Alum)
Nicola is a PhD student in Biological Sciences at Columbia University and a graduate of Scuola Normale Superiore. He studies animal-cell shape, mechanics, and their physiological regulation. Email: nm2508[at]columbia.edu.
Isabella Elina Viktoria Johansson (Alum)
Isabella studied Physics at Columbia. Her experimental work in the Sahin Lab involved making stand-alone spore materials to scale the size and efficiency of evaporation-driven engines. Email: iej2106[at]columbia.edu.
Krishna Jayant (Alum)
Archived profile image and name recovered; no biography was visible in the directory capture.
Kassidy N. Lundy (Alum)
Kassidy Lundy is a graduate of Syracuse University in Biophysics. She explored computational and experimental biophysics and worked on the dynamics of CRISPR-Cas9 enzyme interactions with DNA using atomic force microscopy.
Kathleen Tatem (Alum)
Kathleen graduated from Columbia in Applied Physics with a Philosophy minor. Her biophysics research involved high-resolution atomic force microscopy of cells and intracellular forces, as well as 3D printing Bacillus subtilis spore solutions for energy applications.
Xi Chen (Alum)
Xi served as a postdoctoral research scientist in the Sahin Laboratory, researching bacterial-spore-based hybrid materials for harnessing natural evaporation energy. He later became an Assistant Professor at the City University of New York Advanced Science Research Center. Email: xi.chen[at]asrc.cuny.edu.
Kayleigh Nicole Askin (Alum)
Kayleigh Askin studied physics at Columbia College and was interested in single-cell and single-molecule mechanics.
Christopher Eom (Alum)
Christopher studied biochemistry at Columbia College and investigated enzymatic splicing activity using atomic force microscopy.
Nathan Arnett Saffold (Alum)
Nate is a PhD student in Physics interested in molecular imaging and protein dynamics using atomic force microscopy. Email: nas2173[at]columbia.edu.
Duckhoe Kim (Alum)
Duckhoe is a postdoctoral research scientist who received his PhD in chemistry from POSTECH. He developed chemically specific, multicolor imaging methods for biological samples. Email: dk2683[at]columbia.edu.
Davis Goodnight (Alum)
Davis studied Biophysics at Columbia College and used Bacillus spores to investigate capture of energy from water evaporation. He later entered the Biophysics PhD program at UC Berkeley. Email: dwg2112[at]columbia.edu.
Livan Alonso Sarduy (Alum)
Livan is a postdoctoral research scientist who received his PhD in Physics from EPFL. His research focused on new approaches for nanoimaging of membrane receptors. Email: lba2135[at]columbia.edu.
