Postdoctoral Researchers
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2019/02/sean-engels.png)
Sean Engels, Ph.D.
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2018
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin (2024)
B.S. Chemical Engineering,
North Carolina State University (2018)
Research interests: RNA modifications, bioinformatics, omics analyses, air pollution, systems biology
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/10/sungyeonJ_circle2022.jpg)
Sungyeon Jang, Ph.D.
she/her
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2022
Postdoctoral Associate Weill Cornell Medicine (2020-2022)
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea (2020)
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea (2014)
Research interests: RNA biology, synthetic biology, systems biology
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2021/02/Blanca_labphoto_2021.jpg)
Blanca Quinones Diaz, Ph.D.
she/her/ella
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2021
Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Medical
Sciences (2020)
B.S. Industrial Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao (2015)
Research interests: Environmental stressors and disease, RNA regulation dynamics, epitranscriptomics
Graduate Students
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2019/10/Matt-co.jpg)
Matthew Burroughs
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University (2019)
Research interests: RNA modifications, air pollution stress, protein engineering, RNA modification detection methods
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/07/ryanb_circle_2022.jpg)
Ryan Buchser
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2021
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware (2021)
Research interests: RNA-protein interactions, global RNA regulatory networks, bacterial stress granules
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2021/05/antonio_cordova_circle.jpg)
Antonio Cordova
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2021
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University (2020)
Research interests: High-throughput screening, RNA-based method and tool development, RNA structure and function, RNA drug discovery, RNA and protein-based regulation of stress responses
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/07/alyssae_circle_2022.jpg)
Alyssa Ekdahl
she/her
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University (2015)
Research interests: RNA regulatory networks, RNA design, pathogenic sRNA characterization, bioinformatics
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/10/kobeG_circle2022.jpg)
Kobe Grismore
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2022
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (2022)
Research interests: Systems biology, protein-metabolite interactions, metabolic engineering, gene regulation
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/07/alexL_circle_2022.jpg)
Alexandra Lukasiewicz
she/her
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Environmental Resource Management- Ecology Focus,
The Pennsylvania State University- University Park (2013)
Research interests: Post-transcriptional regulation in pseudomonas aeruginosa, systems biology, bioinformatics
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2021/08/lucas_circle_2021.jpg)
Lucas Miller
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2019)
Research interests: RNA modifications, protein-RNA interactions, protein engineering, bioinformatics, computational biophysics
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2019/10/Trevor.png)
Trevor Simmons
he/him
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2019)
Research interests: Post-transcriptional gene regulation, engineered RNA circuits, dynamic metabolic control, Csr network dynamics
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/10/katieT_circle2022.jpg)
Kathleen Taylor
she/her
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2022
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (2022)
Research interests: Epitranscriptomics, RNA-protein interactions, post-transcriptional circuitry, disease-relevant proteins and environmental stressors
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/10/agataT_circle2022-1.jpg)
Agata Turula
she/her
[email protected]
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2022
B.E. Chemical Engineering, The City College of New York (2022)
Research interests: RNA regulatory networks, RNA design, pathogenic sRNA characterization, bioinformatics
Undergraduate Students
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/02/Kritika_circle_2021.jpg)
Kritika Bisht
she/her
Expected graduation: May 2025
Kritika enjoys painting, hiking, playing the piano, and watching murder mysteries. She also loves playing board games.
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/04/jennah_circle_2022.jpg)
Jennah Johnson
she/her
Chemical Engineering
Expected graduation: May 2025
Jennah loves shopping, drawing, and sports (volleyball and the Green Bay Packers).
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2023/11/Laci_m_circle.jpg)
Laci Moline
she/her
Biology
Expected graduation: May 2027
Laci likes to watch Survivor and trivia shows like Jeopardy, collecting lego sets, running, and working out.
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2021/10/Stavros_pafilis_circle_2021.jpg)
Stavros Pafilis
he/him
Chemical Engineering
Expected graduation: May 2025
Stavros enjoys solving crossword puzzles, swimming, and traveling abroad.
![](https://sites.utexas.edu/contreraslab/files/2022/04/sahana_circle_2022.jpg)
Sahana Suraj
she/her
Chemical Engineering
Expected graduation: May 2025
Sahana enjoys art, dancing, and traveling.