Current Alumni Sakmar Biography Current Laboratory Members Thomas P. Sakmar Richard M. and Isabel P. Furlaud Professor Tom received his A.B. degree in Chemistry and his M.D. degree from the University of Chicago. He completed a medical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of H. Gobind Khorana in the Departments of Chemistry and Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sourabh Banerjee Graduate Fellow in Chemical Biology Sourabh received his B.Sc. degree (Honors) in Chemistry from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India. He did his Masters in Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. He joined the lab through the tri-institutional Training Program in Chemical Biology (TPCB) conducted by Cornell, Sloane-Kettering and Rockefeller. Belinda S.W. Chang Adjunct Faculty Belinda received her A.B. degree in Biology Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University and her Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience from Harvard University, where she studied with Naomi E. Pierce and Richard C. Lewontin. Before entering graduate school, she spent a year in Australia on a Fulbright Fellowship studying with Jack Pettigrew at the University of Queensland. As a postdoctoral fellow, she has held an Alfred P. Sloan Postdoctoral Fellowship in Molecular Evolution with Michael J. Donoghue at Harvard University, an NSF International Research Fellowship with Valerio Sbordoni at the University of Rome 'Tor Vergata,' and an Allene Reuss Memorial Fund award. Soma De Adjunct Faculty Soma obtained her B.Sc. with honours in Chemistry from Presidency College (University of Calcutta, India), her M.S. from Division of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and her Ph.D. from the Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science under the supervision of Prof. S. Bhattacharya. She was a Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany under Prof. W.E. Trommer. Harvey Jian-Min Hou Adjunct Faculty Harvey received his B.Sc. in Chemistry (Physical Chemistry) from Wuhan University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry (Analytical Chemistry) from Peking University. He was a Postdoctoral Associate and then a Research Assocciate at The Rockefeller University under David Mauzerall. Harvey is currently a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Gonzaga University and he has collaborated with the Sakmar lab since 2001. Thomas Huber Research Associate Thomas received his Doctor of Medicine summa cum laude from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. There he held as a graduate student and during his first postdoctoral year an assistantship for teaching medical biochemistry and for research on biomembranes in the laboratory of Klaus Beyer at the Institute for Physical Biochemistry under Martin Klingenberg, and later at the Institute for Metabolic Biochemistry under Christian Haass. Before joining the Sakmar lab, he resumed his postdoctoral training in physical chemistry with Michael F. Brown in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he continues to conduct research as a visiting scientist. Jay Janz Postdoctoral Fellow Jay received his B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry (Honors) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. At Wisconsin he conducted research in laboratories of Dr. Julius Adler and Dr. Mark Krebs. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) under the guidance of Dr. David Farrens. Neeraj Kapoor Graduate Fellow in Chemical Biology Neeraj did his Masters in Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India. He did his masters thesis with Dr S Sarkar on the electrochemistry of multiwalled water soluble carbon nanotubes. He joined the lab through the tri-institutional Training Program in Chemical Biology (TPCB) conducted by Cornell, Sloane-Kettering and Rockefeller. Manija Kazmi Research Specialist Manija received her B.S. degree in Biology and her M.S. degree in Molecular Biology from New York University. Marguerite Mangin Academic Programs Director for the President's Office Senior Research Associate Marguerite received her B.S.-M.S. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Paris VI, and her Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Paris VII, completing her thesis in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Georgio Bernardi at the Institut Jacques Monod, France. She conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Alan M. Weiner, in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and was Research Scientist in the laboratory of Arthur E. Broadus, in the Department of Endocrinology at the Yale University School of Medicine. She has previously served as both Assistant and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at The Rockefeller University and is currently its Director of Special Projects. Santosh T. Menon Research Associate Santosh received his B.Sc. degree in Zoology from Madras Christian College (University of Madras, India), his M.Sc. in Biochemistry from Jiwaji University (Gwalior, India) and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology (Madras, India) under the guidance of Prof. K. Lalitha and Prof. K.K. Balasubramanian. Pallavi Sachdev Postdoctoral Fellow Pallavi received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University, her M.P.H. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from New York Medical College, and her M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in Molecular Biology from Mount Sinai-New York University School of Medicine under the guidance of Lu-Hai Wang. Christoph H. Seibert Research Assistant Professor Christoph received his B.Sc. (Pre-Diploma) and M.Sc. (Diploma) in Biochemistry from the Eberhard-Karls University of Tuebingen, Germany, and his Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Biophysics from the Humboldt University of Berlin. As a graduate student he conducted research in the laboratory of Klaus-Peter Hofmann at the Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics of the Charité, Medical Faculty of the Humboldt-University, where he held the position of a Scientific Assistant. He joined the Sakmar laboratory as a Postdoctoral Associate and currently continues his research as a Research Assistant Professor. Manohar Swamy Tirunagari Research Assistant Manohar did his Masters in Biotechnology from Madurai Kamraj University, India. Cecille Unson Research Associate Professor Cecille received her B.S. in Chemistry from College of the Holy Spirit, Manila, Philippines and her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Fordham University, Bronx, New York under Steven M. Weinreb. She conducts research in the laboratory of Prof. Bruce Merrifield and has collaborated with the Sakmar Lab since 1992. Elsa C.Y. Yan Research Assistant Professor Elsa received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and her M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Columbia University, New York under the guidance of Ken Eisenthal. For three years, she was concurrently a postdoctoral fellow in Mathies lab in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and a visiting fellow in the Sakmar lab. Shixin Ye Postdoctoral Fellow Shixin received her B.S. in Chemistry from Beijing University and her Ph.D also in Chemistry from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, under the guidance of Prof. J. Kent Blasie.