Principal Investigator
Neel H. Shah
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry
neel.shah [at] columbia [dot] edu 2013 - Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, The Rockefeller University 2008 - B.S. in Chemistry, New York University Neel grew up in Munster, Indiana, just outside of Chicago. He started his scientific training at New York University. There, he worked with Kent Kirshenbaum, examining ways to control structure in a class of peptidomimetic molecules called 'peptoids'. After NYU, Neel joined Tom Muir's lab, first at The Rockefeller University, then at Princeton University, for his graduate research. In the Muir lab, Neel investigated the structure and function of split inteins and helped develop new intein-based tools for protein chemistry. Temporarily tired of New York, he then moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he joined John Kuriyan's lab. In the Kuriyan lab, Neel developed new high-throughput methods to interrogate protein tyrosine kinases and small GTPases. In the summer of 2018, Neel happily returned to his favorite city and started a faculty position at Columbia Chemistry. When he's not at work, Neel likes to explore parks, museums, and restaurants with his wife and kids, and he enjoys learning about new scientific topics through popular science books.
Team
Loren Cardani
Graduate student
lc3803 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2023 - B.S. in Biochemistry, University of Rochester Loren is from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She attended the University of Rochester in upstate New York for her Bachelor’s degree, where she worked under Dr. Bradley Nilsson exploring peptide chemistry and its applications in biology. In 2022, she spent a summer at New York University synthesizing peptoid drug candidates for Type 1 Diabetes in the lab of Dr. Kent Kirshenbaum. Having been introduced to the city, Loren joined the Shah lab at Columbia, where she hopes to continue utilizing chemical tools to explore biological systems. Outside of the lab, Loren enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with her cat, Mac.
Cassie Chartier
Graduate student
cac2306 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2019 - B.S. in Chemistry, University of Rhode Island Cassie was raised in Los Angeles, California before moving to a small town in New Hampshire. Wanting to stay somewhat close to home, she studied chemistry at the University of Rhode Island where she became fascinated with organic synthesis working under Dr. Brenton DeBoef. She also spent a summer working under Dr. Navindra Seeram studying the effects of natural products as treatments for Parkinson’s disease, which introduced her to the intriguing connections between chemistry and biology. Eager to find her place in the big city, Cassie joined the Shah lab at Columbia where she is interested in learning more about protein regulation. When Cassie is not in lab, she enjoys taking care of her plants, cooking new vegan recipes, and thrift shopping.
Dejan Gagoski
Postdoctoral fellow (joint with Bussemaker Lab)
dg3208 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2016 - Ph.D., University of Queensland, Australia 2010 - Diploma in Biology, University of Kassel, Germany Dejan grew up in Skopje, Macedonia in the south of Europe. He did his undergraduate studies in molecular biology at University of Kassel, Germany, and did his undergraduate diploma thesis on engineered kinesins at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. Dejan did his PhD in Kirill Alexandrov’s lab at University of Queensland, where he explored cell-free protein expression methods for protein engineering and protein research. He then joined Joe Lynch’s lab at the Queensland Brain Institute, to learn molecular neurobiology and super-resolution microscopy while working on GABA receptors. Dejan yet again switched continents for a joint postdoc position with the Shah and Bussemaker labs, focused on using protein selection, deep sequencing, and machine learning for protein design. Outside the lab Dejan enjoys going to museums, galleries, concerts as well as hiking in the mountains and national parks, especially in good company.
Katherine Hebert
Graduate student
kah2276 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2023 - B.S. in Biomolecular Science and Gender and Health, University of Michigan Katherine grew up in Dallas, Texas before attending the University of Michigan for college. There she worked for both Dr. Heather Carlson studying molecular dynamics and Dr. Anna Mapp studying the regulation and inhibition of transcription cofactors. Outside of chemistry, she also majored in women's studies at Michigan. Katherine joined the Shah Lab to continue studying protein interactions and regulation. Outside of the lab, Katherine enjoys baking, spending time in the parks, and running.
Madeleine Hum
Undergraduate student
m.hum [at] columbia [dot] edu Columbia University, Class of 2024 Madeleine was raised in Dallas, Texas, before attending Columbia University for college. She is interested in exploring the regulation of protein phosphatases. Outside of the lab, Madeleine enjoys baking, visiting all of the NYC museums, and traveling.
Ziyuan (Jason) Jiang
Graduate student
zj2274 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2019 - B.S. in Chemistry, Nankai University, China Jason was raised in Zhengzhou, China. When he's not working in the lab, Jason enjoys playing volleyball and walking among the tall buildings in the city.
Andrew Johns
Graduate student
acj2144 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2020 - B.S. in Biochemistry, Texas State University Andrew grew up in Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and was always perplexed by the complexity of life. This led him to major in biochemistry at Texas State University, San Marcos, where he began organic synthesis in Dr. Kornienko's lab with a focus in medicinal chemistry. Looking to move far away from home, Andrew joined the Shah lab, where he hopes to use chemistry as a tool to understand biological systems. Andrew's favorite things to do outside of the lab are taking pictures of nature, exploring the city, and watching movies.
Minhee Lee
Graduate student
ml4551 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2020 - B.S. in Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Tufts University Minhee grew up in Westborough, Massachusetts, and didn't want to leave New England for college, leading him to study biochemistry and biotechnology at Tufts University where he worked under Dr. Krishna Kumar. His broad interests in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry brought him to the Shah lab at Columbia, where he hopes to further study complex biological systems using chemistry. Some of his favorite things to do outside the lab include practicing guitar, going to the gym, and playing video games.
Komal Mandal
Postdoctoral fellow
kkm2157 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2020 - Ph.D. in Protein Chemistry & Systems Biology, University of Southern Denmark 2011 - M.Sc. in Biochemistry, Bangalore University 2009 - B.Sc. in Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Genetics, Bangalore University Komal was born in Sikkim and obtained her Masters in Biochemistry from Bangalore University, India. She discovered the world of proteomics while working as a junior research fellow at the Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. She received her PhD in 2020 in Protein chemistry & Proteomics from the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, under the guidance of Prof. Martin R Larsen. Her thesis was focused on characterization of PTM’s (phosphorylation and cysteine modification) involved in the T cell activation signalling. Afterwards, she did her postdoc with Dr. Hanno Steen at the Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, US, to develop high-throughput clinical proteomics pipeline. Currently, she has joined the Shah lab as a postdoctoral fellow to pursue her deep interest, which is to explore cell signaling using mass spec based proteomics and phospho-proteomics. Outside of the lab Komal’s interests are exploring NYC, traveling, reading fiction, and doing ‘something’ for fitness.
Anne van Vlimmeren
Graduate student
aev2133 [at] columbia [dot] edu 2017 - M.S. in Cancer, Stem Cells, and Developmental Biology, Utrecht University 2014 - B.S. in Biology, Utrecht University Anne was born and raised in Utrecht, The Netherlands. After working in the field of genomics for a couple of years, Anne took a leap to study protein kinase specificity at MIT, where she got hooked on the world of protein signaling. Now, she is developing strategies to monitor protein tyrosine phosphatase interactions in cells. When Anne is not in the lab, she is probably out exploring, practicing photography, or running loops of her beloved Central Park.
Zijing Wang
Undergraduate student
zw2905 [at] barnard [dot] edu Barnard College, Class of 2025 Zijing was born and raised in Shenzhen, a coastal city in China, so she enjoys sea. She spent her first year of college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her free time, she likes to explore new places, cook, make handicrafts, and swim.