Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Jai Rudra, PhD
Jai received his PhD in biomedical engineering from Louisiana Tech University and completed his postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Joel Collier at the University of Chicago. He was recruited by the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2011 where he developed subunit vaccines based on supramolecular peptides for chronic infectious and non-infectious diseases and drug addiction. He joined the department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis in Fall 2018. His current research interests include harnessing of molecular and structural chirality in biomaterials and understanding the influence of chirality on immune cell behavior for applications in vaccine development and regenerative immunology. His lab is supported through active R01 (NIAID) and R21 (NIDA) grants from the NIH and a CAREER award from the NSF.
Email
Phone: 314-935-8704
Postdoctoral Researchers
Paresh Shrimali, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Paresh joined the Rudra Lab as a postdoctoral research associate in October 2019. He completed his PhD in biotechnology from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, in 2019. His research interests include biomaterial-based immunoengineering. In the Rudra Lab, his focus is to understand the mechanism of self-assembled peptide nanofiber uptake by immune cells and underlying innate immune mechanisms in order to maximize their translation potential for immunotherapies and vaccines. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and exploring new places.
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Graduate Students
Conor O'Neill
Doctoral Candidate
Conor graduated from Northwestern University in 2018, majoring in biomedical engineering and mathematics, and now investigates how applying block heterochirality patterns to self-assembling peptides impacts supramolecular assembly and immunological properties. In his free time, Conor enjoys baseball, football, and watching old movies with his dog (Charlie), cat (Cloud), and rabbit (Nibbler).
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Zain Clapacs
Doctoral Candidate
Zain is a PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis. He is originally from Durham, NC, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Purdue University, where he conducted research on elution of growth factor mimic molecules from collagen blend scaffolds for cartilage regeneration. His current primary research is on the mechanics and chemistry of peptide-polymer materials used for regenerative medicine and their interaction with immune cells. This encompasses projects using self-assembling peptides as structural components of tissue engineering scaffolds for use in diabetic wounds and self-assembling lipopeptides as adjuvants for vaccines targeting opioid addiction. Zain’s secondary area of research is in the scholarship of teaching and learning, with a focus on translating mentored research experiences to currently incarcerated students. Outside of the laboratory, he enjoys cooking and participating in his neighborhood’s community garden project. Zain enjoys hiking, cycling and community STEM education outreach through various organizations in St. Louis. His current personal project is developing a passable vegetarian substitute for real pulled pork barbecue.
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Technicians
Jeremy Buck
Lab Manager
Jeremy Buck graduated from University of Missouri-Columbia in 2010 with a B.S. in biology. He worked at Monsanto running PCR on corn and soybean to confirm the desired traits. After working at the McDonnell Genome Institute, where he performed next gen sequencing on DNA samples, he joined the Rudra Lab in 2018. He assists other lab members in their research as well as oversees the day-to-day operations. In his free time, he enjoys baking, video games, and lounging with his two cats Asa and Squiggles.
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Darren Kim
Lab Technician
Darren has been a part of Rudra Lab since his undergraduate years and is continuing to work with Dr. Rudra after completing his bachelor’s to prepare himself for further academic career. He is a big fan of gaming and often participates in tournaments when he is not doing research.
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Undergraduate Students
Kadin Kristjansson
Visiting Undergraduate Scholar
Kadin is a St. Louis native completing summer research at WashU while attending Smith College as an undergraduate. She expects to graduate in 2024 with a double major in chemistry and Spanish. During the school year, she works in the Wright Lab at Smith on investigating the biochemical mechanisms of sea anemone bleaching. Her previous lab experiences include working as a research assistant in the Self-Assembled Functional Nanomaterials Laboratory at the University of Connecticut, where she discovered her passion for nanomaterials and their application in immunoengineering. Kadin aspires to earn a doctorate in chemistry or biochemistry and run an immunoengineering lab of her own one day. In her free time, she enjoys reading, practicing Spanish, and preaching the superiority of pineapple on pizza.
LinkedIn | Email | Phone: 385-258-9095
Nakaja Weaver
MOLSAMP Undergraduate Researcher
Nakaja is from New Jersey and part of MOLSAMP doing research at WashU for the summer. She attends Missouri State University and expects to graduate in 2024 with a degree in biochemistry.
Amanda Winkler
Undergraduate Researcher
Amanda is a senior undergraduate biomedical engineering student at WashU. In her free time, Amanda enjoys cooking and running.
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Cameron Bleem
Undergraduate Researcher
Cameron is a senior undergraduate biomedical engineering student at Washington University. Cameron appreciates both the arts and the sciences and is soon to pursue a master’s in biomedical engineering.
Alumni
Ph.D. Students
Megan Files (expected 2021), Thesis project: Self-assembling immune matrices for inducing pulmonary tissue-resident cellular immunity
Charles Chesson (2016), Thesis project: Supramolecular peptide nanofiber vaccines for eliciting CD8+ T-cell responses
Ph.D. Rotation Students
Caleb Rice, Biomedical Engineering, WashU (Fall 2019)
Ye Lim Lee, Biomedical Engineering, WashU (Fall 2018)
Shaunte Ekpo-Out, Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine, UTMB (Fall 2017)
Christine Amuzie, Pharmacology and Toxicology, UTMB (Fall 2016)
Samantha Sheller, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UTMB (Fall 2015)
Syed Ali, Pharmacology and Toxicology, UTMB (Fall 2014)
David Briley, Neuroscience and Cell Biology (Fall 2013)
Tahani Alshammari, Pharmacology and Toxicology, UTMB (Fall 2012)
Undergraduate Students
Kadin Kristjjanson, Smith College, Jack-Kent Cooke Foundation Fellow (June-August 2021)
Jeffery Marek, Biomedical Engineering (2021)
John Brinkman, Biomedical Engineering (2019)
Jesse Shen, Biomedical Engineering (2018-2019)
Rachel Rhyner, Biomedical Engineering (2018-2019)