Join the Lab!

 We are looking for highly motivated individuals who want to work on exciting projects at the interface of biophysics, microbiology and molecular biology. We in the Lab consider collaboration to be a core value of our lab and emphasize that great science comes from the collective thinking of people from diverse backgrounds. This includes not only diverse educational training, but includes all gender, sexual, racial, and cultural identities as well as people of any age or with disabilities. 

CORE VALUES

  • Innovation We believe that creativity is the only way to achieve groundbreaking research. Thinking outside of the box is a requirement to push the bounds of what is known or possible to new areas, to discover what had not been known previously.
  • Professionalism We know that everyone in our lab is a colleague with equal standing that has much to contribute. We treat everyone with the same level of respect and professionalism.
  • Perseverance We understand that great research takes time and is prone to many pitfalls. We are not disheartened by these, but look at them as opportunities to learn.
  • Confidence  We strive for an environment that builds scientists who confidently collect, analyze, and present their work. Confidence also reflects the ability to accept critical feedback and reevaluate data under new perspectives. 
  • Collaboration We have researchers from multiple fields with an enormous body of experience. This interdisciplinary research requires that everyone share their ideas so that we can learn from one another.

 EDUCATION EFFORTS by Nikhil

STEM Education and Outreach

Undergraduate Education

  • Mentored 20 undergraduate students in my lab (most women or minorities). Mentees won Goldwater, Sigler Prize & PhD admission to MIT, Duke, NYU, Northwestern, UChicago, UIUC, UC-Davis, UCLA, Yale.
  • Directed a core course for all MB&B seniors (~30, ~2/3rd without research mentor) to develop a research topic in biochemistry or biophysics research for an in-depth review and present at the Symposium. 
  • Advisory Board Member for Science, Technology, & Research Scholars (STARS) Program (2021-)
  • Reviewer, STARS undergraduate summer research fellowship (2018-)
  • Reviewer for Yale PEB NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Program (2023-)
  • Mentored 3 REU students in the lab. Students joined PhD in Yale & UCLA. (2016, 2020, 2022)
  • Fellow of Yale Residential College (Timothy Dwight) (2016-)
  • Fellow of Yale School of Medicine’s Orange College (2023-)

Graduate Education

  • Mentored 23 students, including 14 theses. Students won Best Thesis, NSF, NDSEG, EMBO, Fullbright, and postdoctoral fellowships at MRC-Cambridge-UK and National Labs.
  • Led the Nucleate Activator cohort to train entrepreneurship (2023-).
  • Served on 5 Graduate Education and Advising committees (2015-2018, 2021-2023), solicited student feedback, & implemented key changes in the course requirements, qualifying exams, & student handbook.
  • Served on the 3 Graduate admissions and Recruiting committee (2015-17)
  • Contacted for 8 years visiting students for 3 tracks: Biochemistry, Quantitative Biology, Biophysics, Structural Biology (BQBS), Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics and Development (MCGD), and Microbiology.
  • Organized/participated in welcoming events and campus tours for 8 years (in charge, 2019)
  • Instructed a Writing Workshop on proposals for Qualifying Exams and Graduate Fellowships (2019, 2021, 2022). Students won Best Thesis, NSF, NDSEG, Fullbright, and other fellowships.
  • Served on 19 Thesis and 6 qualifying exam committees, chairing 14, listed below.

Thesis Research Committees

Current (8 total); Chair (3 total)

MB&B students (6):

  • Alex Calabrese (O’Hern Lab, Mech. Eng.-Chair),
  • David Flesher (Brudvig lab, Chemistry & MB&B -Chair),
  • Joey Erwin (Malvankar Lab)
  • Vasilije Pentalic (Malvankar Lab)
  • Yixuan Chen (Malvankar Lab)
  • Jonmatthew Bile (Malvankar Lab)

MCDB Students (1):

  • Akira Nakamura(Isaacs Lab),

External Students (1):

  • Pilar Castillo Portela (Portugal, Co-mentor).

Past (11 total), Chair (9 total)

MB&B students (9):

  • Luka Maisuradze (O’Hern Lab, Mech. Eng.-Chair),
  • Daniel Konstantinovsky (Hammes-Schiffer and Yan lab, Chemistry & MB&B,
  • Clorice Reinhart (Hammes-Schiffer Lab, Chemistry & MB&B),
  • Peter Dahl, (Malvankar Lab)
  • Catharine Shipps, (Malvankar Lab)
  • Vishok Srikanth, (Malvankar Lab)
  • Aldo Morales, (Malvankar Lab)
  • Patrick O’Brien, (Malvankar Lab)
  • Gunashil Mandava, (Malvankar Lab)

MCDB students (1):

  • Yangqi Gu, (Malvankar Lab)

Microbiology students (1):

  • Cong Shen (Malvankar Lab)

Qualifying Exam Committees (6 total), Chair (2 total)

  • Helen Su (Pollard lab, MCDB) Chair.
  • Kathy Amaya, (Schlieker Lab, MB&B) Chair.
  • Daniel (Hammes-Schiffer and Yan labs, Chemistry),
  • Yuchen Yang (Zhang Lab, MB&B),
  • David Flesher (Brudvig lab, Chemistry & MB&B)

Postdoctoral Education

  • Mentored 12 postdocs/postgrads/research scientists in my lab, including a legally blind. (2016-) Mentees received assistant professorships, NIH-F32 and NIH-PREP, graduate (MIT, UChicago, UIUC, Northwestern, Duke, UC-Davis) and Postdoctoral fellowships (Cambridge-UK, Baylor)
  • Advised postdocs to prepare for early career awards, who received awards such as BWF-CASI. (2019-)
  • Reviewed fellowship applications (Revson, Blavatnik) (2020-)
  • Instructed for academic job search by sharing the job application package. (2015-)

Resources for joining the lab