People

IGB Fellows Program

The Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a number of fellowships for truly exceptional young scholars who have completed their Ph.D. within the last several years, and are looking for a stimulating and supportive interdisciplinary environment to carry out independent and collaborative research in the field of genomic biology.  IGB Fellows will spend up to three years conducting research in one of several research themes in the Institute, and ideally this research will also overlap with two or more of these thematic areas.

 

Register now for the 2012 IGB Fellows Symposium. Learn about IGB research, hear about current issues in the life sciences, and connect with other students on campus at the sixth annual Fellows Symposium on May 3, 2012.

 

Learn more about the specific Fellowship opportunities by research theme.

Current IGB Fellows

James Davis

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James Davis earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Gary Olsen.  His dissertation was focused on using codon usage to study horizontal gene transfer.  He became an IGB Fellow in August of 2010 and is working closely with Carl Woese and members of the Biocomplexity Research Theme in order to elucidate the patterns that characterize early evolution.

 

James R. Doroghazi

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James Doroghazi received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Cornell University in 2010 under the direction of Dan Buckley. For his dissertation work, he studied the population genetics and evolution of Streptomyces. He joined the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme in December 2010 as an IGB fellow. He is working closely with MMG theme members to discover novel natural product genetic diversity and to elucidate common themes in secondary metabolite evolution. 

 

Nathan Gabrielson

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Nathan Gabrielson received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2009.  He then became a postdoctoral research associate in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Illinois, where he worked to develop materials for gene and drug delivery applications.  He was awarded an IGB postdoctoral fellowship in 2010 and has begun working with members of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering theme in November 2010.

 

Sarath Chandra Janga

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Sarath Chandra Janga received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge in 2010.  His dissertation was focused on exploiting network-based approaches in understanding the design principles of biological systems, working closely with M. Madan Babu and Sarah Teichmann, in order to elucidate the patterns that characterize the structure and dynamics of various cellular networks. In March 2010, he was awarded an IGB postdoctoral fellowship and has begun working with members of the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme in July 2010 to discover principles governing the function and evolution of antibiotics and natural products.

 

Qiuhao Qu

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Qiuhao Qu received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the Konstanz University in Germany under the direction of Dr. Winfried Boos.  She then became a research associate in the Departments of Cell and Developmental Biology and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, where she worked to develop human neuronal differentiation models from hESCs and hiPSCs.  She became an IGB Fellow in the Genomics of Neural and Behavioral Plasticity Research Theme in January 2012.

 

Noah Reynolds

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Noah Reynolds received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from The Ohio State University under the direction of Michael Ibba.  His dissertation research focused on comparative studies of translational quality control mechanisms.  He joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in September 2011 as an IGB Fellow in the Biocomplexity theme.

 

Christopher J. Thibodeaux

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Christopher James Thibodeaux received his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas, Austin, in 2010, where he studied the chemical and kinetic mechanisms of enzyme-catalyzed reactions.  He joined the Cellular Decision Making in Cancer (CDMC) theme in November 2010 as an IGB Fellow, where he will work closely with the group of Taekjip Ha to apply advanced cellular and molecular imaging techniques to investigate outstanding problems in cancer biology.

 

Bo Wang

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Bo Wang received his Ph.D. in Materials Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011 under the direction of Steve Granick. His dissertation was focused on using statistical imaging on the single molecule/particle level to elucidate transport phenomena in complex fluids ranging from  entangled polymers to living cells. He became an IGB fellow in August 2011 and is working closely with members of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering theme to understand the cellular organization and decision making in regeneration and development.

 

Hsiao-shan Yang

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Hsiao-shan Yang received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University at Buffalo, The University of New York, under the direction of Zhiqiang Liu. Her dissertation research focused on the effects of productivity and industry evolution on manufacturing firms’ product diversification decision. She joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in October 2011 as an IGB Fellow in the Business, Economics, and Law of Genomic Biology (BioBEL) Research Theme, where she will work closely with BioBEL theme members to explore issues in university-industry technology transfer, industry evolution, and the growth and regulations in biotechnology industry.