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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.

Applications for are now closed. Thank you for your interest.

Learn more about the specific Fellowship opportunities by research theme, or view previous IGB Fellows.

 

Current IGB Fellows

Farhan Chowdhury

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Farhan received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Professor Ning
Wang. His dissertation was focused on force directed fate decision
making of embryonic stem cells. He became an IGB Fellow in May 2012 and
is working closely with Professor Taekjip Ha and members of the Cellular
Decision Making in Cancer (CDMC) research theme to investigate the
underlying molecular mechanism of cell fate decisions using single
molecule approaches.

 

Melissa Cregger

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Melissa Cregger received her Ph.D in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the summer of 2012 from the University of Tennessee under the direction of Aimée Classen. Her dissertation was focused to understand how climatic change factors, precipitation change and increased temperature, altered bacterial and fungal community structure and function. Melissa joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in August of 2012 as an IGB fellow in the Host-Microbe Systems theme.

 

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, working closely with Carl Woese, and continues with 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. 

 

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.

 

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.

 

Scott Woolbright

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Scott received his Ph.D. in Biology from Northern Arizona University under the direction of Tom Whitham.  His dissertation research involved QTL mapping and candidate gene identification of cottonwood (Populus) leaf chemistry traits as part of a highly collaborative “genes to ecosystem” approach aimed at investigating the community and ecosystem consequences of trait variation in foundation species.  He also conducted population genetic surveys of highly isolated and potentially relict stands of cottonwoods from “sky island” mountain ranges of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts.   Scott joined the Institute for Genomic Biology in June of 2012 as an IGB fellow in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change theme where he will focus on climate related gene expression profiling.

 

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.