The team
An interdisciplinary group working at the intersection of protein engineering, synthetic biology, and cancer medicine.
Adam Stevens, PhD
Adam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He received a B.A. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University, where he conducted research under the supervision of Dr. Marc Greenberg studying the effects of DNA lesions on base excision repair enzymes. Adam completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology at Princeton University in the lab of Dr. Tom Muir, where he applied protein biochemistry, biophysics, and engineering to characterize and design ultrafast naturally split inteins. These enhanced split inteins have been applied as tools in protein semisynthesis, synthetic biology, and gene therapy. Adam carried out a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Dr. Wendell Lim at UCSF, where he engineered a toolkit of synthetic cell adhesion molecules (synCAMs) that combine orthogonal extracellular interactions with signaling domains from CAMs to yield programmable cell-cell interactions with tunable interface morphology and adhesion strength.
Tal Dassau
Tal graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with her Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering with an additional major in Biomedical Engineering. Her undergraduate research in the Abbott Lab focused on studying adipose tissue fibrosis kinetics in 3D scaffolds and developing novel computational image analysis tools for 3D immunofluorescent microscopy. Outside of lab Tal loves playing soccer, building Legos, and parenting her plants.
Roger Wang
Roger graduated from Swarthmore College with a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and Computer Science. He has had several previous research experiences, focusing on CRISPR-Cas directed HIV therapeutics and the developmental role of GLP and G9a methyltransferases in the neural crest. Currently he is working on applying synthetic adhesion to develop novel treatments for liver cancer. Outside of lab Roger enjoys playing the bassoon, learning Japanese, practicing kendo, and exploring Philly on SEPTA.
Lexuan Li
Lexuan graduated from Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. He has research experience in drug screening and mechanistic studies using neurodegenerative C. elegans models. Currently, Lexuan is applying synthetic biology to develop smart T cell therapies. Outside lab, he enjoys exploring nature: including climbing Mount Fuji: and discovering great food, especially American BBQ and Italian seafood. In his free time, he also loves watching Japanese animation.
Allan Cruz
Allan is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Neuroscience, with a minor in Music. He is interested in how cellular adhesion molecules can be engineered to advance cancer immunotherapies. Outside of the lab, Allan sings in Penn's Collegium Choir, is in the pre-med fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon, and is a Johnson's Scholar at Perelman. He also loves exploring new restaurants in Philadelphia with his friends.
We are recruiting
We welcome applicants from chemical biology, synthetic biology, cell biology, developmental biology, cancer biology, and related fields. As a new lab, you'll have the opportunity to shape the culture and direction of our research.