Principle Investigator  


 

Isaac T.S. Li
Associate Professor
Canada Research Chair in Single-Molecule Biophysics and Mechanobiology (Tier 2)
Michael Smith Scholar
Department of Chemistry | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The University of British Columbia - Okanagan campus

isaac.li@ubc.ca | @isaacliUBC
250.807.8069 (office) | 250.807.9825 (lab)
FIP343 - 3247 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V1V7

Postdoc - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Biophysics)
PhD - University of Toronto (Chemistry)
MASc - University of Toronto (Biomedical Engineering)
BASc - University of Toronto (Engineering Science)

 

   
Postdocs Group photos


 

Seong Ho Kim
PDF, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
PhD, Biomedical Engineering, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST)

2020/11 - present

Research interests: mechanobiology, single-molecule biophysics
Awards: BSC travel award 2023, Michael Smith BC Health Research Postdoc Fellowship 2023


   
Graduate Students  


 

Adam Yasunaga
PhD - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC
(2018/9 - present)
BSc (Hons.) - Biochemistry, UBC
(2017/5 - 2018/8)

Research interests: cell adhesion, motility and mechanical signalling, single-molecule biophysics
Awards: UGF 2019-2021, NSERC CGS-M, NSERC PGS-D, GDES, URA, Graduate Travel Award, 3 poster awards (URC, BSC, and BGS), WCBC presentation award, Special UBCO Graduate Award, BSC Trainee Paper Award 2022.


 

Liubov Frolova
PhD - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC
(2021/1 - present)
MSc - Nanobiotechnology, Moscow State University

Research interests: exosome biogenesis & bioengineering
Awards:
GDES, International Doctoral Partial Tuition Award, Special UBCO Graduate Award, UGF 2021


 

Dyuti Raghu
PhD - Chemistry, UBC
(2022/9 - present)
BSc (Hons.) - Biochemistry, UBC
(2021/5 - 2022/8)

Research interests: kinetics and applications of DNA nanostructures
Awards:
UBCO Graduate Research Scholarship 2022, IURA 2021


 

Micah Yang
PhD - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC
(2022/9 - present)
BSc (Hons.) - Biochemistry, UBC
(2020/5 - 2022/8)

Research interests: SMFS and DNA nanomechanics
Awards:
NSERC-USRA 2021, 2022, GDES 2022, Faculty of Science Graduate Entrance Awards 2022, Chemistry URC poster award 2021, BSC poster award 2022, OKBC2022 presentation award, Finch Family Award 2022


 

David Bakker
MSc - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC
(2022/9 - present)
BSc (Hons.) - Biochemistry, UBC
(2020/9 - 2021/4)

Research interests: topological molecular structures
Awards:
UBCO GRA 2022, Hong-Mou Tsui graduate award.


 

Shilong Pan
MSc - Chemistry, UBC
(2022/9 - present)
BSc (Hons.) - Biochemistry, UBC
(2021/5 - 2022/9)

Research interests: exosome characterization
Awards: NSERC-USRA 2022, NSERC CGS-M 2022


 

Irving Zhang
MSc - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC
(2023/7 - present)
BSc (Hons.) - Biochemistry, UBC

Research interests: mechanobiology
Awards:

 
   
   
Undergraduate Students  


 

Ryan Riopel
Undergraduate, Biochemistry, UBC
(2023/5 - present)

Research interests: Super-resolution force imaging
Award:
NSERC USRA


 

Kiera McAnerny
Undergraduate, Biochemistry, UBC
(2024/5 - present)


 

Michelle Soenardi
Undergraduate, Biochemistry, UBC
(2024/5 - present)

 
   

Lab Alumni

Viv Kiss
Honours Thesis, Biochemistry (2023/9 - present)


Scott Minh An
MSc - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2019/9 - 2024/06)
BSc - Biochemistry (2018/5 - 2019/8)
Awards: URC poster award, GDES, UGF 2021

Enze Gong
Undergraduate, Chemistry, Xian Jiaotong University (2023/8 - 2023/10)


Aryan Gupta
Mitacs Globalink (2023/5 - 2023/7)
Undergraduate, Chemistry, IIT Bombay

Lisa Graßmel
MITACS Globalink (2022/8 - 2022/10)
Physics, Georg-August Universität Göttingen

Shawn Huang
Mitacs Globalink (2023/6 - 2023/8)
Undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering, University of Hong Kong

George Ng
Undergraduate, Engineering (2022/5 - 2022/9)
Current position: Engineer, Pela

Bahram Talebjedi (co-sup. Hoorfar)
PhD - Mechanical Engineering (2019/1 - 2023/1)
MSc - Biomedical Engineering, University of Tehran
Award: GDES, International Doctoral Partial Tuition Award

Allison Leam
Undergraduate thesis, Microbiology (2020/5 - 2022/05)
Awards: NSERC-USRA 2020, URA 2021
Current position: Going for med school!

Lilian Ton Nu
Undergraduate, Science (2022/5 - 2022/9)
Awards: URA 2022
Current position: undergraduate, UBCO

Vanessa White
MSC - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2020/9 - 2021/9)
BSc - Biochemistry, UBC
Awards: GDES, Stober Foundation Graduate Award in Chemistry, UGF 2021

Omkar Kulkarni (co-sup. Menard)
MSc - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2019/9 - 2021/12)
BSc - Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Awards: UGF 2020, International Doctoral Partial Tuition Award, Special UBC Graduate Award

Elise Phelan
Undergraduate, Biophysics, UBC (2022/5 - 2022/9, 2021/5 - 2021/9)
Awards: NSERC-USRA 2022
Current position: undergraduate, UBCV

Zhongyi Dai
MSc - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2018/9 - 2021/8)
BSc - Life Science, Lanzhou University, 蘭州大學萃英學院
Awards: UGF, GDES, Mitacs Globalink, Globalink Graduate Fellowship, Covid Relief Funding
Current position: QC manager

Runjhun Saran Narayan
Postdoc, Chemistry (2020/4 - 2021/3)
PhD, Chemistry, University of Waterloo | M.Tech, Biotechnology, Anna University

Duhan Yendi
Undergraduate thesis, Biochemistry (2020/09 - 2021/08)
Current position: undergraduate, UBCO

Victor Sun
Research Technician (2019/10 - 2020/10)
Undergraduate thesis (2016/6 - 2017/4)
MSc, Chemistry, UVic | BSc, Chemistry, UBC
Current position: Engineer, Infinti Electro-Optics
Rafaeal Hossain Rakin
MASc, Mechanical Engineering (2019/1 - 2020/12)
BASc, Electrical Engineering, North South University
Awards: UGF
Current position: Project Engineer, LabTest Certification

Alexander Corbett
Undergraduate thesis, Biochemistry (2018/5 - 2020/4)
Awards: 2xNSERC-USRA, MURPH Scholar
Current position: MSc, UofT

Summer Li
Postdoc, Chemistry (2018/4 - 2020/8)
PhD, MSc, Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, RMC
BSc, Biological Chemistry, University of Toronto
Current position: Assistant Professor, Thompson River University

Raunak Dey
Mitacs Summer Student (2019/5 - 2019/8)
BSc, Physics, IISER Kolkata
Current position: PhD, Georgia Tech

Erfan Taatizadeh
MASc, Mech. Eng. (2018/1 - 2019/12)
BASc, Mech. Eng., Toosi University of Technology
Awards: UGF
Current position: PhD, UBCV

Varun Surendran
Research Assistant, Chemistry (2018/1 - 2019/5)
MTech, BTech, Nanotechnology, Amity University
Awards: Kerala Government Scholarship
Current position: PhD, National Institute of Technology Calicut

Victoria Lange
NSERC USRA, Biochemistry (2019/5 - 2019/8)
Awards: NSERC-USRA
Current position: Medical School

Nicole Skidmore
Undergrad thesis, Biochemistry (2018/9 - 2019/5)
Awards: URC poster award (biology)
Sydney Fearnley
Undergrad thesis, Biochemistry (2018/5 - 2019/7)
Awards: Undergraduate Research Award (URA)
Current position: MSc, McGill University

Yousif Murad
UBC Medical School (2018/9 - 2021/8)
MSc, Chemistry (2016/9 - 2018/8)
BSc - Biochemistry, UBC
Awards: UGF, Graduate Student Travel Grant, SSRP
Current position: Medical school, UBC

Riley Waters
(co-supervise with Abdallah Mohamed)
Undergrad thesis, Computer Sciences (2017/9 - 2018/5)
Current position: MSc, Computer Science, University of Washington
Sydney Neumeier
Work-Study, URA, Biochemistry (2018/5-8, 2019/5-8)
Awards: Undergraduate Research Award (URA)
Queena Pan
Undergradute volunteer, Chemistry (2017/1 - 2018/8)

Sophia Ng
Undergrad thesis, Biochemistry (2016/9 - 2018/5)
Awards: Tuum Est Fund
Current position: Clinical Operations Associate, Babylon Health

Yuechao Tang
Postdoc, Chemistry (2018/4 - 2018/8)
PhD, University of Alberta | MSc, Fudan University | BSc, Zhejiang University
Current position: Assistant Professor, Chang'an University
Sara Tasnim
MSc, Chemistry (2017/1 - 2017/8)
Awards: GDES
Current position: MSc, UBCV
Keith Taverner
Undergrad thesis, Biochemistry (2017/5 - 2018/8)
Current position: MSc, Chemistry, UTM
Nadia Anvari
Undergrad volunteer, Biochemistry (2017/5 - 2017/9)
Melissa LeRose
Work-Study, Mechanical Engineering (2017/5 - 2017/9)
Current position: Mechanical engineer, Integral Group
Dawei Gu
Undergradute volunteer, Biochemistry (2016/6 - 2016/12)
Christine Furrer
Undergrad thesis, Chemistry (2016/9 - 2017/4)
    Nolan Frymire
Work-Study, Physics (2016/9 - 2017/4)
Current position: Software Developer, QHR, Kelowna