Technology Development Fellows

Wyss Technology Development Fellows currently working at the Institute:

Yevgeny Brudno received Bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Harvard University in 2010. As an NSF graduate student in the laboratory of David Liu, Yevgeny developed methods for the evolution of unnatural polymers through non-enzymatic translation of nucleic-acid code into unnatural polymers followed by functional selection. Yevgeny's current research interests include understanding and manipulating perivascular cell-endothelial cell interactions during angiogenesis to promote wound healing as well as developing novel self-assembly approaches for the cellular delivery of antisense therapeutics. Contact: yevgeny.brudno@wyss.harvard.edu.

Shawn Douglas received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Yale in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard in 2009. His research interest is in developing experimental methods and software to construct and manipulate self-assembling biomaterials on the nanometer scale. He worked as a graduate student in the laboratories of William Shih and George Church to generate custom three-dimensional shapes using the "DNA origami" method, including a novel alignment medium for NMR structure determination of membrane proteins. He has led the development of caDNAno, an open-source computer-aided design software that aids in the design of 3D shapes. Contact: shawn.douglas@wyss.harvard.edu.

Kevin Esvelt  received Bachelor's degrees in Biology and Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University in 2010. As a Hertz and NSF Fellow in the laboratory of David Liu, he developed the Phage-Assisted Continuous Evolution (PACE) system enabling the rapid directed evolution of novel biomolecules. He is the recipient of the Harold M. Weintraub Award recognizing outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences. Kevin's current research interests include enabling the controlled survival of engineered organisms in diverse environments, preventing the evolution of defined genetic sequences in living cells, and evolving targetable recombinases to drive unfavorable traits through populations. Contact: kevin.esvelt@wyss.harvard.edu.

Dan Dongeun Huh received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in 2000, Master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2007. Since then, he has worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in Don Ingber's lab at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston. Dan has authored over 20 papers in Nature, Nature Materials, PNAS, and other research journals, and has won numerous awards including Distinguished Achievement Award from Michigan, Widmer Best Poster Award from microTAS, and Horace H. Rackham Fellowship. His research at the Wyss Institute focuses on the development of novel bioinspired/biomimetic microsystems that can reproduce integrated structure and function of human organs. Contact: dan.huh@wyss.harvard.edu.

Philseok Kim received B.S. in Chemistry Education and M.S. in Chemistry from Seoul National University, Korea, where he studied time-resolved Eu luminescence and kinetics in zeolite. He began his post-graduate study at Georgia Tech in 2003 under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Perry and received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 2008 for the development of solution-processable high-k -- high-breakdown polymer-ceramic nanocomposites based on phosphonic acid-functionalized metal oxide nanoparticles. He joined the Aizenberg group at Harvard in December 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow. His research focuses on bioinspired design and fabrication of adaptive and dynamic actuation systems for energy-efficient light control and tunable optics, autonomous actuation systems, the control of nucleation and growth of organic conjugated materials on non-planar substrate, and multi-functional hierarchical micro/nanostructures for energy and environmental applications. Contact: philseok.kim@wyss.harvard.edu.

Yong-Lae Park received a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Korea University. He received his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 from Stanford University, working on embedded optical sensing for robots for space and medical applications, design of haptic master-slave systems for minimally invasive surgery robots, and fabrication of 3D smart-robot-structures. His research interests include the design of active, soft orthotic devices for treating gait pathologies associated with neuromuscular disorders, development of wearable skin technologies based on hyper-elastomeric pressure and strain sensitive materials, and development of novel manufacturing processes for micro-scale robotic structures. Contact: ylpark@wyss.harvard.edu. Website: people.seas.harvard.edu/~ylpark

Harris H. Wang received double Bachelor's degrees in Physics and Mathematics from MIT in 2005 and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University and in Medical Engineering Medical Physics from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technologies (HST) in 2010. His research interest is in developing foundational technologies for automated engineering and construction of synthetic genomes. As a graduate student in the laboratory of George Church, he developed the Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering (MAGE) platform to manufacture customized synthetic organisms with novel properties including phage resistance, new genetic codes, and biosynthesis of pharmaceuticals and biofuels. In 2009, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Collegiate Inventors Competition for his work on MAGE. His diverse background includes past forays into microfluidics and micropatterning systems with George Whitesides (Harvard, Chemistry), tumor-targeting nanoparticles with Sangeeta Bhatia (MIT, EE/CS), and neurobiology of memory formation with Susumu Tonegawa (MIT, BCS). At the Wyss Institute, he plans to develop engineered microbial consortia and synthetic ecosystems for applications in bioremediation, biomaterial synthesis, and bioenergy. Contact: harris.wang@wyss.harvard.edu.

Diana Young received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and B.A. in Music from The Johns Hopkins University, her Performer's Certificate in Violin from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and her M.S. from the MIT Media Laboratory, where she also completed her Ph.D. in 2007. Diana continued her work at MIT as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Biomechatronics research group of Hugh Herr, where she contributed to the development of measurement systems that capture human locomotion for use in active lower limb prostheses. Her research interests include measurement and understanding of human motion, both functional and expressive, and the development of human-computer interfaces for rehabilitation and the enhancement of skill acquisition. Contact: Diana.Young@wyss.harvard.edu.