Group Photo Above: From L to R: Dr. Javier Cabello-Villegas, Brian Hardaway, Kunal Khanna, Dr. Adrien Chauvier, Dr. Alex Johnson-Buck, Dr. Elizabeth Duran, Dr. Surajit Chatterjee, Jieming Li, Dr. Nils Walter, Dr. Tanmay Chatterjee, Dr. Rajeev Yadav, Dr. Nibedita Pal, Ameya Jalihal, Dr. Sujay Ray, Shiba Dandpat, Jenna Veenstra, Dr. Poorna Roy, Kamya Gopal, Hailey Blinkiewicz, Michael Rankin, Karen Montoya
Absent: Alisha Spoelman, Anna Spoto, Damon Hoff, Jacqueline Kunesh, Martina Jerant, Pujan Ajmera
Principal Investigator
Prof. Nils Walter, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Hi, I'm Nils Walter, the P.I. - which in this case stands for principal investigator. That means that I am coaching our very own bowling team, the RNAces and also the science that all these diligent people above are doing. We have a young, dynamic, and interactive group, which makes it fun to work together. Our lab layout is probably the best in the department, our equipment and the science are first rate (I'm originally from Germany, so the only thing I can complain about is the beer here in the US). I invite you to browse the accompanying information on research and publications and to stop by the lab (room 2020) or my office (room 2405) or email me if you have any further questions.
Curriculum Vitae
Office : 734-615-2060
Research Asst Professor
Dr. Alexander (Alex) Johnson-Buck
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2016
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Surajit Chatterjee
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2016
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Dr. Sujay Ray
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2016
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Sujay Ray was born in 1986 in Asansol, India. He received his bachelor’s degree from University of Calcutta in 2007, followed by a master’s degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in Physics. He earned his Ph.D. from Kent State University, in Kent, Ohio, in 2014 while working on a DNA secondary structure, known as G-Quadruplex and its interaction with various proteins, under the supervision of Dr. Hamza Balci. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow for one year in Dr. Qiong Yang’s lab before joining Dr. Nils Walter’s lab at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is broadly interested in developing novel single molecule techniques to study and manipulate individual biomolecules and complex biological machinery. Apart from assembling, maintaining a high-resolution prism-TIRF type single molecule microscope, he is working towards unraveling the role of noncoding RNAs in translation initiation.
Dr. Javier Cabello-Villegas
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2016
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Dr. Rajeev Yadav
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2017
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Dr. Tanmay Chatterjee
Member since 2017
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Dr. Adrien Chauvier
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member Since 2017
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Elizabeth Duran
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member Since: 2018
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common room phone number: 734-615-4257
Robb Welty
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member Since: 2018
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common room phone number: 734-615-4257
Zi Li
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2019
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Andreas Schmidt
Postdoctoral Fellow
Member Since: 2019
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common room phone number: 734-615-4257
SMART Center Staff
Dr. Damon Hoff
SMART Center Postdoctoral Fellow
Member since 2013
SMART center phone: 734-763-5449
Graduate Students
Shiba Dandpat
Chemistry Graduate Student
Member since 2016
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Ameya Jalihal
Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Student
Member since 2016
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Kunal Khanna
Chemistry Graduate Student
Member since 2017
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Liuhan Dai
Rotation Student
Member since 2017
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Karen Montoya
Graduate Student
Member since 2017
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common room phone number: 734-615-4257
Guoming Gao
Rotation Student
Member since 2018
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Masters Students
Brian Hardaway
Masters Student
Member since 2017
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common room phone number: 734-615-4257
Chandler Petersen
Masters Student
Member since 2019
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Rotation Students
Saffron Little
Rotation Student
Member Since: 2019
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common room phone number: 734-615-4257
Ariana Caiati
Summer Internship
Member since 2019
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Research Associate
Undergraduate Students
Alisha Spoelman
Undergraduate Student
Member since 2016
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Hailey Blinkiewicz
Undergraduate Student
Member since 2017
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Anna Spoto
Undergraduate Student
Member since 2017
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Pujan Ajmera
Undergraduate student
Member since 2018
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Jacqueline Kunesh
Undergraduate student
Member since 2018
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Anastasiya Trzcinski
Undergraduate Student
Member since 2018
North Lab phone number: 734-615-4221
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Bennett Hendricks
Undergraduate Student
Member since 2018
South Lab phone number: 734-615-4175
Common Room phone number: 734-615-4257
Visiting Researchers
Sonia Walter
Member since 2019