Principal Investigator
peter Yingxiao Wang, PhD
Dwight C. and Hildagarde E. Baum Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Wang obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanics and Fluid Mechanics from Peking University, Beijing, P.R. China, in 1992 and 1996, respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in 2002 and continued his postdoctoral work at UCSD working under Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien and Professor Roger Y. Tsien in the Department of Pharmacology. He is currently the department chair and a professor in the department of Biomedical Engineering at USC and a fellow of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), and Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Before joining the USC in 2023, he was a faculty of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and UCSD. Dr. Wang is the recipient of the Wallace H. Coulter Early Career Award (both Phase I and Phase II), the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and National Institutes of Health Independent Scientist Award. His research is on cellular and molecular engineering for live cell imaging and controllable cell-based therapy. His lab is supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and private foundations.
Research Assistant Professor
Longwei Liu, PhD
longweil@usc.edu
Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
B.S. in Biotechnology, Shandong University, Shandong, China
Dr. Liu’s research interest is to develop tools to better understand and control intracellular signaling, with a specific interest in immune-tumor cell interactions. Specifically, he develops genetically-encoded biosensors based on FRET or single fluorescent protein using a directed evolution approach and applies these biosensors to visualize molecular signals in live cells with high spatiotemporal resolution. With the guidance of these new signaling insights, he also develops novel heat and ultrasound-responsive CAR-T cells for efficient immune therapy targeting solid tumors.
Assistant Research Scientist
Chi Woo (Nate) Yoon, PhD
chiwooyo@usc.edu
Ph. D. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
B.S. in Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Yoon’s research focuses on developing ultrasound-based genetic/epigenetic modulation systems. Hobbies: Woodworking.
Postdoctoral Researchers
linshan zhu, PhD
Ph.D. in Bioengineering, UCSD, San Diego, CA
B.S. University of Science and Technology of China
Dr. Zhu’s research focuses on developing high spatial-temporal molecular tools to monitor and manipulate cell processes in live cells. He also works on CAR T cell engineering, specifically heat-sensitive CAR T cells controlled by focused ultrasound. Besides research, Dr. Zhu loves traditional Chinese music; and he plays Pipa to relieve stress when he faces challenges in his experiments. Dr. Zhu also enjoys hiking and will be glad if you invite him to a hike!
Zhou yuan, PhD
Ph.D. in Bioengineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Yuan is interested in developing the novel CAR T cell immunotherapy targeting inducible tumor antigens, with the controlled tumor antigen expression through CRISPR-Cas genome editing. To understand the CAR T cell-tumor control, Dr. Yuan also develop and utilize the FRET-based biosensor to visualize the real-time signaling response in live tumor cells upon CAR T cell engagement. Prior to joining the lab, Dr. Yuan studied the ligand-recognition and mechanosensing of the immune receptors, including T cell receptor complex, CD8, PD-1; and how the T cell antigen recognition is regulated by the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Yuan like to explore new fields and places both for work and life outside of work.
Phuong Ho
B.S. in Bioengineering, UCSD, San Diego, CA
Ph.D. in Bioengineering, UCSD, San Diego, CA
Phuong’s research focuses on using fluorescence biosensors and ODE modeling to develop optogenetic signaling systems. Hobbies: Watching anime (One Piece, Avatar: TLA, Mob Psycho 100); Playing video games (Elden Ring, Sekiro, Skyrim); Reading books (A Song of Ice and Fire, Stormlight Archives); Watching sports (NFL/Ravens, LoL/T1).
Lab Manager/Technician lll
Jane hongyan chen
technician lll/manager
Jane is a very adroit technician in USC and had over 20 years of experiences in USC molecular biology research labs.
Graduate Students
Peixiang He
4th year PhD Candidate in Bioengineering (UCSD)
B.S. in Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
B.E. Minor in Economics in Finance, Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Peixiang’s research mainly focuses on improving the performance of Focused ultrasound controllable CAR-T therapy developed by previous lab members potentially through promoter optimization and exhaustion mitigation.
Jenny Yunjia Qu
3rd year PhD Student in Bioengineering (UCSD)
M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI
B.S. in Cellular Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI
Jenny is interested in developing focused-ultrasound directed CAR-T cell therapies through the understanding of tumor microenvironment and mechanobiology. Besides research, Jenny enjoys building Lego and puzzles.
Tianze guo
2nd year PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering
B.S. in Bioengineering: Biotechnology (UCSD)
Tianze’s research aims to engineer hypoxic solid tumor cells to provide targetable markers controlled by Focused Ultrasound and oxygen concentration to provide on-target killing signals for humanized SynNotch CAR-T cells. Tianze is also working on developing and optimizing kinase biosensors in T cells together with Dr. Liu. Aside from research, Tianze enjoys outdoor sports especially hiking, ultimate frisbee, and swimming; he is also a Pokémon fan and a top-tier player in his ranked seasons.
Jiaxin (Katie) Cui
2nd year PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering
B.S. in Chemical Engineering (USC)
Katie works on the FUS-induced heat activation via tumor protease expression to trigger CAR T-cell activation local to the solid tumor site as well as the oncolytic viral delivery of FUS-controllable gene circuits to solid tumors. Katie currently also serves as the president of USC Viterbi Graduate Student Association (VGSA) as well as a senator on the USC Graduate Student Government, acting as the liaison between engineering graduate students and the Viterbi School of Engineering. Outside of school, Katie enjoys running, pilates, singing, and watching YouTube~ 🙂
SAMUEL AMponsah-Effah
2nd Year PhD Student in Cancer Biology and Genomics (USC)
B.Sc. in Biochemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Samuel’s research interest is engineering macrophages (CAR-M) under the spatiotemporal control of focused ultrasound (FUS) for targeted therapy against solid tumors. He also serves as a member of the Educational Committee of Africa STEM Network (AFRISNET). Outside the lab, he enjoys movies, spoken-word poetry, soccer, and piano playing.
Yixuan(Ada) Huang
1st year PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering
B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California – Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Zhuohang(Zach) Wu
2nd year Master Student in Biomedical Engineering
B.S. in Biochemistry, UCSD, San Diego, CA
xi yu
2nd year Master Student in Biomedical Engineering
B.S. in Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
Mishel Tsoy
1st year Master Student in Biomedical Engineering
B.A Experimental Psychology/ Biological Sciences, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Lab Technicians
Yuxuan Wang
Research Assistant, Lab Technician
ywang089@usc.edu
M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
B.S. in Veterinary Medicine, Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University, China
Yuxuan helps with the animal experiments on the efficacy of the FUS-CAR-T cell therapy. Besides research, Yuxuan likes movies, music, hiking, and supermarket shopping.
Fengyi Ma
Research Assistant, Lab Technician
fengyima@usc.edu
M.P.H. in Epidemiology and Applied Biostatistics, Columbia University, New York, NY
B.S. in Biochemistry, Imperial College London, London, UK
Fiona’s interests lie in bioinformatics and statistical analysis, and she aims to apply these methods to explore potential cancer treatments. Apart from her research, she loves planting flowers and succulents.
Undergraduate Students
Previous Members
Scientists, Postdoctoral Researchers, and PhD Students
Adam Ziliang Huang, postdoc fellow and then a assistant research scientist
Shirley Yiqian Wu, PhD student graduated in 2020, and then became a postdoc fellow and one year later a research scientist, now a faculty in Peking University
Chi-Wei Man, PhD student graduated in 2022, and now a scientist in Shoreline Biosciences
Yijia Pan, PhD student, graduated June 2019, now a scientist in Fate Therapeutics
Mint Praopim Limsakul, PhD student, graduated June 2019, now a faculty at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand
Molly Allen, PhD student, graduated June 2018
Pengzhi wang, PhD student, graduated June 2017, now a postdoc in Tsinghua University
Hsin-Hung Lin, postdoctoral researcher, now a postdoc fellow in Taiwan
Jie Sun, PhD student 2008-2012, (Beckman Fellow), now a 1000 young scientist and professor at Zhejiang University
Jihye Seong, PhD student, 2006-2012, (Beckman Graduate Fellow), now a principal investigator and senior scientist at KIST
Taejin Kim, PhD student, 2007-2013, (Beckman Graduate Fellow), now a principal investigator and professor at National University of Pusan, Korea
Wagner Shin Nishitani, PhD student 2008-2012, now a researcher and faculty in Brazil
John Eichorst, PhD student 2008-2013, now a researcher at University of California San Francisco
Bo Liu, postdoctoral researcher, now a professor at DaLian University of Technology, China
Li-Jung Lin, postdoctoral researcher, now at Oregon Health & Science University
Mingxing Ouyang, project scientist, now a professor at Changzhou University, P.R. China
Bin-bin Cheng, postdoctoral researcher, now a researcher at UCSD
Lei Lei, postdoctoral researcher, now a researcher at Scripps Research Institute
Yu-Chi Chen, postdoctoral researcher, now at Biotech in Taiwan
Shuai Zheng, postdoctoral researcher, now a doctor in Beijing, P.R. China
Graduate students (master’s, rotation, visiting)
Yang Du, rotation student for year 2023
Sifan Ren, master’s student
Alexa Lewis, master’s student, graduated 2021, and she is now a PhD student at Georgia Tech
Chunyang Song, master’s student, graduated 2022, and she is now an employee in Betta Pharmaceuticals
Adam Bao, master’s student, graduated 2022
Yiyan Yu, master’s student, transitioned to PhD program, and now works in Prof. Liangfang Zhang’s lab at UCSD
Chujun Wei, master’s student, graduated 2020. Although she couldn’t have a perfect graduation this special year, but we hope there is a perfect future waiting for her.
Ali Zamat, master’s student, graduated 2019. After graduation, he started a new journey as a PhD student at Georgia Tech.
Jiaming(Alex) Wei, master’s student, graduated 2019. After graduation, he went to the East Coast to start a new adventure in biotech.
Jeyan Thangaraj, master’s student, graduated 2019. He enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and great surfing breaks in San Diego, and hopefully, he is still enjoying it.
Ya Gong, master’s student, graduated 2018. She joined the lab as an undergraduate, and she is always chasing her dream life.
Xin Wang, master’s student. After graduating from UCSD, she went to Columbia University to pursue her PhD degree, and is constantly delivering positivity.
Yiwen Shi, master’s student in computational science
Rongxue Wan, visiting PhD student from Chongqing University, now a postdoctoral fellow at Medical University of Southern China
Helen Masson, master’s student, 2017–2018, currently working in a lab at UCSD
Zhen Jin, visiting PhD student from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2017)
Charlotte Hepples, visiting PhD student and Capstaff Fellowship scholar from Newcastle University, UK (2017)
Lunan Shao, master’s student, 2012-2017, currently a graduate student at the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan
Yanmin Ji, master’s student, 2012-2017, currently a graduate student at CMU
Lexie Qin Qin, master’s student, 2015-2017, currently a Java Programmer at Paypal
Eddie Chung, master’s student, 2013-2014, currently at Devacell Inc., San Diego
Wade Zhang
Po-Chao Wen
Jing Xu
Min Huang
Kaiwen Zhang
Real Chen
Tongcheng Qian
Johnson Liu
Lucas Yi-Liang Liu
Ted Dong
Ya-Chi Lin
Yang Yu
Hang Yu
Technicians and Researchers
Irving Garcia, Previous Lab manager, now in AcuraStem, wish him best luck in all his future endeavors!
He Huang
Yi Wang
Undergraduate Student
Karishma Rohatgi, 3rd year BS student in Biomedical Engineering (Molecular-Cellular Emphasis)
Visiting Scholars
Kegui Weng, radiation oncologist in ChongQing cancer hospital
Dingyi Yang, radiation oncologist in ChongQing cancer hospital
Wei Zhou, radiation oncologist in ChongQing cancer hospital
Sangpil Yoon, now an assistant professor at University of Notre Dame
Qiuping Guo, UCSD 2016, now an associate professor in HuNan University
Wei Wang, UCSD 2016, associate professor in China Pharmaceutical University
Yan Huang, UCSD 2014, now a professor in HuNan University
Yan Zhang, UIUC 2012, associate professor at CAS
Ping Zhang, Visiting Scholar, 2014
Xiaoling Liao, UIUC 2010-2011, now a professor and director of the Biomaterials and Live Cell Imaging Institute, CUST University