Ken Halvorsen

Senior Research Scientist | Principal Investigator

khalvorsen [at] albany.edu

Ken started his own lab at The RNA Institute at UAlbany in 2013. His professional life began as a mechanical engineer for a fuel cell company, took a sharp turn to ski bum in Jackson Hole, WY, and another sharp turn to grad school at BU. Intending to go back to industry, Ken was instead lured into a postdoc by grad school lab mate and friend Wesley Wong. He spends his career learning through failure and agonizing over whether he is a scientist or an engineer.

PhD, Biomedical Engineering | Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
BS, Mechanical Engineering and Physics | Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA 

Iranna Todkari

Postdoctoral Associate

itodkari [at] albany.edu

Iranna joined the Halvorsen and Sheng labs in March 2023 as a postdoctoral associate. In his PhD, Iranna studied supramolecular assembly formation of bimodal Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) such as double and triple duplexes, tetraplexes, and higher order structures. Currently he is working on applications of DNA nanoswitches.

PhD, Chemistry | Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India.

Vinod Morya

Postdoctoral Associate

vmorya [at] albany.edu

Vinod joined the Halvorsen lab in January 2024. During his PhD, Vinod worked on DNA nanotechnology and DNA-based hydrogels.

PhD, Biological Engineering | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, India.

Sravya Kovvali

Postdoctoral Associate

skovvali [at] albany.edu

Sravya joined the Halvorsen lab in January 2025 as a postdoctoral associate. She worked on Salmonella protein biochemistry and high-throughput drug discovery during her PhD and then on developing biofilm models for medical devices at the US FDA for a year. 

PhD, Microbiology | The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

Danielle Infantado

PhD Student

minfantado [at] albany.edu

MS, Biology | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

BS, Biology Honors | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

Charlize Penalver

Undergraduate Researcher

cpenalver [at] albany.edu

Biology (Class of 2026) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.

Jennifer Mesidor

Undergraduate Researcher

jmesidor [at] albany.edu

Chemistry (Class of 2026) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

Zyon Small

Undergraduate Researcher

Biology with minor in Chemistry & Spanish (Class of 2027) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

Vivek Lanka

Undergraduate Researcher

Biology (Class of 2027) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

Mariam Sow

Undergraduate Researcher

Biology (Class of 2028) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

Jimmy Ni

Undergraduate Researcher

Biochemistry (Class of 2026) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA