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
Jibin Abraham Punnoose
Research Scientist
jabrahampunnoose [at] albany.edu
Jibin joined Halvorsen lab in January 2018 as a Postdoctoral Associate. He received his doctoral degree in Chemistry from Kent State University where he studied the folding dynamics of multiple DNA G-quadruplexes from single-stranded DNA through single-molecule optical tweezers. He is currently working on the development of a wireless, bench-top Centrifugal Force Microscope which can be used for high throughput single-molecule force measurements.
PhD, Chemistry | Kent State University, Kent, OH, 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.
Andrew Hayden
Research Support Specialist
ahayden2 [at] albany.edu
BS, Bio-instrumentation | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
Dadrian Cole
Research Support Specialist
dacole [at] albany.edu
BS, Biology (Class of 2024) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
Camryn Beckles
Undergraduate Researcher
cbeckles [at] albany.edu
Camryn is a senior at UAlbany majoring in Chemistry with an emphasis in Forensic Science.
Chemistry (Class of 2024) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
Chai Kam
Undergraduate Researcher
ckam [at] albany.edu
Chai is an honors Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major on the pre-med track at UAlbany who enjoys making music and exploring nature.
Biology (Class of 2024) | 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
Alumni
Postdoctoral Researchers
Arun Richard Chandrasekaran - currently PI @ The RNA Institute (Lab website)
Lifeng Zhou - currently Assistant Professor @ Peking University
PhD Students
Tony Hoang (Chemistry, 2016) - currently Senior Design Principal for Global AI @ Slalom
Vibhav Valsangkar (Chemistry, 2020) - currently RNA Biochemist @ Sixfold Biosciences Inc., London.