Current Members


Hachung Chung, PhD

Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Columbia University Medical Center
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Email: hc3070@cumc.columbia.edu
Degrees: PhD Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (Harvard University); BS Biochemistry (Stony Brook University)

Hachung, a native of South Korea, received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Stony Brook University and her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard University. She conducted her post-doctoral studies at The Rockefeller University. In 2019, she joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University as an Assistant Professor. Hachung is a recipient of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (2014 ~2017) and a Searle Scholar Award (2020). Outside of the lab, Hachung enjoys exploring NYC with her husband and two kids!

Heegwon Shin, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: hs3270@cumc.columbia.edu
Degrees: PhD Chemistry (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)

Jake Gertie

MD-PhD Student
Email: jag2392@cumc.columbia.edu
Degrees: BS Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology
(Yale University, CT)

Aidan Jones

PhD Student, Integrated CMBS
Email: asj2174@cumc.columbia.edu
Degree(s): BA Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, The College of Integrative Sciences (Wesleyan University, CT)

Meera Singh

PhD Student, M&I
Email: mks2248@cumc.columbia.edu
Degree(s): BS in Biology (Brown University, RI)

Claire He

MA Student
Email: kh3147@columbia.edu
Degree(s): BS Biology (Columbia College)


Past Alumni

Tyler Dorrity, PhD, former PhD student & Post Doc, May 2019 - August 2024, now a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at The College of New Jersey

Kenenni Wiegand, former lab technician, July 2021 - July 2024, now an Biomedical Science MA student at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Kavya Batra, former M.A. student in Biotechnology

Amanda Grace Leone, former Undergraduate Student

Justin Aruda, former Columbia University undergraduate researcher and research technician, Fall 2019 - August 2021, now PhD student at Harvard University

Rachel Polfer, former research technician, June 2019 - August 2021, now PhD student at The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School of Biological Sciences


Rotation Students and Interns

Aidan Jones, Integrated CMBS PhD rotation student, Spring 2024

Meera Singh, M&I rotation student, Winter 2024

Laura Rodriguez-Bonilla, Integrated CMBS PhD rotation student, Fall 2023

Christine Wu, M&I PhD rotation student, Spring 2023

Emily Jung, undergraduate intern from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Summer and Fall 2022

Nadia Karber, undergraduate intern, Fall 2022

Michael James, PhD rotation student, Fall 2022

Lisa Yu, M&I PhD rotation student, Spring 2022

Amanda Grace Leone, undergraduate summer intern, Summer 2021

Ava Rotondo, undergraduate summer intern, Summer 2021

Jake A. Gertie, MD/PhD rotation student, Summer 2021

Carly Lam, M&I PhD rotation student, Spring 2021

Noah Chen, M.D/PhD rotation student, Spring 2021

Bruce Culbertson, MD/PhD rotation student, Summer 2020

Max Lauring, MD/PhD rotation student, Summer 2020

Peter Wang, M&I PhD rotation student, Spring 2020

Sam Zverev, intern, Summer 2019