Principal Investigator
Siddharth Deshpande, PhD
Assistant Professor (siddharth.deshpande(at)wur.nl)
Pune – Bremen – Basel – Delft – Wageningen
I am fascinated by living systems, and curious to understand how biomolecules self-organize to give rise to life. My interests lie in biological soft matter, self-organization, bioengineering, and on-chip microfluidics. I thoroughly enjoy interacting with students, the process of designing experiments, and the thrill of unexpected discoveries.
Core members
Ketan Ganar, M. Tech
PhD student
Yavatmal – Guwahati – Bangalore – Wageningen
I am an aspiring researcher, interested in the cross-disciplinary approach to engineer next-generation technologies and to understand the fundamentals of life. In addition to my prior experience in virology, molecular biology and point-of-care diagnostics, I want to extend my technical expertise and knowledge in the bottom-up synthetic cell biology.
Chang Chen, M. Tech
PhD student
Huangshan – Harbin – Shenzhen – Beijing – Wageningen
I am an open-minded, cross-disciplinary researcher, interested in building and understanding the natural systems at cellular level. By developing lab-on-chip devices, I am interested in creating cell-mimicking, simplified mechanical models. Based on my previous experience with microfluidics and soft matter, I will study the interplay between the active actomyosin cytoskeleton, phase-separated liquid condensates, and the deformable lipid membrane.
Xuefeng Shen, M. Tech
PhD student (co-supervised with Jasper van der Gucht)
Lianyungang – Zhenjiang – Jinju – Changzhou – Wageningen
I am a multidisciplinary researcher and curious to explore the mysteries and potentials of natural world. My research interests focus on fluid dynamics, soft matter physics and rheology. In addition to my previous experience in multiphase fluid dynamics of complex fluids, I will try to fill the knowledge gap of coalescence mechanisms of Pickering emulsion droplets by using cutting-edge techniques like microfluidics, optical tweezing and confocal microscopy.
Lawrence Honaker, PhD
Postdoc
Fayetteville, NC – Ripon, WI – Kent, OH – Luxembourg – Wageningen
I have always been fascinated by problems at the interfaces of chemistry, physics, and biology, which led me to my Ph.D. work on liquid crystals and microfluidics. I joined EmBioSys to be able to explore more directions in biology and biophysics, especially in on-chip biological sensing and diagnostics and cellular-level self-assembly.
Manali Nandy, PhD
Postdoc
Kolkata – Chennai – Wageningen
I am a multidisciplinary researcher and interested in in-depth understanding of the intermolecular forces to the nanometer level under different physio-chemical conditions. Apart from this, I have extensively investigated the possible sensing applications using emulsions stabilized with different surfactants, polymers, and nanoparticles. Now I want to extend my expertise towards understanding the nature of the intermolecular forces in protein condensates.
Vinayaka Damle, PhD
Postdoc (in collaboration with Hauke Smidt and Johannes Hohlbein, part of UNLOCK)
Mangalore – Bangalore – Ramat Gan – Oulu – Wageningen
I am an expert in optical spectroscopy and molecular photonics with special emphasis on application of Raman spectroscopy in nanometrology. At WUR, I will focus on the development of Raman-assisted cell sorting using optical tweezers.
Undergraduate enthusiasts
Nienke Peet, Master student
MSc thesis
Pim Vink, Master student
MSc thesis
Alumni
Youri Peeters, MSc research practice (PhD student at Cell Biology and Immunology group, Daan Vorselen lab, WUR)
Sjoerd Flameling, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Lichun Chen, Visiting researcher (Professor at Zhejiang Gongshang University, China)
Juliëtte Hofman, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Elisa Oliden, BSc internship (continued with MSc in Biotechnology, WUR)
Tessa Bogaardt, MSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Lisa Rijnders, MSc internship (working at IamFluidics, Enschede)
Axel Eijffius, MSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Mae Plas, BSc thesis (continued with BSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Kelsey de Graaf, MSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Willem van Essen, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Noor Appelman, MSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Thijmen van Voorthuizen, MSc thesis (PhD student at Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, WUR)
Polina Turbina, MSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Selena Koene, MSc thesis (PhD student at WUR)
Annemarie Bok, MSc thesis (PhD student at Laboratory of Biochemistry, WUR)
Ben Bontenbal, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Biotechnology, WUR)
Koen Oldersma, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Floris Dautzenberg, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)
Liza Leijten, BSc thesis (continued with MSc in Molecular Life Sciences, WUR)