Levinson Emerging Scholars
Meet the 2025-26 Scholars
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Damon Chan
Damon Chan
Damon Chan
Damon is a senior at the University of Washington majoring in Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Microbiology. He joined the Theberge group in the summer of 2024 and has gained experience in a wide breadth of projects unified by the lab’s microfluidic theme over the last year. In his current project, Damon wants to explore the adaptation of a lab-developed microfluidic blood collection device, the homeRNAmax, to stabilize DNA methylation character in samples from remote participants. By developing a method to characterize DNA methylation in blood samples stabilized at time of collection, this project hopes to identify potential biomarkers for tracking disease progression or identifying the impacts of environmental stressors. The at-home collection method would expand this level of testing and diagnostic work to a greater population, suiting the needs of those with non-traditional work schedules and/or limited access to healthcare facilities. In his free time, Damon likes to listen to many genres of music and plays for the UW Steelband. He would like to thank Dr. Ashleigh Theberge and the people of the Theberge group for their guidance, wisdom, and for fostering a great lab community that allows him to thrive. He is also incredibly grateful to Art and Rita Levinson for their support and honored to receive the Levinson Emerging Scholars Award.
Majors: Biochemistry, Chemistry, Microbiology
Mentors: Ingrid Robertson, Department of Chemistry; Ariel Lin, Department of Molecular Engineering & Sciences
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Sofia Dahlgren
Sofia Dahlgren
Sofia Dalhgren
Sofia is a senior in Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington, pursuing the option in Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering and minoring in Data Science. Since freshman year, Sofia has worked in the Nance Lab to develop nanoparticle-based therapies for brain injury and disease. Her current research investigates nanoparticles for neurodegenerative disorders, driving formulation development with collaborators from the University of Queensland. Sofia also conducted research at Duke University as a Research Experiences for Undergraduates student in 2024. Outside of the lab, Sofia worked as an Undergraduate Research Leader for two years. She created the Undergraduate Research Individual Development Plan, integrated into UW summer research programs and advising to support students entering research. Sofia has also mentored K-12 students as an Engineering Ambassador and facilitator for the Culture and Science Exchange program. In her free time, she enjoys reading, swimming, hiking, and learning different languages. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Sofia aims to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. She is grateful to her mentor Dr. Elizabeth Nance and the Levinson Emerging Scholars Award for helping her grow as an independent researcher.
Major: Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Elizabeth Nance, Department of Chemical Engineering
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Sunny Dighe
Sunny Dighe
Sunny Dighe
Sunny is a junior at the University of Washington pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a minor in Education. He joined the Rasmussen Lab in April 2024 to explore his interest in sensory biology, influenced by his grandmother’s fierce battle with neuropathy resulting from diabetes. His project explores the role of a cell-adhesion molecule, Protocadherin-9, in the biology of mechanosensory cells in the skin, using the zebrafish as a model organism. The goal of this project is to unshroud the role of the protein, which has been implicated in autism, in the spatial arrangement and neuronal wiring of Merkel cells. Understanding Protocadherin-9 in the context of the epidermis could open many translational doors in sensory biology research, thanks to the molecular similarity of zebrafish Merkel cells to those of both humans and mice. Sunny plans to pursue graduate school after his studies at the UW, either with an MD/PhD dual degree or a dedicated PhD, where he will continue to explore his broad interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes. He hopes to combine his passion for molecular biology with his interest in education, tackling impactful research questions while teaching his love for science to those who follow. In his free time, you can find him playing music and putting on live shows with UW Husky Jam or finding a new book to engross himself in. Sunny wants to extend his heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Jeff Rasmussen and Erik Black for their indispensable mentorship throughout his time in the lab. He would like to specifically thank Erik for patiently responding to his endless questions at all hours of the day. Additionally, he wants to thank the entire Rasmussen Lab for creating a nurturing and dedicated environment in which he could learn so much. He is beyond thrilled to be a Levinson Emerging Scholar and thanks Art and Rita Levinson for their willingness to support his passion for science.
Major: Biology (Molecular, Cellular, Developmental)
Mentor: Jeff Rasmussen, Department of Biology
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Kate DiNucci
Kate DiNucci
Kate DiNucci
Kate DiNucci is a senior at the University of Washington studying Neuroscience with a minor in Bioethics. She joined the Neonatal Neuroscience Lab in Autumn 2022 under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Wood, focusing on the development and testing of neuroprotective therapies for neonates. Her current project investigates extracellular vesicles isolated from human milk as a potential treatment for preterm brain injury. Preterm brain injury occurs in nearly half of all extremely preterm infants and, at present, there are no treatment options that address the short- or long-term sequelae resulting from preterm brain injury. Extracellular vesicles are a promising novel therapeutic due to their immunomodulatory properties and blood-brain barrier permeability. Her research utilizes a whole hemisphere organotypic brain slice model of preterm brain injury in ferrets. This model replicates important features of human neuroanatomy such as gyrification and white matter structure, while simultaneously maintaining 3D neural architecture. Kate’s research aims to provide valuable insight into novel therapies and neonatal care through a longitudinal research pipeline, ultimately working to improve long-term infant outcomes. Upon graduation, Kate plans to pursue an MD/PhD to become a physician scientist and combine her love of neuroscience, pediatrics, and research into a lifelong career. Outside of the lab, Kate enjoys reading, needlepoint, and spending time with friends and family. Kate extends her gratitude to Dr. Thomas Wood, Dr. Elizabeth Nance, and Dr. Rebecca Hoban, for their continued mentorship and support in the development of this project. Furthermore, Kate thanks the Levinson family for making this project possible and continuing to support the undergraduate research community.
Major: Neuroscience
Mentor: Thomas Wood, Department of Pediatrics
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Yvonne Guan
Yvonne Guan
Yvonne Guan
Yvonne is a senior at the University of Washington majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Applied Mathematics. She joined the Vaughan Group in 2023, using novel microscopy techniques to investigate diverse biological systems. Her current project is to study the cellular architecture of the testis using a newly developed pipeline for three-dimensional histology. This approach combines lightsheet microscopy, which can image entire testes labeled with fluorescent analogues of traditional H&E stain, with machine learning algorithms capable of automatically identifying relevant structures. As an initial application, Yvonne is characterizing structural variation within individual healthy testes, testing the hypothesis that the uneven distribution of testosterone-producing Leydig cells cause fluctuations and reversals in the spermatogenic wave. In the future, this assay can be extended to compare young and aged testes to investigate how age-induced Leydig cell injury disrupts spermatogenesis, ultimately building a pathological understanding necessary for developing novel treatments for age-related impairment of testosterone production.
Through undergraduate research, Yvonne hopes to deepen her expertise in using biophysical tools to probe and quantify features of highly complex systems. After graduating, she plans to pursue a PhD in Biophysics, perhaps narrowing her focus to systems neuroscience, driven by her curiosity about where the information that defines human individuality is stored. She is grateful to Prof. Joshua Vaughan and lab members, especially Madeline Wong, Dr. Adilijiang Ali, and Pedro Vasquez, for not only teaching her technical and project management skills, but also cultivating a welcoming environment that encourages her growth as a researcher. She also acknowledges the generous support of various scholarships, including the Levinson Scholarship, which strengthen her confidence and sense of belonging in research. Finally, she thanks family and friends for indulging her rants about science, anime, novels, and philosophy, which enrich her life beyond the lab.Major: Chemistry
Mentor: Joshua Vaughan, Department of Chemistry
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Linda Guo
Linda Guo
Linda Guo
Linda Guo is a senior majoring in Bioengineering at the University of Washington. She worked in the Kueh lab on immune cell engineering for the first three years of her undergraduate experience, before transitioning to the Olanrewaju lab in the summer before her senior year. Her current project focuses on therapeutic drug monitoring in the context of tuberculosis (TB). She is developing a CRISPR-based diagnostic platform to detect rifampicin, a first-line drug used in the treatment of TB. This point-of-care diagnostic platform will provide access to adherence monitoring in low-resource settings where tuberculosis is endemic. Outside of the lab, Linda enjoys long walks, reading, and yoga. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. Linda is incredibly grateful for the support and guidance of her mentors, Dr. Ayokunle Olanrewaju and Makayla Wilson. She gives thanks to the Levinson family for their generous support and dedication to scientific innovation.
Major: Bioengieering
Mentor: Ayokunle Olanrewaju, Department of Bioengineering
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Sumin Hong
Sumin Hong
Sumin Hong
Sumin Hong is a senior studying Bioengineering at the University of Washington. Her research in Dr. Ying Zheng’s lab focuses on developing computational imaging tools to analyze endothelial cell morphology, with applications in vascular biology and traumatic brain injury. Sumin is passionate about bridging engineering, computation, and biology to create tools that accelerate biomedical discovery. In her free time, she enjoys playing guitar and watching movies.
Major: Bioengineering
Mentor: Ying Zheng, Department of Bioengineering
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Maria Kang
Maria Kang
Maria Kang
Maria is a senior at the University of Washington pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. She joined the Powell Lab at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute during her sophomore year, where she investigates the intersections between circadian rhythms and human airway diseases. Using an organotypic model of the human airway epithelium, she has studied how time of day influences gene expression in airway tissue from asthmatic patients and how viral infection alters gene expression in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Building on this work, she plans to examine how protein levels vary across circadian time points in healthy and asthmatic children and to measure inflammation-related gene expression following steroid exposure at different times of day in asthmatic cell lines. These studies aim to advance therapeutic strategies by optimizing the timing of treatments. Her research with the Powell Lab has strengthened her commitment to both medicine and circadian research. After graduation, Maria plans to pursue an MD and contribute to the field of circadian-cancer research. She feels incredibly fortunate to be guided by her amazing mentor, Dr. Weston Powell, and supported by a lab team who have been nothing but encouraging of her work and goals. The generosity of the Levinson family has made it possible for her to pursue these opportunities, and she is sincerely grateful for their role in supporting her future in research.
Major: Biochemistry
Mentor: Weston Powell, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine
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Naurisha Kapoor
Naurisha Kapoor
Naurisha Kapoor
Naurisha is a junior at the University of Washington majoring in Biochemistry and Bioengineering. In her freshman year, she joined the Alvarez Lab, where she has been investigating the role of the transcription factor NRF2 in breast cancer recurrence and metastasis. Tumor recurrence following treatment and surgery is a leading cause of death among cancer patients. NRF2, the master regulator of our cells’ antioxidant response, is overexpressed in recurrent tumor cells and is shown to promote tumor growth via metabolic reprogramming. However, little is known about the regulation of NRF2 activity in cancer. Naurisha’s current project aims to better understand NRF2 regulation in breast cancer through the construction of a multiplexed, fluorescent NRF2 reporter system that can monitor both NRF2’s transcriptional activity and protein stability in the same cell, in real time. Ultimately, Naurisha hopes that her research will better characterize NRF2 activity in cancerous systems, and shed further light on it as a potential therapeutic for breast cancer treatment. After graduating, Naurisha plans to pursue a Ph. D. and perform research that links both biochemistry and bioengineering, eventually seeking an interdisciplinary career in biotechnology. In her free time, Naurisha likes to read, craft, and listen to music. She is incredibly grateful for the support of her mentor Dr. James Alvarez, as well as postdoctoral student Dr. Yasemin Ozdemir-Ceyhan and the rest of the Alvarez lab, for their invaluable support and encouragement. She is honored to receive the Levinson Emerging Scholars award, and would like to thank the Levinson family for their generosity and support of undergraduate research.
Majors: Biochemistry, Bioengineering
Mentor: James Alvarez, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
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Hesham Katabi
Hesham Katabi
Hesham Katabi
Hesham Katabi is a Bioengineering student at the University of Washington pursuing a specialization in Machine Learning and Data Science. He is a member of the IV-Safe project developing affordable IV infiltration detection technology for premature infants and global health applications. Beyond the lab, Hesham enjoys combining entrepreneurial initiative with technical innovation. Passionate about bridging engineering, medicine, and computer science, he aspires to pursue medical school while continuing to explore how computational tools can drive clinical impact.
Major: Bioengineering
Mentor: Greg Valentine, Department of Neonatology
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Max Kobiesa
Max Kobiesa
Max Kobiesa
Maximilian Kobiesa is a senior at the University of Washington studying Bioengineering and Biochemistry. He joined Dr. Lucas Sullivan’s lab in the fall quarter of his junior year where he has been able to explore his interests in metabolism and chemical biology. More specifically, he studies cysteine metabolism in the context of NRF2-activated cancers. These cancers exhibit a unique phenotype, including elevated intracellular cysteine levels and increased resistance to anti-cancer drugs and widely chemotherapeutics. However, the mechanism of resistance is largely uncharacterized. He is leveraging functional assays and LC-MS to investigate cysteine’s role in inactivating drugs, to identify novel drug conjugates that may lead to resistance, and to seek combinatorial therapies to resensitize cells to treatment. This work could uncover a metabolic vulnerability in drug-resistant cancers and point toward new treatment strategies, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes. Outside of school and research, Max enjoys cycling, skiing, and traveling. He is especially grateful to his mentor, Dr. Lucas Sullivan, his graduate student mentor, Jen Crainic, and everyone else at the Sullivan lab for their support and for challenging him to become a more creative and thoughtful scientist. Max would also like to extend his gratitude to Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Levinson for their generous contribution to himself and to his colleagues.
Majors: Biochemistry, Bioengineering
Mentors: Lucas Sullivan, Department of Biochemistry, Fred Hutch Cancer Center Human Biology Division
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Roxanne Madden
Roxanne Madden
Roxanne Madden
Roxanne is a senior at the University of Washington pursuing a degree in Biology with a focus in Physiology and a minor in Spanish. Intrigued by the heart’s reliability and adaptability, she joined the Moreno Lab in Summer 2023. Here, she works on understanding the molecular-level changes that influence the slowdown of cardiac pacemaking rate with age. Specifically, she is interested in L-type calcium channels, pore-forming ion channels which play an integral role in bringing calcium into pacemaker cells, causing the heart to beat. Interestingly, the lab has previously reported that the expression of these channels is reduced at the plasma membrane of old pacemaker cells, translating into a slowed pacemaking rate. During her time as a Levinson Scholar, Roxanne aims to unveil the mechanisms behind this reduction. She will study whether there is a reduction in L-type calcium channel trafficking, or transport, to the plasma membrane in old pacemaker cells. Specifically, she will study the expression of and interactions between L-type calcium channels and vesicle-associated proteins important in trafficking. Additionally, she will look into possible changes in channel subunit expression at the mRNA and protein level as they have been shown to play an essential role in L-type calcium channel trafficking. Roxanne’s time in the Moreno Lab has developed her interest in pursuing a graduate degree in cardiac physiology after her undergraduate studies. Roxanne is incredibly thankful to her mentors Dr. Claudia Moreno and Dr. Oscar Vivas as well as all her lab members for their support of her learning. Roxanne is deeply honored to be supported by the Levinson family and their contributions to advancing aging research. She thanks the Levinson family for their generous support of her and other young scientists’ research.
Major: Biology (Physiology)
Mentor: Claudia Moreno, Department of Neurobiology and of Physics
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Alen Poehlman
Alen Poehlman
Alen Poehlman
Alen S. Poehlman is a rising junior majoring in biochemistry. In 2024, they became an undergraduate researcher in the group of Dr. Sean C. Murphy, using digital pathology to study murine liver-stage malaria and sexual dimorphism in immune function. Alen was selected as a 2025 Amgen Scholar at UCLA in the group of Dr. Lena Pernas, where he studied Toxoplasma gondii and host-pathogen interactions with guidance from Dr. Amy Prichard. He aims to pursue a PhD in infectious disease research after graduation. Outside of the lab, Alen enjoys reading, playing music, and browsing through microscopy images!
Major: Biochemistry
Mentor: Sean C. Murphy, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
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Queminh Tran
Queminh Tran
Queminh Tran
Queminh Tran is a fourth-year chemistry major with a strong interest in synthetic chemistry. In the group of Professor Dianne Xiao, she researches polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) for CO2 separations. Outside the lab, she enjoys serving as the president for the Free Radicals club, and a mentor in the department’s mentorship program, helping support other students in the field. After graduation, she is looking forward to pursuing a PhD in synthetic inorganic chemistry.
Major: Chemistry
Mentor: Dianne Xiao, Department of Chemistry
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Anna Varney
Anna Varney
Anna Varney
Anna Varney is a Junior at the University of Washington pursuing a degree in Biochemistry. She joined Michael Ailion’s lab in January of her freshman year. Currently, she is studying gynogenesis, a phenomenon in which a female goes through the mechanics of sexual intercourse with a male but produces offspring with only maternal DNA. This phenomenon is observed when two species of Caenorhabditis nematodes (C. becei and C. nouraguensis) are crossed together. When this cross occurs, C. nouraguensis females begin producing diploid eggs instead of haploid eggs. This change is not understood at the cellular level. However, with the support of the Levinson Award, Anna intends to insert a fluorescent protein tag onto histone 72, a structural protein within chromosomes, resulting in the ability to image the movements of the maternal chromosomes during meiosis. Anna intends to pursue a PhD after graduation to continue her research into genetics. In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading and studying history. She is also the Art Director of Off Leash News, UW’s satire newspaper. Anna is extremely grateful for the opportunity to pursue her research goals with the academic support of her mentor, Dr. Michael Ailion, and the generous financial support of the Levinson family.
Major: Biochemistry
Mentor: Michael Ailion, Department of Biochemistry
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Asha Viswanathan
Asha Viswanathan
Asha Viswanathan
Asha is a junior at the University of Washington studying bioengineering. They joined the Theberge lab in their freshman year, where they began investigating novel methods for engineering tissues using open microfluidics. Their current project leverages novel microfluidic principles to synthesize hydrogel tissues laden with cells that model tumor vasculature, with a focus on recapitulating critical mechanical forces associated with physiological and disease development. They are developing a tissue patterning platform specifically to model a perfusable lumen structure, towards the goal of creating an easily replicable and physiologically accurate model of a vascularized tumor that can screen anti-angiogenesis and neoadjuvant drugs. They would like to thank their coconspirators in lab, Ella and Liam, for bringing them so much joy and so many good ideas, and all of the grad students in the Theberge lab for being so supportive of their ideas and interests, especially Jamison, Lauren, Amanda, and Ariel, who are so encouraging and eager to teach, and to Dr.Theberge for being an enthusiastic mentor.
Major: Bioengineering
Mentor: Jamison Whitten, Department of Chemistry