ANDO LAB at CORNELL

Bio: Mike was born in Tampa, Florida. He served a 5 year enlistment in the U.S. Army infantry after he finished high school. When he separated, Mike completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Tampa. As an undergraduate, Mike studied liquid-liquid rare-earth metal separations via carbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) ligand design optimization in the lab of Dr. Eric Werner. He joined the Ando lab when he came to Cornell University in 2018, where he was a Cornell Provost Diversity Fellow. In the Ando Lab, Mike studied allostery in aspartate transcarbamoylase.

Lab responsibilities: Mike was the founder of XLG.

Interests outside of the lab: Mike spends his spare time with his family and his chainsaw (usually not at the same time). He is married to his incredibly supportive wife, Alyssa, and they have two kids, Zandt and Fiona. Mike likes to mill up old logs he finds around town and build things in his garage wood shop. He also dabbles in yoga.

Mike's recommendations:
Music: Mike recommends giving Guns and Roses another try.
Food: Aldi brand Spaghetti-Os

Bio: Robby was born and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota. He received a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) and then stayed to complete his MS in chemistry. At UMD, Robby studied under Erin Sheets and Ahmed Heikal where he used integrated fluorescence spectroscopy to characterize a family of FRET sensors designed for measuring intracellular ionic strength. During this time, Robby realized his passion for using physical chemistry to study and answer relevant biological questions. As a result, he decided to attend Cornell University in 2019, where he is a graduate student in the Ando group. In 2020, he began a half-time appointment at CHESS working at ID7A with Richard Gillilan. In the Ando Lab, Rob studied allostery in aspartate transcarbamoylase.

Lab responsibilities: Rob was the group meeting czar. He and Darren were computer and cryo-EM co-czars.

Interests outside the lab: Robby loves landscape photography and finding new and amazing places to photograph. In fact, he likes to spend as much time outside as he can, no matter the season. As a high school student, Robby competed and placed nationally at freestyle snowboarding, one of his proudest achievements. He still loves making the most of winter and riding whenever he can. He is also known to casually run 26 miles at 4am. He recently ran 55.75 miles at a pace of ~10 min/mile.

Rob’s Recommendations: 
Music: Trampled by Turtles

Bio: Darren grew up in eastern China and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Nanjing University. As an undergrad, he worked on studying biomolecules with mechanical force. He joined the Ando lab at Cornell University in 2018. He is intrigued by the structural dynamics behind the operations of proteins and hopes to elucidate the complex mechanisms of them. Darren likes to be efficient as possible at all times and submits things months before they are due. In the Ando Lab, Darren studied the structural dynamics behind enzyme function and allostery, and how these characteristics emerged during evolution.

Lab responsibilities: Darren was the lab safety officer. He and Rob were computer and cryo-EM co-czars. Darren also contributed to software development (see our GitHub page).

Interests outside the lab: Darren enjoys running, though he is quite secretive of his favorite running spots. He also enjoys playing music, particularly traditional Chinese instruments. Although he started out by learning Dizi, he now likes the sound of Xiao more because it's less intrusive, an aspect that is particularly appealing to Darren. A lesser known fact about Darren is that he understands some Japanese and can sing at least one Japanese song.

Darren's recommendations:
Music: The New Age music of Pacific Moon.
Food: Darren recommends being completely food-neutral and eating anything that technically counts as edible.

Bio: Amanda grew up in rural Pennsylvania and the San Francisco/Bay Area. While getting her undergraduate degree from UC San Diego, she investigated genes responsible for temperature and light sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana in Prof. Joanne Chory's lab at the Salk Institute. For her graduate work in Prof. Joan Broderick's lab at Montana State University, she worked primarily on two metalloenzyme projects: 1) [FeFe]-Hydrogenase H-cluster maturation with a focus on in vivo cluster maturation on HydF, and 2) radical SAM enzyme mechanism determination using several enzymes and spectroscopic techniques, including a little EPR spectroscopy. In the Ando Lab, she was a NIH postdoctoral fellow studying the role of allostery in regulating electron transfer.

Lab responsibilities: Amanda was the head of lab-ops and lab mentors, and she also maintained the glove boxes.

Interests outside of the lab: Amanda enjoys drawing, biking, flat-skiing, reading, and observing plants and insects! When not in lab, she can be found exploring outside (by bike, ski, or foot) or inside (reading or drawing). She recently discovered senposai (a cross between lettuce and Japanese komatsuna) at Ithaca Farmer’s Market.

Amanda's recommendations:
Book: Steinbeck's “Log from the Sea of Cortez”
Movie: Miyazaki's “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”

Bio: Shiva was born in Houston, TX and lived in 3 different continents before he finally settled in the great state of Pennsylvania. At Cornell, he majored in Chemistry and Economics. In the Ando Lab, Shiva worked with Xiaokun to study how different forms of ribonucleotide reductases use different chemical methods to fulfill the same biological function.

Scientific Interests: Shiva is interested in the study of proteins and using their structure to investigate the unique chemical and electronic tools nature uses to sustain life. He hopes that by understanding proteins at this fundamental level, we can apply these principles to our current understanding of biology and medicine in order to find safer, more effective methods of drug design and discovery.

Interests outside of the lab: Outside of research, Shiva enjoys watching TV shows and reading books. He also likes working out and playing intramural volleyball. Shiva is also a big foodie and enjoys cooking and eating good food with his family and friends.

Shiva's recommendations:
Food: Mysore Pak (Indian dessert) and Pickled Bitter Gourd
Books: East of Eden by John Steinbeck and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Bio: Sarah is from Johns Creek, Georgia (outside Atlanta). She is interested in applying both biology and chemistry principles to structural biology problems, which led her to the Ando Lab. In 2022, she received the J. Emery Morris Fellowship! During her undergraduate studies, Sarah was co-mentored by Xiaokun and Audrey. She graduated in May 2023, and she is staying in the Ando Lab over the summer to continue research and serve as a peer mentor for CHAMPS.

Scientific interests: protein structure and dynamics, molecular evolutionary biology

Interests outside of the lab: Outside of the lab, Sarah plays flute in the Cornell Wind Symphony. She enjoys trying out new restaurants/foods and watching movies with friends!

Sarah's recommendations:
Foods: Dandan mian, persimmons, dark chocolate-covered pretzels
TV Shows: Avatar The Last Airbender, Queen’s Gambit
Movies: The Social Network, Memento

Bio: Eduardo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez for two years before transferring to Cornell. He is currently a junior majoring in Biological Sciences. He credits his biochemistry class at Cornell for sparking his interest in proteins, which led him to pursue biochemical and biophysical research. In the Ando Lab, Eduardo is currently learning about the flavodoxin reaction pathway of the methionine synthase (MetH) enzyme. Eduardo is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Cornell University Research Transfer (HHMI-CURT) program. In the lab, he is mentored by Haoyue.

Scientific Interests: Eduardo is interested in the study of proteins and being able to determine their structure and analyze their motion through the use of different techniques. In addition, Eduardo wants to learn how to implement computational methods to the study of proteins.

Interests outside of the lab: During his time in Upstate New York, Eduardo has come to enjoy the snow and the cold. He loves exploring Ithaca’s natural beauty. In his spare time, Eduardo enjoys relaxing with friends, learning about the piano and the bass, and learning new languages.

Eduardo's recommendations:
Music: Cultura Profética, Paul McCartney and Wings
Books: Frolic of the Beasts by Yukio Mishima
Movies: El secreto de sus ojos

Bio: Gabrielle is from upstate New York. She received her bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Cornell University. As an undergraduate, Gabrielle gained experience with X-ray methods working at CHESS and with Prof. Sol Gruner on high-pressure SAXS and beamline technology development. She completed her first year of graduate study in chemistry at Princeton University before making her dramatic return to Cornell in 2018. In the Ando Lab, she studied molecular adaptations to oxygen and developed anoxic X-ray techniques.

Scientific interests: Gabrielle loves developing new methods and technology and is happy to navigate a project start to finish, beginning with a goal and determining the best route to accomplish it. She is fascinated by the evolutionary perspective of molecular biology and pushing the boundaries of X-ray science.

Lab responsibilities: Gabrielle was in charge of maintaining the glove boxes and the departmental media liason for the lab. She was also head of party planning.

Interests outside of lab: Gabrielle enjoys running, swimming, and skiing. She also loves eating good food, traveling, and relaxing with her family. She can be frequently found teaching her son about some science way beyond his current grade level, though she admits that increasingly she’s the student and he’s the teacher. In fact, her son has surpassed her in the kitchen.

Gabrielle's recommendations:
Food: Starbucks doubleshot espresso
Sport: Unashamedly cracking corny jokes
App: myMBRAUN

Bio: Andy hails from Haverhill, Massachusetts. He received his bachelor's in chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and completed his first year of graduate study in chemistry at Princeton University before moving to Cornell with the Ando Lab. As an undergrad, Andy studied the relationship between structure and function in hollow nanoparticles and organometallic photosensitizers. In the Ando lab, Andy studied the function and evolution of protein allostery through the enzyme family of ribonucleotide reductase. He is now a postdoc in computation biology at the NIH!

Scientific interests: Enzyme allostery, protein-protein/protein-ligand interactions, evolution of enzymes, drug design, metabolic pathways

Lab responsibilities: Andy was the lab entropy-fighting sheriff and was on the lab-ops team. He was also the student moderator of @AndoLab on Twitter.

Interests outside of the lab: Andy is a fan of Netflix’s modern renaissance of documentary-style cooking shows like Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and Chef’s Table. He also enjoys being outdoors, especially hiking around Ithaca with his partner, Alyssa, and their two year old rescue Australian Cattle Dog, Pax. He is newly interested in keeping succulents alive and crock-pot cooking (two as-of-yet unrelated endeavors).

Audrey's recommendations:
TV: The Great British Baking Show
Podcast: My Favorite Murder
Sport: The New England Patriots

Bio: Cindy grew up in Shenzhen, China until she moved to Virginia and Texas for middle and high school. She is majoring in Computer Science in the College of Engineering. She's co-mentored by Neti and Steve Meisburger (now at CHESS).

Scientific Interests: Cindy is interested in exploring structural biology through computation.

Interests outside of the lab: Outside of the lab, Cindy likes to read and play badminton and golf.

Cindy's recommendations:
Books: Piranesi, The World of Yesterday, The Metamorphosis
Movies: Jojo rabbit, Witness for the Prosecution 1957

Bio: John is from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He received his PhD from the University of Alberta in Macromolecular Crystallography, and has since worked at the University of Toronto, University of Manitoba, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. He joined the Ando group at Princeton University as an Associate Research Scholar in 2016 and moved with the lab to Cornell in 2018. He has extensive experience in protein crystallography and guiding functional studies to test structure-based hypotheses. His work has included studies of proteins from a wide range of sources including mammals, bacteria and viruses - providing insight into catalytic mechanism, structure-based inhibitor design, protein engineering and conformational dynamics. He was a Research Associate in the Ando lab from 2016-2022.

Scientific Interests: Protein crystallography, structural biology, enzyme kinetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, evolutionary biology.

Lab responsibilities: John helped with the training and mentoring of students in crystallography and molecular biology and contributes to various projects in the lab in addition to his own.

Interests outside the lab: Outside of research, John enjoys spending time with his family and exploring the many things to do around Ithaca.

John's recommendations:
Book: “Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome” by Venki Ramakrishnan
Place: Ithaca Sciencenter
Groceries: Aldi

Bio: Cisco was an undergraduate Chemistry and Chemical Biology Major at Cornell University in the College or Arts and Sciences. He’s on a Pre-MD-PhD track pursuing his passions for helping others, performing scientific research, and bridging the divide between innovative discoveries and their applications in medical practice. Outside of the lab, Cisco enjoys cooking, painting, and coffee-tasting. When in need of a break, you can catch him watching historical dramas, giving his friends unsolicited campus walking tours, or taking a road trip to somewhere new with classical music on the stereo and coffee at his side.

Bio: Garam (Popo) was a Chemistry Major minoring in Business and Nutrition. She is interested in dental medicine as a career. One of her favorite Korean TV shows is Hospital Playlist. Highly recommended!

Bio: Peiwen was born and raised in Beijing, China and has been studying in the U.S. since 2015. At Cornell, she is an undergraduate student majoring in chemistry. Peiwen became interested in protein folding and dynamics through her physical chemistry and biochemistry courses and joined the Ando Lab to explore the application of structural biology methods to complicated biological systems.

Research interests: Peiwen is interested in the thermodynamics of protein folding, protein allostery, and the determination of protein structure using cryo-electron microscopy.

Interests outside the lab:  Peiwen loves running as a way of immersing herself in nature and exploring new places and scenery. She also enjoys biking through the streets of her hometown, learning to ski, and experimenting with different recipes while cooking.

Peiwen's recommendations:
Book: Life by Lu Yao

Bio: Max was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and grew up in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Lehigh University, where he studied membrane proteins involved in cell signaling in the group of Daniel Thévenin. He joined the Ando Group at Princeton University in 2015 and moved with the group in 2018. In the Ando lab, Max studied flexible enzymes primarily with X-ray scattering and cryo-EM.

Scientific Interests: Protein dynamics, enzyme flexibility, Matlab, metalloenzymes, the heat death of the universe, knowing random facts like the economics of making a death star

Lab responsibilities: Max maintained the lab Globus account and the glove boxes. He is also known as the Maxbot for his superior abilities to freeze EM grids.

Interests outside of the lab: Outside of lab, Max is an enthusiastic musician, actively playing both piano and cello. He currently performs in the Cornell University Orchestra and hopes to someday get back to practicing guitar as well. Max’s greatest achievement is that one time he got first at a local Smash Bros. tournament. Max also likes art and has contributed realistic drawings of fictional characters, e.g. Gollum and Appa, to Nozomi’s collection of student art.

Max's recommendation:
Music: A Mahler a day keeps the doctor away.

Bio: Will was born in New Orleans, LA and grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He did his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College where he majored in biochemistry (and biology and chemistry). At Oberlin, he studied atmospheric environmental chemistry but was interested in finding physical chemistry research with a more biological slant in graduate school. Will went to Princeton in 2015 for his graduate studies to study protein function and structure using advanced X-ray techniques in the Ando lab, and he moved to Cornell with the group in 2018.

Scientific interests: As a biochemist, Will is interested in understanding the structural underpinnings of allosteric regulation using physical techniques. He considers himself an evolutionary biologist at heart, and his interests span from phylogenetics and molecular evolution to behavioral ecology and cognitive psychology.

Lab responsibilities: Will was the group meeting czar. He was also a member of the lab-ops team.

Interests outside of the lab: Outside of lab, Will enjoys reading and learning about history, anthropology, zoology, and many other topics. He also reads plenty of fiction as long as it isn’t too realistic. Though tempered by his current habitation in a thin-walled apartment building, he also enjoys playing music and is known to write (bad) songs including such hits as "Let's Dimerize" and "Centrifugue". Finally he is an avid "world-builder", which mostly entails concocting unwarranted and unnoticed depth in the dungeons and dragons games he runs for friends.

Will's recommendations:
Food: Though no food is perfect (yet), Will has “scientifically” determined the baby carrot to optimally maximize healthiness, taste, price, and ease of preparation.
Music: Joe Hisaishi, composer for Studio Ghibli films, makes great music to pipette to.

Bio: Marc was born in Los Angeles and raised in Mission Viejo, California with two younger brothers. He is currently an undergrad at Cornell going into this fourth year and majoring in Chemistry. At Cornell, Marc has explored the beauty of upstate New York, joined a professional chemistry fraternity, and was a member of the Men’s Varsity Swim Team for his first and second years. He has previously worked on the immobilization of complex enzymatic systems and its applications in catalysis. Joining the Ando and Milner Labs in the summer of 2019, Marc explored the many facets of protein dynamics and investigates new methods in crystallization.

Scientific interests: Marc is very interested in the dynamic structures of proteins and the methods of analyzing them, such as spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Additionally, he is intrigued by the prospect of using synthesized materials to facilitate the study of particular protein conformations.

Interests outside of the lab: During the sparse sunny days of Ithaca, you can usually find Marc exploring the Ithaca gorges, lounging around Lake Cayuga, or playing frisbee with friends. He also enjoys cooking and trying different kinds of foods.

Marc's recommendations:
Music: Blink-182’s newest album is fire
Sports: Swimming and rock climbing
Movies/TV: The Prestige, Game of Thrones, Marvel movies