PEOPLE

Principal Investigator


Hao Yuan Kueh
Associate Professor, Bioengineering

Research Interests: Systems, synthetic and quantitative biology; quantitative biology, cell fate decision making, immunology

Contact: kueh [at] uw [dot] edu

Lab Members



Morgan Bean
Graduate Student, Bioengineering

Research Interests: Manipulating T cell circuitry to engineering new T cell functions.

Hobbies: Going to concerts, skiing, camping, watching movies, house planting

Cell Type: I would be a hair cell because I love listening to music.

Contact: mmr34 [at] uw [dot] edu



Ethan Cheney
Undergraduate, Bioengineering

Research Interests: I am interested in building CRISPR tools to probe enhancer function in Bcl11b.

Hobbies: reading fantasy/sci-fi, climbing, running, painting, video games

Cell Type:  I would be a glial cell because I like giving people hugs.

Contact: ethanc24 [at] uw [dot] edu



Kathryn Denecke
Graduate Student, Bioengineering

Research Interests: Kathryn is studying the biological mechanisms of T cell lineage commitment.

Hobbies: Climbing, hiking, rollerblading, skiing, and painting

Cell Type: I would be a stem cell because I’m indecisive.

Contact: kdenecke [at] uw [dot] edu



Yufei Gao
Graduate Student, Bioengineering

Research Interests: Yufei is interested in engineering T cells for learning and treating diseases like cancer.

Hobbies: Dance, badminton, traveling, eating nice food, watching TV shows

Cell Type: I would be a chondrocyte (cells in cartilage) because I like to dance.

Contact: yug016 [at] uw [dot] edu



Linda Guo
Undergraduate Student

Research Interests: Linda is working with grad student Madeline Wong on blood cell differentiation / lineage analysis.

Hobbies: reading, swimming, crocheting

Cell Type: I would be a macrophage because I like eating and trying new foods.

Contact: lindag26 [at] uw [dot] edu



Arjun Kumar
Graduate Student, Molecular & Cellular Biology

Research Interests: Arjun is interested in understanding and modulating T-cell exhaustion differentiation in cell therapy.

Hobbies: Basketball, climbing, hiking, concerts

Cell Type: I would be a neural progenitor because I want to learn everything I can.

Contact: ajkumar [at] uw [dot] edu



Paul Leanza
Research Scientist

Research Interests: Paul is interested in exploring the role of T cell function/dysfunction in cancers, chronic infections, and autoimmune disorders.

Hobbies: cooking, walking my dogs, swimming, and drawing

Cell Type: I would be a dendritic cell because I sometimes like to walk around aimlessly sampling the environment for something that looks interesting.

Contact: pjleanza [at] uw [dot] edu



Madeline Wong
Graduate Student, Chemistry
Co-mentored with Joshua Vaughan, Chemistry

Research Interests: Maddie is interested in using new microscopy-based methods to study hematopoietic stem cell differentiation.

Hobbies: Cooking, Traveling, Napping in the sun like a cat

Cell Type: I would be a gustatory receptor cell (taste buds) since I like to eat.

Contact: mwong86 [at] uw [dot] edu


Rebecca Wu
Graduate Student, Bioengineering

Research Interests: Rebecca is interested in how peptide information is decoded in T cells.

Hobbies: Hiking, soccer, ultimate, cooking, reading

Cell Type: I would be a neuron because I am easily excited and amused.

Contact: rebw25 [at] uw [dot] edu

Lab Alumni

William White, PhD – Graduate student (now IRACDA Postdoc @ Tufts University)
Elisa Clark, PhD – Graduate student (now Patent Agent @ McNeill Baur PLLC)
Matthew Wither, PhD – Graduate student (now Research Scientist III @ Seattle Children’s)
Kathleen Abadie, PhD – Graduate student (now Scientist @ Allen Institute of Immunology)
Marcus Woodworth, PhD – Graduate student (now Postdoc @ University of Pennsylvania)
Nicholas Pease, PhD – Graduate student (now Postdoc @ University of Pittsburgh)
Jon Chu, PhD – Graduate student (now MD candidate @ University of Washington)
Sam Nguyen, PhD – Graduate student (now Postdoc @ University of California San Diego)
Lihua Chen, Lab manager/Research Scientist
Kenneth Ng, Lab manager/Research Scientist (now Research Associate II @ City of Hope)
Willow Chernoske, Rotation student
Maya Singh, Rotation student
Kira Olander, Rotation student
Eric Yang, Rotation student
Issa Yousif, Rotation student
Selena Yeung, Undergraduate student
Hailemikael (Michael) Yirdaw, Undergraduate student
Jumana Fathima, Undergraduate student
Allan Wang, Undergraduate student
Hyeon Jin Kim, Undergraduate student
Jonathan Lim, Undergraduate student
Jamie Santos, Undergraduate student
Leonard Chen, Undergraduate student
Blythe Irwin, Undergraduate student