Lab Members
Dmitry Nevozhay, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research Interest: Development and application of nanoformulations as theranostic and contrast agents for tracking immunotherapy and cancer diagnostics (ultrasound, MRI); statistical approaches and computational algorithms for biomedical image processing; applications of synthetic biology in oncology and biomedical imaging.
Aaron Schwartz-Duval, Ph.D.
Instructor
Dr. Schwartz-Duval received his Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry & molecular biology in 2013 from Michigan State University, and his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2019. His Ph.D. thesis focused on the utilization of endogenous biomaterials to prepare theranostic and diagnostic nanophotonics. For his postdoctoral studies, he joined the BOND lab, initially supported through the T32 Cancer Nanotechnology training grant within the Imaging Physics department.
Currently, Dr. Schwartz-Duval is an instructor in Imaging Physics, where the focus of his work is related to the utilization of gold nanoparticle biomineralization as a strategy to address cancer.
Ananthakrishnan Soundaram Jeevarathinam, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Ananth received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in chemistry from Loyola College Chennai under the University of Madras, India. He worked on, “Design, synthesis, and characterization of functional organic materials for white electroluminescence,” during his doctoral program at CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute in India and received his Ph.D. in March 2015 from the University of Madras. Ananth completed his postdoctoral studies at University of California San Diego and Texas A&M University with a specialization in nanoparticle-based contrast agents for therapeutic monitoring.
Currently Ananth is a research scientist in the BOND Lab. His current interest is the development of targeted nanoparticle-based contrast agents for cancer therapy monitoring.
Ali Haghighat Mesbahi, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ali conducted his research on "Tuning the Fluid Wetting Dynamics on Gold Microstructures and Conductivity of Polyaniline Using Photoactive Compounds" and completed his Ph.D. in chemistry in May 2022 at the University of Central Florida, followed by a year of experience as Research Scientist III (Polymer Scientist) at the Meta Reality Lab in Redmond, Washington.
He is currently a T32 Cancer Nanotechnology Postdoctoral Fellow in Imaging Physics at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research interests primarily revolve around integrating polymeric nanoparticles and machine learning in cancer treatment.
BOND Lab Alumni - Graduate Students
Bakai Sheyitov, 10/2023
Sangheon Han, Ph.D., 8/2024
Avinash Murthy, co-supervisor, Ph.D. 8/2013
Thesis: “Surface Design and Controlled Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles into Biodegradable Nanoclusters for Biomedical Imaging Applications”. After graduation: Chemist at Roche.
Justina Tam, Ph.D. 11/2012
Thesis: “Interactions of Composite Gold Nanoparticles with Cells and Tissue: Implications in Clinical Translation for Cancer Imaging and Therapy”. After graduation: Justina has received a prestigious two year FDA Commissioner’s Fellowship to carry out post-doctoral research at MIT.
Tim Larson, Ph.D. 7/2012
Thesis: “Nanocomposite particles as theranostic agents for cancer”.After graduation: Tim has been accepted to a highly competitive 3 year post-doctoral Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS) program at Stanford.
Kort Travis, Ph.D. 11/2010
Thesis:” Optical Scattering from Nanoparticle Aggregates”. After graduation: Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin.
Chih-Wen Kan, co-supervisor, Ph.D. 8/2010
After graduation: Programmer Analyst at Genentech.
Nathan Harrison, Ph.D. 11/2009
Thesis: “Nanoscale characterization of interactions between molecular specific plasmonic nanoparticles and living cells and its implications for optical imaging of protein-protein interactions”. After graduation: Optical engineer, Panasonic.
Sonia Kumar, Ph.D., 4/2007
Thesis: “Plasmonic nanoparticles for imaging intracellular biomarkers.”After graduation: Chemist at T2 Biosystems.
Jesse Aaron, Ph.D., 4/2007
Thesis: “Plasmon Resonance Coupling as a Tool for Detecting Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression in Cancer”. After graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories.
Linda Nieman, Ph.D., 8/2004
Thesis: “Early detection of curable precancerous lesions in the oral cavity using polarized reflectance spectroscopy”. After graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories.
BOND Lab Alumni - Postdoctoral Fellows
Sangheon Han, Ph.D., 5/2023
Avinash Murthy, co-supervisor, Ph.D. 8/2013
Thesis: “Surface Design and Controlled Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles into Biodegradable Nanoclusters for Biomedical Imaging Applications”. After graduation: Chemist at Roche.
Justina Tam, Ph.D. 11/2012
Thesis: “Interactions of Composite Gold Nanoparticles with Cells and Tissue: Implications in Clinical Translation for Cancer Imaging and Therapy”. After graduation: Justina has received a prestigious two year FDA Commissioner’s Fellowship to carry out post-doctoral research at MIT.
Tim Larson, Ph.D. 7/2012
Thesis: “Nanocomposite particles as theranostic agents for cancer”.After graduation: Tim has been accepted to a highly competitive 3 year post-doctoral Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS) program at Stanford.
Kort Travis, Ph.D. 11/2010
Thesis:” Optical Scattering from Nanoparticle Aggregates”. After graduation: Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin.
Chih-Wen Kan, co-supervisor, Ph.D. 8/2010
After graduation: Programmer Analyst at Genentech.
Nathan Harrison, Ph.D. 11/2009
Thesis: “Nanoscale characterization of interactions between molecular specific plasmonic nanoparticles and living cells and its implications for optical imaging of protein-protein interactions”. After graduation: Optical engineer, Panasonic.
Sonia Kumar, Ph.D., 4/2007
Thesis: “Plasmonic nanoparticles for imaging intracellular biomarkers.”After graduation: Chemist at T2 Biosystems.
Jesse Aaron, Ph.D., 4/2007
Thesis: “Plasmon Resonance Coupling as a Tool for Detecting Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Expression in Cancer”. After graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories.
Linda Nieman, Ph.D., 8/2004
Thesis: “Early detection of curable precancerous lesions in the oral cavity using polarized reflectance spectroscopy”. After graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories.
Research Staff Alumni
Pavel Tsitovich, Ph.D., 12/2025
Chang Soo Kim, Ph.D. 12/2019
Scientific Project Manager, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.
Ashok Pehere, Ph.D. 3/2019
Sr. Manager, Chemical Development, CMC at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals