Lab Members
Dmitry Nevozhay, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Aaron Schwartz-Duval, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Aaron is a T32 Cancer Nanotechnology Postdoctoral Fellow in Imaging Physics at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He joined the BOND Lab in January 2019 immediately after finishing his Ph.D. in bioengineering at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research interests focus on nanoparticle diagnostics and therapeutics.
Pavel Tsitovich, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Pavel holds an M.S. in chemical engineering from D. Mendeleyev University, Moscow, Russia, and a Ph.D. in photochemical sciences (2005) from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. During his Ph.D., Pavel worked in the field of de novo protein design and protein-mediated electron transfer, including significant organic synthesis component. During his career, Pavel held several postdoctoral and industrial research positions, where he worked on the synthesis of fluorescent dyes, photochromic compounds and libraries of heterocyclic drug candidates. After moving to the University at Buffalo, Pavel enjoyed chemical biology of the RNA world at first, and he later moved on to synthesize and study transition metal-based paraCEST (paramagnetic chemical exchange saturation saturation transfer) contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Pavel joined the BOND Lab in August 2019 as a senior research scientist in Imaging Physics. Pavel’s primary research interests are in synthetic organic chemistry and nanoparticle science with the focus on the development of contrast agents for photoacoustic and acoustic imaging, MRI and optical imaging.
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 the “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.
Helm Toler
College Student
BOND Lab Alumni - Graduate Students
Sangheon Han, Ph.D., 05/2023
Avinash Murthy, co-supervisor, Ph.D. 08/2013
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. 07/2012
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. 08/2010
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., 05/2023
Avinash Murthy, co-supervisor, Ph.D. 08/2013
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. 07/2012
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. 08/2010
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
Chang Soo Kim, Ph.D. 12/2019
Scientific Project Manager, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.
Ashok Pehere, Ph.D. 03/2019
Sr. Manager, Chemical Development, CMC at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.