People in the Sailor Labs

UC San Diego Pacific Hall Garden, Oct 2024 (L-R): Ashley Tamura, Prof. Hyo Jin Chung, Jiuk Byun, Sophia Hsu, Prof. Michael Sailor, Miranda Zhou, Ricardo De Luna, Edward Nguyen, Ruhan Fan, Qinglin Yang, Gabriella Stark, Oscar Calzada

Principal Investigator

Michael J. Sailor

Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Director, UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (an NSF MRSEC)
Co-Director, UC San Diego Institute for Materials Discovery & Design
ORCID: 0000-0002-4809-9826
ResearcherID: H-9044-2017
email: msailor_at_ucsd.edu
Office: 4140a Pacific Hall
Biography
Curriculum Vita (printable pdf version)

Staff

MRSEC Assistant Director: Janka Bond

Responsible for operational matters related to the UC San Diego MRSEC.
Office: 241 Structural and Materials Engineering bldg
email

MRSEC Executive Assistant: Tsol Lkhagvasuren

Responsible for scheduling, events coordination, reimbursements, billing, and travel for Prof. Sailor and for the UC San Diego MRSEC.
Office: 4140b Pacific Hall
email

MRSEC Facility Manager: Ricardo De Luna

Research & Development Engineer, responsible for administrative, laboratory, management, and day-to-day operations of the main research facilities of the  NSF MRSEC Materials Characterization Facility.
Office: 4140b Pacific Hall
email

MRSEC Associate Education Director: Ashley Tamura

Responsible for education and outreach operations of the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.
Office: 4140c Pacific Hall
email

Visiting Scholars

Prof. Hyo Jin Chung, M.D.

Visiting Scholar, 2024-
ORCID: 0000-0003-1675-2867

Hyo Jin Chung is a board-certified otorhinolaryngologist and surgeon at the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) Ilsan Hospital in South Korea. She specializes in the field of Rhinology, focusing on allergic diseases, sinusitis, olfactory disorder, and sleep apnea. She has a particular interest in basic olfaction and its application to real-life olfactory disorders, pathogenesis to treatment. She is visiting the lab through March 2025 for her sabbatical studies.

Graduate Students

Jiuk Byun
PhD Student, Materials Science and Engineering
ORCID: 0000-0001-9810-8869

Jiuk is a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering at UC San Diego. She received her B.A. in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College. She conducted her undergraduate research with Professor Wei Chen and helped developed a new procedure for spin coating polydopamine thin films. She also worked with Professor Dirk Englund’s group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked on a simultaneous annealing and irradiating system to generate the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. Before joining UCSD, she researched coatings and carbonization of nature-inspired polymer materials in Professor Haeshin Lee’s lab at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Her research interests include chemistry and materials science of porous silicon for sensor and catalysis applications.

Oscar Calzada Martinez
PhD Student, Nanoengineering
ORCID: 0000-0001-8922-4438

Oscar is a PhD student in the UCSD Department of Nanoengineering (NENG). His interests focus on the materials science of porous nanoparticles used as targeted therapeutics for treatment of brain injuries.

Ruhan Fan
PhD Student, Nanoengineering
ORCID: 0000-0003-0626-849X

Ruhan is a PhD student in the UCSD Department of Nanoengineering (NENG) who joined the Sailor lab in March 2018. Prior to joining, she received a BS degree in Pharmacy from Zhengzhou University (ZZU), China, where she studied drug delivery systems. She has been a participant (2018) and a Senior Mentor in the Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology. Ruhan’s project focus is on porous nanoparticle drug delivery systems for treatment of bacterial infections and brain injuries.

Gabriella Stark
PhD Student, Chemistry & Biochemistry
ORCID: 0000-0003-1304-9404

Gabriella is a PhD Student in the UC San Diego Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry who started as an M.S. Student in 2021, and she transitioned to the PhD program in Summer, 2022. She received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where her undergraduate research focused on folding-based DNA biosensors. Prior to joining UC San Diego, Gabriella worked in the Drug Delivery Division at 3M. Her thesis interests focus on surface chemistry of porous silicon nanoparticles to load and deliver biologic therapeutics, preserving function, extending release, and maximizing circulation time.

Qinglin Yang
PhD Student, Materials Science and Engineering
ORCID: 0000-0001-7845-4027

Qinglin is a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at UCSD. She began her work in the Sailor labs as a participant in the 2017 Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology (SSSiN) and served as a Senior Mentor in the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 SSSiN. Her research interests lie in the use of porous silicon nanoparticles for delivery of therapeutics to treat bacterial infections.  This includes chemistries to capture and retain hydrophobic small molecule antibiotics and also to use peptides for selective targeting of the diseased tissues.

Undergraduate Students

Sophia Hsu
BS Student, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2022-
ORCID: 0009-0004-7558-102X

Sophia is an undergraduate student at UC San Diego majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Environmental Systems (Class of 2025). She is interested in nanoparticles as drug delivery systems. In her free time she enjoys rock climbing, baking, and crocheting. She participated in the 2023 Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology (SSSiN), one of the UC San Diego MRSEC RIMSE research immersion programs, and in the 2024 SSSiN she was a Senior Mentor.

Miranda Zhou
BS Student, Chemistry & Biochemistry, 2022-
ORCID: 0009-0003-5679-3660

Miranda is an undergraduate student at UC San Diego (class of 2025), pursuing a degree in General Chemistry. She was introduced to the program through participating in the 2023 RIMSE Spring Break Research Experience. She participated in the 2023  Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology (SSSiN), one of the UC San Diego MRSEC RIMSE research immersion programs, and in the 2024 SSSiN she was a Senior Mentor. She is interested in computational and experimental aspects of surface coatings of porous Si nanoparticles to improve their stability and in vivo circulation time.

High School Students

Shreena Dayal
High school researcher, 2023-
ORCID: 0009-0004-0674-629X

Shreena is a senior at Del Norte High School (class of 2025) who is participating in the 2024 Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology (SSSiN). She is passionate about using scientific inquiry to develop solutions that impact society. Shreena is looking forward to exploring the applications of silicon nanotechnology, particularly within biomedical technology.

Anjishnu Debnath
High school researcher, 2022-
ORCID: 0000-0001-6638-4228

Anjishnu is a student at Scripps Ranch High School (Class of 2025). He participated in the 2022 SSSiN remotely, and in-person in the 2023 and 2024 SSSiN. He is interested in microbiology and computational biology and wants to explore how nanotechnology can be used to deliver drugs through the blood-brain barrier.  His current research focus is on coating lipids onto porous silicon nanoparticles, with the goal of improving in vivo circulation time.

Divya Sharma
High school researcher, 2023-
ORCID: 0009-0000-2631-6546

Divya is a senior at Sage Creek High School (class of 2025) and participated in the 2024 Summer School for Silicon Nanotechnology. She has a passion for mathematics and biology and is looking forward to exploring the numerous biomedical applications of nanotechnology.

Sailor Lab Alumni