People

Principal Investigator

me

Cecilia Leal, Ph. D., Associate Professor

Racheff Faculty Scholar
Materials Science and Engineering
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Materials Research Laboratory
Beckman Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


E-mail: cecilial@illinois.edu
Phone: 217-300-1955 | Fax: 217-333-2736
Office: 204 MSEB

Administrative Support

Karyn Traum

Coordinator of Research Programs

　

E-mail: traum@illinois.edu

Graduate Students

Lining Zheng, E-mail: liningz2@illinois.edu

Evaluating endosomal release of lipid-nucleic acid constructs

　

B.S. Cornell University
m

Nurila Kambar, E-mail: nkambar2@illinois.edu

Studying hybrid materials at the colloidal scale 

　

B.S. Alfred University
m

Lily Li, E-mail: xueqili2@illinois.edu

Studying the structural evolution of lipid droplets in liver cancer 

　

B.S. Arizona State University
m

Kyungwon Ko, E-mail: ko25@illinois.edu

Investigating lipid droplet dynamics in obesity 

　

M.S. Seoul National University
Image coming soon!

Max Baliga, E-mail: mbaliga2@illinois.edu

Investigating the effects of various lipids on lipid nanoparticle gene delivery 

　

B.S. Northwestern University
Image coming soon!

Bengü Süeda Şengül, E-mail: bsengl2@illinois.edu

Studying polymer-lipid hybrid membranes in various aspects 

　

B.S. Sabancı University

Undergraduate Students

Michelle Ru Alice Gao
Michelle Ru Alice Gao

Leallies (Leal Group Alumni)

Yookyung Go –
Postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology		 Jacob Rueben –
Scientist at ReCode Therapeutics		 Zhengzhong (Kevin) Tan –
Scientist at Pace Life Science		 Marilyn Porras Gomez –
Sr. Research Specialist at Dow Chemical
Sarith Bandara – Engineer at Epic Systems Emily Chen – Research Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company Dylan Steer – Product Development Scientist at Oterra Mijung Kim – ECE Graduate Student at UIUC
Sherry Leung – Research Fellow at CityU, Hong Kong Hojun Kim – Postdoc at KIST, South Korea Minjee Kang – Postdoc at MSE, Cornell

Undergrad Leallies

Priya Bharath Pranav Ghatraju Harpreet Auby Hannah Meiselman
Priya Bharath Prana Ghatraju Harpreet Auby Hannah Meiselman
Ibukun Ajifolokun Julia Dreher-Threlkeld Nathaniel Anderson
Tom Molley Ibukun Ajifolokun –
PhD student at MSE, Stanford University		 Julia Dreher-Threlkeld –
PhD student at MSE, Northwestern University		 Nathaniel Anderson
Zoe Mihevc
Zoe Mihevc