Shasha Chong, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Email: schong@caltech.edu
Office: 150 Braun Laboratory
Shasha obtained her B.S. in Chemistry from University of Science & Technology of China and her Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University. She did her postdoctoral research at University of California, Berkeley and joined the faculty of California Institute of Technology in August 2021. As a Ph.D. student under the direction of Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Shasha developed novel optical imaging modalities and achieved detection of single-molecule optical absorption at room temperature. Then she ventured into the study of DNA-protein interactions and stochastic gene expression by in vitro single-molecule imaging. In particular, she developed a single-molecule RNA-imaging assay to tackle the mechanism of transcriptional bursting of highly expressed genes in E. coli. Her deep interest in more complex regulatory behaviors led her to move from bacteria to mammals for her postdoctoral research. In the joint laboratories of Robert Tjian and Xavier Darzacq, she combined powerful single-cell and single-molecule imaging tools with genome editing and genetics approaches to investigate how intrinsically disordered regions in human transcription factors perform critical functions in transcriptional regulation and oncogenesis. Her independent research group employs multidisciplinary approaches to tackle the fundamental rules that govern the interaction behaviors of intrinsically disordered regions and elucidate their roles in regulating gene transcription under normal and disease conditions. Shasha is named a 2022 Searle Scholar and a 2022 Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research.
Aracely Sustaita, Administrative Coordinator
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Email: aracelys@caltech.edu
Aracely is a Los Angeles native, and more specifically a Pasadena native. She joined the Institute in 2022, and then Chemistry & Chemical Engineering in 2023. Aracely loves two sports: baseball and soccer. She also enjoys writing, spending time with family and friends, and wandering the local mountain ranges with a dog or two. She graduated from UCLA and is therefore a Bruin for life.
Barun Kumar Maity, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D., Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 2019
Email: barun@caltech.edu
Barun grew up in India. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta, his M.S. in Chemistry from IIT Kanpur, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. During his PhD, Barun studied amyloid aggregation and developed novel microscopy and spectroscopy methods. During his first postdoc with Paul Selvin in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he developed new super-resolution imaging methods. In the Chong Lab, he investigates how intrinsically disordered regions of oncogenic transcription factors play a role in oncogenesis using single-molecule imaging and genome engineering approaches.
Jonathan Banh, Research Technician
B.S., University of California, Los Angeles, 2023
Email: jbanh@caltech.edu
A Los Angeles native, Jonathan graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2023 with a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. He joined the Chong Lab in order to further explore research as an aspiring physician-scientist. His interests lie in exploring cellular transcriptional control in the context of disease pathogenesis.
Qinyu Han, Graduate Student (Chem, G3)
B.S., Nanyang Technological University, 2021
Email: qhan@caltech.edu
Originally from Zhuhai, China, Qinyu obtained her B.S. in Chemistry and Biological Chemistry from Nanyang Technological University. During her undergraduate years, she developed various fluorescent probes for biosensing and nanotherapy under the direction of Bengang Xing. Qinyu joined the Chong lab in December 2021. She is interested in utilizing quantitative single-cell imaging methods to understand the interaction behaviors of oncogenic fusion transcription factors mediated by their intrinsically disordered regions.
Shawn Yoshida, Graduate Student (BMB, G3)
B.A., Case Western Reserve University, 2021
Email: syoshida@caltech.edu
Shawn is originally from Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Illinois. He earned a B.A. in Physics from Case Western Reserve University, where he applied novel super-resolution techniques to the characterization of biomolecular diffusion in the extracellular matrix. He is currently interested in the dynamics of transcriptional regulation.
Jamie Takashima, Joint Graduate Student with the Hsieh-Wilson Lab (Chem, G3)
B.S., University of Arizona, 2021
Email: jtakashi@caltech.edu
Jamie grew up in Mountain View, CA and earned his B.S. in Chemistry and B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Arizona. During his undergraduate research, he studied the interactome of the chemotactic receptor cAR1 in the lab of Prof. Pascale Charest. In the Chong lab, he is interested in studying the effect of post-translational modifications on multivalent interactions between the intrinsically disordered regions of proteins.
Anthony Gutierrez, Graduate Student (Bio, G2)
B.S., CSUN, 2022
Email: agutier2@caltech.edu
Anthony Grew up in the Los Angeles area and obtained his B.S. in Microbiology from California State University-Northridge. During his undergraduate studies, he studied the role of a phospholipid synthase on the dynamics of cytoskeletal proteins and cell membrane interactions within Caulobacter crescentus. He is currently broadly interested in infectious disease, pathology, and regulation of gene transcription and expression.
Jiapei Miao, Rotation Graduate Student (Chem, G1)
B.S., National University of Singapore
Email: jiapei_miao@caltech.edu
Jiapei is originally from Tianjin, China, and later moved to Singapore. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the National University of Singapore. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on a computational project aimed at identifying potential drug candidates targeting PTK6, utilizing the approach of in silico structure-based drug design.
Michael T. Di Martino, Rotation Graduate Student (Bioengineering G1)
B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 2020
Email: mdimarti@caltech.edu
Mike grew up in Ewa Beach, HI and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with a BA in General Biology with minors in Chemistry and Theatre Arts. His undergraduate research experiences were a combination of biomicrofluidics and immunology. He is presently interested in modeling biological systems, cellular dynamics and precision medicine.
Chi Zhang, Rotation Graduate Student (Chem G1)
B.S., University of Science and Technology of China, 2023
Email: czhang@caltech.edu
Chi was born and raised in Henan, China. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), where he received training in Professor Hanmin Huang’s group, with a focus on organometallic catalysis. Additionally, he interned in Professor Tobin J. Marks' group at Northwestern University in 2022, working on catalytic polymer upcycling. After graduating with honors in Chemistry in 2023, he joined Professor Liu Leo Liu's group at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) as a visiting student in the summer before enrolling in Caltech and started working on computational chemistry. During his rotation in Chong lab, Chi is hoping to explore protein-protein interaction from a chemical perspective.
Emily Tu, Undergraduate Student (Bioengineering)
Email: emily.tu@caltech.edu
Born and raised in Southern California, Emily is working towards attaining a B.S. in
bioengineering at Caltech. She joined the Chong lab to understand the inner-workings of a professional lab and to further explore her interests regarding cancer treatment and prevention within the realm of molecular biology.