Our Lab Members
Wenjing Wang, Ph.D. (She/Her)
Isabella Karle Collegiate Professor in the Life SciencesResearch Associate Professor, U-M Life Sciences InstituteWilliam R. Roush Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, U-M College of Literature, Science, and the ArtsCo-Director, Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program(734) 647-3226 | wenjwang@umich.eduHobbies: Spending time with my son, cooking and experimenting with the air fryer, and watching suspenseful movies.
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Peridot, Slurping Turtle, Noori Chicken, Kung Fu Noodle House (close to Detroit).
University of Michigan Rackham Partnerships for Access, Community, and Excellence (PACE) Fellowship for Graduate Student-Faculty Pairs (2026)
University of Michigan MBioFAR award (2025)
University of Michigan Henry Russel Award (2024)
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2024)
NSF CAREER Award (2023)
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2023)
Wenjing Wang attended Xiamen University in China before pursuing her graduate studies at Michigan State University in Babak Borhan’s lab, where she first discovered the power and beauty of protein engineering. She then joined Alice Ting’s lab for her postdoctoral training, first at MIT and later at Stanford University following the Ting lab’s relocation. During her postdoctoral work, Wang used directed evolution and protein engineering to develop a light-gated molecular tool that links neuronal activity to gene expression, enabling the labeling of neural circuits associated with specific behaviors.
In 2018, Wang joined the Life Sciences Institute and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her lab at the LSI combines protein engineering, directed evolution, and synthetic biology to develop new molecular tools and therapeutic technologies. The lab’s overarching goal is to create broadly useful technologies for understanding and controlling biological processes, with applications spanning cell biology, neuroscience, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer immunotherapy.
B.S., Chemistry, Xiamen University, China (2006)
Ph.D., Bioorganic Chemistry, Michigan State University (2012)
Postdoctoral associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2012-2016)
Postdoctoral associate, Stanford University (2016-2018)
Honors & Awards
2023 Rising Star in Measurement Science, ACS Measurement Science Au (2023)
NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2022)
University of Michigan Biological Sciences Scholar (2018)
Infinite Kilometer Award, School of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2016)
Jeremy R. Knowles Memorial Travel Award, Bioorganic Gordon Research Conference, NH (2011)
Postdoctoral Fellows
Wenzhe Li, Ph.D. (she/her)
Research Interests: My research interests lie in developing precise and safe cancer immunotherapy strategies. I am currently working on engineering conditional and switchable cytokines and cell therapies that are selectively activated within the tumor microenvironment, minimizing systemic toxicity
Hobbies: I enjoy music, playing guitar, working out, and running outdoors. Lately I've gotten into rock climbing. Also a devoted coffee drinker.
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Black Pearl
wenzheli@umich.edu
PhD Physical Chemistry - Peking University
Jiahui Ding, PhD (she/her)
PhD Medical Microbiology - Fudan University
Research Interests: My research focuses on developing genetically encoded tools to study neuromodulatory signaling in the brain. I am particularly interested in engineering GPCR-based systems to detect and record neuromodulator activity with high spatial and temporal specificity. Using these tools, I aim to understand how neuromodulators shape neural circuits and behavior in vivo
Hobbies: My cat
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Ypbor yan
dingjh@umich.edu
hailchen@umich.edu
PhD Chemical Biology - Peking University
Hailing Chen, PhD (she/her)
Research Interests: Protein engineering.
Hobbies: Hiking, table tennis, etc
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? No specific places, Chile-fi A (maybe)
hailchen@umich.edu
Graduate Students
Ola Batolik (he/they)
B.A. Chemistry - Kalamazoo College
Research Interests: Sensors, optogenetics & chemogenetics
Hobbies: Volleyball, travelling, cooking, working out, playing stardew!!
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Basil Babe (Ypsi) Detroit Filling Station (AA)
bartolik@umich.edu
Gracie Giacoletto (she/her)
B.S. Chemistry - Appalachian State University
Chemical Biology Interface NIH T32 Trainee
Research Interests: I am interested in engineering conditionally activated biologics. These can be used to make therapeutics safer and more precise, but also can be used for site specific investigative tools.
Hobbies: soccer, working out, hiking, thrifting, coffee, and traveling!
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Frita Batidos and Jamaican Jerk Pit
ggiac@umich.edu
B.S. Chemistry - Xiamen University
Jiayu Lin (she/her)
Research Interests: My research focuses on understanding and engineering protein–protein interactions for the development of conditional cytokines and other programmable protein therapeutics. I combine protein engineering with computational approaches, including molecular dynamics simulations, in silico directed evolution, and de novo protein design, to explore how PPI can be tuned for context-dependent biological functions.
Hobbies: Tennis, food
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? everest sharpa
linjiayu@umich.edu
B.S. Chemistry - University of Wisconsin La Crosse
Lexie Moran (she/her)
Research Interests: My research focuses on engineering conditionally activated proteins for the improvement of cancer and immune-based therapies. I develop new approaches to rapidly evaluate cytokine–receptor interactions and guide the development of next-generation cytokine therapeutics.
Hobbies: Outside of the lab I can be found hanging out with my 3 cats, weightlifting, playing video games, watching baseball (go Brewers!!), & checking out new cafes
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Misfits Coffee or Hazel for coffee! Anna’s House or Maíz (Ypsilanti) for food!
lmmoran@umich.edu
Hannah Rivett-Trznadel (she/her)
B.S. Biochemistry - Canisius University
Research Interests: My current research projects focus on engineering context-responsive proteins for both sensing and immunotherapeutics through both rational design and directed evolution.
Hobbies: Outside of lab I enjoy running and hiking! I also really like to read books.
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Everest Sherpa
hrivett@umich.edu
Ryan Singer (he/him)
B.S. Chemistry & B.S. Music - Furman University
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31), Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant
Research Interests: I am engineering and expanding chemogenetic and optogenetic tools for endogenous receptor activation, specifically to study melanocortin biology and more
Hobbies: music, lifting, drag shows, football games, hockey games
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Madras Masala, Totoro, Noori Chicken, Chick-fil-A, Hopcat, Mani Osteria
rysinger@umich.edu
B.S. Chemistry & B.A. Mathematics - Ohio Wesleyan University
Isabel Solowiej (she/her)
NSF GRFP Honorable Mention
Research Interests: Neuropeptides represent the most diverse class of signaling molecules in the brain, yet our understanding of their dynamic contributions to behavior is limited by a lack of tools with high spatiotemporal resolution. To overcome this limitation, we developed RETRACE (REceptor-TRiggered Activity Cellular Encoding), a modular protein engineering platform designed to convert transient neuropeptide signaling, coupled with precise light delivery, into permanent and high-fidelity transcriptional readouts. Rational design of the scaffold allowed us to detect low-abundance neuropeptide release with high SBRs across HEK293 cell culture, neuron culture, and live mouse brains.
Hobbies: I love doing different kinds of arts and crafts, spending time with my fiancé and dog, and watching and playing soccer!
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Joe’s Pizza or Frita Batidos
solowiej@umich.edu
B.S. Chemistry - University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez
Angeliz Soto Acevedo (she/her)
NSF GRFP / CBTP (NIH T32) / PACE Fellowship / LSI Outreach Award
Research Interests: I engineer fluorescent cell-based assays to streamline screening for G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) ligands and proteases. My work focuses on developing probes to enable dual-color functional readouts that bridge the gap between target identification and therapeutic drug validation. Core Techniques: • Cell-based assay development • High-content screening • Confocal microscopy • Flow cytometry and FACS • Molecular biology
Hobbies: Outside the lab, I enjoy hiking and playing racket sports like tennis and pickleball (I'm not great at them, but I'm better than I expected!)
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Totoro!
aasoto@umich.edu
Undergraduate Students
Mona Borhan (she/her)
Environmental Science Major
Rosen Fellow, Magnificent Michigan Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Research Interests: My research focuses on the engineering of biosensors for the purpose of detecting different biomolecules through multicolor imaging.
Hobbies: Tennis, crocheting
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? Sadako Sushi
Annie Xu (she/her)
Biomolecular Sciences Major
U-M Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Research Interests: I'm still exploring my research interests! Right now, I assist Ola on a project developing orthogonal peptide-receptor pairs for chemically activated transsynaptic control of neuronal circuits, with the goal of creating molecular tools that allow us to study neural signaling with greater synapse specificity.
Hobbies: Skiing, karaoke, cooking
What is your favorite place to eat in Ann Arbor? bb.q chicken (∩❛ڡ❛∩)
Staff
Sydney Markel (she/her)
Research Laboratory Technician
markelsy@umich.edu
Kenzie DiCola (she/her)
Administrative Assistant
mackenth@umich.edu
Young member
Jason Han
Jason is the youngest member of the lab. He enjoys everything sweet and all kinds of cars!
Lab pets
Apollo
Apollo loves long walks, surgically removing squeakers from toys and snuggling on the couch!
Gilbert
Gil is currently studying the art of escaping the apartment. In his free time he loves to sun bathe, play fetch, and chase his sisters around
Kobe
She is terrified of thunderstorms and the harmonica, but she loves basking in the sunlight and watching rabbits.
Momo
She is our Trash Monkey, lands on the desk of whoever has cleanup duty that week. She doesn’t do any of the work, but she supervises very closely.
JoJo
Jo is an enthusiastic and social. She loves climb the cat tree and do handstands (partially because she doesn’t have back paws). Her favorite time of the day is dinner time.
Cara
She likes eating, being pet, and stealing your food when you're not looking.
Mimi
He loves exploring bags and boxes, watching pet TV, and conducting mandatory security inspections of everything you bring home. Petting is strictly limited to five minutes after you get home!
Beatrice
Bea is studying the art of leisure, she can be found sleeping at almost any time of the day. She loves cardboard boxes and is a highly skilled food thief