Dr. Rebecca Whelan
I've loved Chemistry since my sophomore year in high school, when my teacher passed around a ball-and-stick model of sodium chloride and I was struck by the beauty of that simple structure. After conducting undergraduate research in biophysical chemistry (as well as on apocalyptic imagery in John Donne's "Holy Sonnets," but that's another story...) and a year working as a bartender in Appleton, Wisconsin, I started graduate school at Stanford and learned that analytical chemistry was the field for me. Working in Dick Zare's lab, I figured out several ways to employ biological recognition to make new detectors for capillary electrophoresis separations, and I continued this theme during my post-doctoral research with Bob Kennedy. Since striking out on my own, I've been focused on using my bioanalytical skills and training to make progress towards early stage detection of ovarian cancer. I conducted this work at Oberlin College for 14 years, and in 2018 made the leap into the wonderful research community at Notre Dame. I am passionate about training students to become creative thinkers, excellent communicators, and fearless troubleshooters.
Everybody Else: The Fearless Crew
Naviya Schuster-Little
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Dr. Susan Skube
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Chien-Wei Wang
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Eliza Hanson
Graduate Student-Analytical John Brown University BS-Chemistry '19
I love analytical chemistry and tricking computers into doing science. Beyond that, I can be found writing stories in ridiculous places (trees aren't bad, but only for so long), making homemade bread, or playing board games with friends. |
Simon Weaver
Graduate Student-IBMS Program Goshen College BA-Biochemistry '18
Simon is a proud Wisconsinite whose favorite food is cheese. Three other random things he likes are soccer, mystery novels, and capillary electrophoresis. |
Lisa Minkoff
Graduate Student-Analytical Barnard College BA - Biochemistry '19
Lisa hails from Long Island, NY, and will complain to you about missing pizza and bagels at any chance she gets. When not in the lab, she enjoys spending time with her ridiculously fluffy cat, crocheting, and making terrible jokes. |
Dr. Reihaneh Safavi-Sohi
Post-Doc Shahid Beheshti University PhD '18 Nanomedicine
K. N.Toosi University MS '12, BS '10 Analytical Chemistry Dr. Reihaneh Safavi-Sohi has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Nanomedicine; during her PhD, she focused on development of protein corona sensor-array platform for detection and discrimination of cancers at early stages. Prior coming to ND, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Precision Health Program at Michigan State University. She joined Whelan lab and Harper Cancer Research Institute to continue her research interest in biomarker detection and cancer diagnosis particularly Ovarian cancer. In her free time, she enjoys painting, traveling and photography. |
Christine DeRosa
Undergraduate University of Notre Dame ’24 BS - Biochemistry, Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics (ACMS)
Christine is originally from Boston, MA and was raised as a huge Irish football fan. In her free time, Christine loves watching Hallmark Christmas movies, baking, and relaxing at the beach. |
Ceclia Leber
Undergraduate University of Notre Dame ’24 BS- Biochemistry with neuroscience
Cecilia comes from Westfield, Indiana and hopes to pursue a PhD in either analytical chemistry or biochmistry, Outside of lab, Cecilia loves trying new coffee drinks and solving sudoku puzzles. |
Whelan Lab Alumni
Nicole Hudson MS '21
Sergio Madera MS '21
JT Lazzara '21
Emma Cahill '21
Anna Hubert '20
Jacob Carpentier '20
Vincent Schmitz
Archived Whelan Group Photos
December 2020 A Whelan COVID Christmas
April 2020 COVID-19 Social Distancing Group Photo
Summer Crew 2019: Naviya, Eliza, Daniel, Emma, Susan, Sergio, Taylor, Dr. Whelan and Vincent. (Missing Katie and Nicole)