THE BARNES LABORATORY
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    • About Jonathan
    • Past Members
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Current Members

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Jonathan C. Barnes, Ph.D.
Principal investigator

​jcbarnes@wustl.edu​
ABOUT JONATHAN
​Jonathan completed his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemistry at the University of Kentucky in 2006. After working for a few years in industry for a start-up biotech company in Los Angeles, CA, Jonathan started his graduate studies in 2010 as a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL under the tutelage of Professor Fraser Stoddart. While at Northwestern, Jonathan developed a new class of stable organic radicals, as well as new macrocycles for binding polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In 2014, Jonathan moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an HHMI postdoctoral fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation in Professor Jeremiah Johnson’s research group, where he investigated new sequence-defined polymer methodologies and combination drug-loaded nanoparticles for cancer treatment. In 2016, he began his independent career at WUSTL where his group is focused on synthesizing new functional supramolecular polymers to make next-generation redox-responsive materials, targeted polymeric nanomaterials for drug combination therapies, and developing novel topologically complex polymers and materials influenced by the mechanical bond. Jonathan received a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering and a Young Investigator Award from the Cancer Research Foundation in 2017, and in 2019 he was named a Kavli Fellow by the Kavli Foundation and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Postdoctoral Researchers

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Lei Li
Postdoctoral ASSOCIATE
Lei was born and raised in Linyi City, Shandong (China). He obtained his Bachelor (2010) and Master (2013) degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University (Tianjin, China). Under the supervision of Prof. Ligong Chen, Lei’s BS and MS research focused on developing novel antihistamines, UV light . . .​​
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leili@wustl.edu​
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Xuesong Li
Postdoctoral associate
Xuesong is from southern China, specifically the Hunan province. After obtaining Bachelor (2008) and Master (2011) degrees under the direction of Prof. Guangtao Li and Prof. Yihe Zhang and working (2012) in China, he pursued two PhD degrees in France and Belgium (2016) under the supervision of Dr. Ivan . . . ​

​lixuesong@wustl.edu
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Faheem Solangi
Postdoctoral ​associate
Faheem is from Pakistan, where he received his BS (Chemistry) in 2007 from the University of Sindh. He then moved to Malaysia to do his Masters in Chemistry from Universiti Sains Malaysia under the supervision of Associate Prof. Wong Keng Chong and Prof. Hasnah Osman. He then pursued his PhD . . .
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​faheem.s@wustl.edu
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Graduate Students

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Nathan Colley
4th Year
​Graduate Student

Nate is a native of Staunton, IL.  He graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2016 with honors and received a B.S. in Chemistry. He participated in undergraduate research under Dr. Lichang Wang and contributed to several research projects with the goal of improving . . .

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​ndcolley@wustl.edu
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Mary Danielson
​2nd Year
​Graduate Student

Mary grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and is currently in her fourth year at WashU as an undergrad. She’s a double major studying Creative Writing and Chemistry. She spent her freshman summer as a member of the Summer Scholars in Biology and Biomedical Research working in Dr. Welch’s . . .

mary.danielson@wustl.edu
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Abigail Delawder
4th YEAR
Graduate student
nsf grfp fellow 
​Abby was born in Columbia, MD and was raised in Springfield, MO.  In 2016, she graduated from Drury University with a B.S. in Chemistry.  Her undergraduate research experience started with Dr. Madhuri Manpadi at Drury, which centered on finding novel  heterocyclic . . .

adelawder@wustl.edu
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Jovelt Dorsainvil
1st year
​graduate student
 I was raised in Haiti and moved to the US in 2015 to attend Fairfield University. I recently graduated with a BS in Chemistry and a minor and Philosophy. I was part of Professor Jillian Smith-Carpenter's undergraduate research lab for almost 2 years and we studied the activity of supramolecular . . .

jovelt.dorsainvil@wustl.edu
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Gray Harlan
1st Year
​Graduate Student
Gray is from St. Louis.  He graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in biology in 2017 (go dawgs).  He did undergrad research with Dr. Arthur Romero in Dr. Michael Holtzman’s lab at Washington University School of Medicine working on synthesizing an inhibitor for enzyme MAPK13 . . .

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gharlan@wustl.edu
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Ruihan Li
3RD YEAR
​GRADUATE STUDENT
​​Ruihan is from Changchun, Jilin, China. She graduated from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2017, with bachelor degrees in Chemistry and Communication.  Her undergraduate research in USTC with Prof. Hongbin Yao focused on nacre-inspired materials with high mechanical  . . .
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​​ruihan.li@wustl.edu
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Mark Nosiglia
3RD YEAR
​GRADUATE STUDENT
​Mark is from Eureka Missouri. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2017 with a B.A. in Chemistry. During his undergraduate studies, he did research under Dr. Ram Mohan, focusing on environmentally-friendly organic synthesis using lanthanide catalysts. This work helped Mark . . .

mnosiglia@wustl.edu​
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Mark Palmquist
2ND YEAR
​GRADUATE STUDENT
​Mark was born and raised in Lino Lakes, MN. He attended college in Annapolis, MD at the United States Naval Academy and is a proud alumnus of the class of 2013 (Beat Army!). He performed undergraduate research under Dr. Dianne Luning-Prak and Dr. Paul Trulove developing testing protocolfor algae-based . . .

mark.palmquist@wustl.edu
full bio
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Sheila Tran
1st Year
​graduate student
Sheila comes to us from the University of Memphis in Tennessee. She was born in Fountain Valley, California, raised in Memphis, TN and graduated in 2019 with a BS in chemistry and a minor in Japanese. Her undergraduate research experience centered on organometallic rhodium and  . . . 
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sheilatran@wustl.edu​
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Yipei Zhang
2ND YEAR
​GRADUATE STUDENT
Yipei was born and raised in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. She graduated from Southern University of Science and Technology (Sustech) in 2017, with a bachelor degree in Chemistry. Her undergraduate research in Sustech with Prof. Bin Tan focused on synthesis of axially chiral compounds via . . .

yipeizhang@wustl.edu
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Undergraduate Students

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Christy Chang
UNDERGRADUATE
​RESEARCHER
Christy grew up in Glenview, Illinois and is a current junior at Washington University pursuing a degree in Chemistry (with a concentration in Biochemistry) and Spanish. She is currently a member of the community service fraternity and the tutoring program NCP at WashU. As a recipient of a Summer . . .

christy.chang@wustl.edu
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​Lucas Cruz
UNDERGRADUATE
​RESEARCHER
​Lucas grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and is currently a junior pursuing a major in Chemistry (with a focus in Biochemistry) and a minor in Astrophysics.  He is a member of the Alpha Chi Sigma Chemistry fraternity and is interested in carrying out Chemistry research with a biomedical relevance.

​lucascruz@wustl.edu​
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​Max Gruschka
UNDERGRADUATE
​RESEARCHER
​Max grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and is a current Junior at Washington University pursuing a degree in chemistry with a minor in mathematics. As a recipient of a Summer Undergraduate Research Award (SURA) he began his research career in the Barnes group in the summer of 2019 . . .

maxgruschka@wustl.edu​
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​Tiana Saak
UNDERGRADUATE
​RESEARCHER
 Tiana grew up on a farm just outside Grundy Center, Iowa and is currently a sophomore majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Children's Studies.  Her past research experience includes her involvement with Dr. Todd Druley's lab at the Washington University School of Medicine, where she did biochemical . . .

tiana.saak@wustl.edu
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​Anna Vaclavek
UNDERGRADUATE
​RESEARCHER
Anna grew up in Columbia, Missouri, and is currently a sophomore at Washington University pursuing a major in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry. She spent two summers interning at the Cancer Research Center of Columbia, Missouri under Dr. Abraham Eisenstark. She is an executive  . . .

avaclavek@wustl.edu​
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  • Research
  • Group Members
    • About Jonathan
    • Past Members
    • Group Pictures
  • Publications
  • News & Events
    • News & Events Archived
  • Teaching
  • Outreach
  • Equipment & Instrumentation
  • Contact