HELEN Kurkjian

Senior Wet Lab Makerspace Manager

(she/her)

Helen is a scientist with a broad biology background and substantial experience in microbiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. She has worked in the lab and in the field with organisms spanning the tree of life, including bacteria, fungi, and plants. Her most recent project used microfluidics habitats to explore bacterial dispersal on complex landscapes. She loves talking about science and helping people test hypotheses, describe phenomena, and investigate the natural world.

h.kurkjian@northeastern.edu

Bookable Office Hours

ADITHIYA Krishna Muthuraman

M.S. Industrial Engineering 2026

Scientific Specialties: Chemical Engineering

Ask me about: Membrane science and technology, sustainable water treatment, biotechnology applications, soccer, reading and global financial news

ANEESHA Arun Vernekar

(she/her)

M.S. Biotechnology 2025

Scientific Specialties: Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Microscopy, Tissue Culture

Ask me about: Drug delivery systems, cell cultures, nanomedicine, travelling, exploring different cultures

DANIELA Alejandra Gonzalez

(she/her)

M.S. Data Science with a minor in Bioinformatics 2025

Scientific Specialties: Plant Biology

Ask me about: Cell culture, chemotherapeutic agents, machine learning, drug development, natural products

NARELA Magrassi

(she/her)

M.S. Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery 2025

Scientific Specialties: Tissue Culture

Ask me about: Nanomedicine, environmentalism, oncology/immuno-oncology, cooking

NICOLE Mongillo

(she/they)

B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 2024

Scientific Specialties: Environmental Science

Ask me about: Aquaculture, dance and theater, genetic adaptation, snorkeling

PANKIL Bhatt

M.S. Regulatory Affairs 2025

Scientific Specialties: Microscopy

Ask me about: Molecular biology, cancer biology, human physiology

PAVITHRA Hemanth Kumar

(she/her)

M.S. Biotechnology 2025

Scientific Specialties: Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Microscopy, Tissue Culture, Plant Biology

Ask me about: Nutraceuticals, cell signal transduction pathways, social networking, art of painting

REBECCA Reji

(she/her)

M.S. Biotechnology 2027

Scientific Specialties: Microbiology

Ask me about: Cell culture, genetic engineering, immunology, reading books, watching ice hockey, and cricket

SAKSHI Contractor

(she/her)

M.S. Biotechnology 2025

Scientific Specialties: Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Microscopy, Tissue Culture, Plant Biology

Ask me about: Cell line development, cell culture, bioprocessing, gene editing tools and technology

SUDHANVA Devaprasad Dixit

(he/him)

M.S. Biotechnology 2025

Scientific Specialties: Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Microscopy, Tissue Culture, Plant Biology

Ask me about: Cell culture, fermentation, cooking, poster designing, MS Office

XI Zhang

M.S. Bioinformatics 2026

Scientific Specialties: Molecular Biology

Ask me about: Python, music, cooking

ALVIN Rountree

(they/them)

B.S. Biochemistry 2025

Scientific Specialties: Organic Chemistry

Ask me about: Protein chemistry, tissue culture, cooking, art

GEORGE Gerard

(he/him)

B.S. Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering 2025

Scientific Specialties: Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Molecular Biology

Ask me about: Gene Therapy, Process Development, Running

HEIDI Eren

(she/her)

B.S. Biochemistry and Data Science 2025

Scientific Specialties: Microbiology, Bioengineering, Tissue Culture

Ask me about: Drug device convergence products, hydrogels

KENZA Salih

(she/her)

B.S. Bioengineering 2026

Scientific Specialties: Bioengineering

Ask me about: Immunology, mRNA therapeutics, cooking, traveling and sports (mostly soccer)

LAUREN Harmat

(she/her)

B.S Chemical Engineering with a minor in Business Analytics 2026

Scientific Specialties: Chemistry, Chemical Engineering

Ask me about: Rowing, water management, electrochemistry, piezoelectric energy

MAY Pham

(she/her)

B.S. Biochemistry 2026

Scientific Specialties: Molecular Biology

Ask me about: Baking, photography, running, RNAi synthesis

MAYA Sachidanand

(she/her)

B.S. Data Science and Behavioral Neuroscience 2026

Scientific Specialties: Molecular Biology, Chemistry

Ask me about: Genetics, basketball, machine learning

MELINDA Lu

(she/her)

B.S. Chemical Engineering 2027

Scientific Specialties: Chemistry

Ask me about: Alzheimer’s disease, protein synthesis, 3D printing, ballroom dance, ballet

NOAM Hashash

B.S. Bioengineering 2026

Scientific Specialties: Bioengineering

Ask me about: Tissue engineering, stem cells, drumming, cooking, reading