Group members
Dr. Myungwoon Lee (PI)
Professor of Chemistry
Drexel University
Disque Hall Rm 508
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018
B.S. in Physics, University of Seoul, 2006
Graduate students
Yoongyeong (Joy) Baek (Fall 2023 – present)
Joy earned her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Drexel University in 2023. Her research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying membrane-mediated α-synuclein fibril polymorphism and investigating how structural variations contribute to distinct pathological outcomes, using a combination of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques.
Teshani Liyanaarachchige (Spring 2025 – present)
Teshani earned her BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, in 2022. Her primary research focuses on investigating how heterotypic molecular interactions among amyloid-forming proteins, including α-synuclein, amyloid-β (Aβ), and tau, modulate amyloid fibril structural polymorphisms and drive multiple-etiology dementia
Alesha Arshad (Fall 2026 – present)
Alesha earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Drexel University in 2021 and her M.S. in Analytical and Biological Chemistry from Temple University in 2024. Her research focuses on understanding how structural variations in α-synuclein fibrils contribute to distinct pathological outcomes using a combination of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques.
Undergraduate students
Tarek Olabi (Biological Sciences. Fall 2023 – present)
Tarek is an undergraduate student majoring in Biological Sciences. He investigates how free-lipids alter the aggregation kinetics of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and how different forms of aggregates induce membrane damages using fluorescence-based spectroscopic techniques.
Anna Gazzerro (Maryanoff Scholar, Chemistry. Summer 2025 – present)
Anna is an undergraduate student in the Department of Chemistry. Her research focuses on α-synuclein/Aβ40 co-fibrils, particularly optimization of proteinase K digestion conditions to assess the stability of heteromolecular fibril forms.
Alumni
The contributions of our active undergraduate students majoring in Chemistry, Biology, and Chemical Engineering have been invaluable. We are grateful for the work of Deep Patel (Chemistry/Biology, Drexel University, 2023-2024), Pavel Savinskiy (Chemical Engineering, Drexel University, 2023-2024), Isabelle Baksh (Chemistry, Drexel University, 2024), Chi Nguyen (Chemistry, Bryn Mawr College, 2024), Joe Zhang (Chemistry, Drexel University, 2024-2025), Nabeeha Anis (Chemistry/Mathematics, William & Mary College, 2025), Amrinder Singh (Biological Sciences, Drexel University, 2025-2026), and Eva Ivanov (Maryanoff Scholar, Chemistry, Drexel University, 2026).
Positions
We are currently looking for graduate and undergraduate students with research interests in biophysical chemistry. Feel free to contact Dr. Lee (ml3784@drexel.edu) if you have interest.