Staff Directory

Hi! I joined Gang Lab at the beginning of summer 2024. I am a current undergraduate at Columbia College studying computer science and applied math. My role in the lab is to help design and implement the algorithms which help create our DNA nanomaterial structures.

Oleg Gang is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Columbia University, and a Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he leads the Soft and Bio-Nanomaterials Group at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials. He is also a Global Faculty member of the Advanced Science Institute and the Institute for Basic Science Center for NanoMedicine (IBS CNM) at Yonsei University, South Korea. His research explores molecular and nanoscale self-assembly phenomena and develops a strategy for programming the assembly of nanoscale structures and their transformations. The created systems exhibit adaptive and multifunctional properties, enabling them to address challenges in the design of new materials for applications in optics, information processing, sensing, and mechanics. Gang earned his Ph.D. in physics from Bar-Ilan University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University as a Rothschild Fellow. Gang is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of the Battelle Inventor of the Year Award, the Gordon Battelle Prize for Scientific Discovery, Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, and has been awarded numerous grants with the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NSF, and Keck Foundation.

Born: Beijing, China

Research Interest: 

Colloids, Soft Matter, Self-assembly, DNA Nanotechnology

Education:

B.S., Chemistry,  Sichuan University, 2013

Ph.D., Materials Chemistry, New York University, 2020   (David J. Pine Group)

Postdoc, Cornell University, 2021-2022   (Nicholas L. Abbott Group)

Postdoc, Columbia University, 2022-present (Oleg Gang Group)

Publication:

"Colloidal Diamond", He et al., Nature, 2020

I graduated from the University of Chicago in Spring 2025 with a BS in Molecular Engineering, where I worked on polymer-based macroscale architectures. My research interests are materials science, characterization, and sustainable materials. I am also passionate about teaching, mentorship, and science communication. I joined the Gang Lab in the Fall of 2025. 

I am currently an undergraduate student at Columbia Engineering, majoring in chemical engineering

I graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Materials Science and joined the Gang Lab in the Fall of 2022. My research focuses on the metallization of DNA superlattices to form 3D hierarchical semiconducting and superconducting inorganic frameworks. I am also working to fabricate high-strength, low-density mechanical metamaterials and probe performance using in-situ nanoindentation. Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions.

Research Interests: Self-Assembly, DNA Nanotechnology, Metallization, Mechanical Metamaterials, Nanoscale Superconductors

Hyeohn is a postdoctoral fellow. Her project is to develop programmable multi-component 3D assembly. She obtained her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Seoul National University, Korea. Her former work focused on the synthesis and assembly of optically active inorganic and organic nanoparticles.

Research Interest: Bio-nanomaterials, DNA nanotechnology, integration of self-assembled nanomaterials.

Handi Zheng is currently pursuing an M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. Her work focuses on programmable biomolecular assembly and fluorescence-based studies of CRISPR-mediated nanoscale systems.

I joined Oleg’s group in the fall of 2023 after earning my Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering at Seoul National University. During my Ph.D course, I have worked on development of biomaterials based formulation for treatment of various chronic diseases. Especially, my research was mainly focused on the development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-based formulaions with specific catalytic activity. With the inspiration to further explore self-assembly and nano-structured materials, I started a new challenge by researching DNA-based materials at Columbia University. My research interests include self-assembled materials, DNA nanotechnology, magnetic nanoparticles and stimuli-responsive nano-structure assemblies.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

I received my MS in Applied bioengineering from Seoul National University in 2021. There, I worked on controlling the assembly of DNA-protein-nanoparticle conjugates and engineering DNA-protein hybrid nanostructures for therapeutic applications. Since joining the Gang group in 2021, I have been working mainly on reconfiguring DNA origami lattices using various DNA nano-devices and functional particles.

Hi :)
I am an undergraduate student at Columbia GS studying math and chemistry. I joined the lab in Spring 2025.

Elad is an EMBO postdoctoral fellow. His project is to incorporate enzymatic editing tools into DNA nanomaterials. He holds a Ph.D. from Ben Gurion University (BGU), Israel. His former work focused on the assembly, surface phenomena, and catalytic activity of amyloid proteins and peptides.

Research Interest: Soft Matter, Self-assembly, DNA Nanotechnology, Peptides, enzymatic editing, CRISPR-Cas.

Education:
Postdoctoral Scholar, Columbia University, 2023-present (Chemical Engineering, Prof. Oleg Gang)
Ph.D., Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), 2023 (Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, IKI, Prof. Raz Jelinek and Prof. Hanna Rapaport)
M.Sc., Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), 2018 (Department of Chemistry, Prof. Raz Jelinek and Prof. Hanna Rapaport).
B.Sc., Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), 2016 (Chemistry-major, Philosophy-minor).

Email: [email protected]
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.co.il/citations?user=Sj4xLeEAAAAJ&hl=iw&inst=2200037940676332253
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eladarad/

David joined Columbia after an adventurous academic journey through ETH Zurich, Hitachi Energy, Brown University, and the beamlines of Brookhaven National Lab — where he spent more time aligning laserlight and building nanoparticles than seeing sunlight. Trained as both a chemist and an engineer, he enjoys creating things that glow, resonate, and behave exactly as expected — just never twice in a row. His research focuses on plasmonic nanomaterials, self-assembly, automation technology, spectroscopy, and the fine art of convincing gold nanoparticles to cooperate.

Outside research, David is often found puzzling is way out of escape rooms, playing soccer, lifting things (sometimes at the gym, sometimes in the lab), debating ancient philosophy and psychological conundrums over too much coffee, or trying to convince people that X=K when talking about LaTeX. 

I earned both my B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering from Columbia University. During those years, I conducted research on the osmophoretic motion of lipid vesicles, and then moved onto protein engineering to engineer the cofactor specificity of enzymes towards non-canonical cofactors.
Since joining the Gang lab in 2022, I have been working on engineering dynamic/reconfigurable nanomaterials via cascading hybridizations of switchable DNA origami, and out-of-equilibrium systems using DNA-guided self-assembly of nanoparticles.

Changan was born and raised in Shandong Province, China. He obtained his PhD in chemistry from the University of Iowa in 2022 with his research being focused on controlling chemical reactivity in crystalline solids. In December 2022, he joined the Gang Lab as a postdoctoral research scientist. Currently he is interested in developing dynamic DNA nanomaterial systems with controllable structure and properties. Outside of the lab he enjoys running, watching sports, and traveling.
Research Interest: Self-Assembly; DNA Nanotechnology; Crystal Engineering; Supramolecular Chemistry; Organic Materials

I received my B.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and joined the Gang lab in 2023. I currently work on creating finite 2D & 3D assemblies with DNA nanotechnology. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or if you’d just like to chat!