About Us
Principal Investigator
Claudia Schmidt-Dannert
schmi232@umn.edu
Dr. Claudia Schmidt-Dannert is a Distinguished McKnight Professor and Kirkwood Chair of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics. She is also the Director of the BioTechnology Institute and the Founding Director of the Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation Center at the University of Minnesota.
She completed her B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry and Genetics at the TU Braunschweig and performed her PhD research at the National Research Center for Biotechnology (GBF, now Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) in Braunschweig (1994). She then moved to the University of Stuttgart, and after a brief postdoctoral time, led he Molecular Biotechnology Group in the Institute of Technical Biochemistry as “Habilitant”.
In 1998, she received a habilitation-fellowship from the German Science Foundation for her research proposal on in vitro pathway evolution and with this project, joined 2018 Chemistry Nobel Laureate Prof. Frances Arnold’s group at the California Institute of Technology to carry out her research on “molecular breeding of pathways” using carotenoid biosynthesis as a model system. In 2000, she joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota.
Lab Members
Francois Gaascht
Lab Manager
fgaascht@umn.edu
Francois obtained his BSc and MSc at the University of Strasbourg (France) and completed his PhD at the Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du Cancer (Luxembourg) in the framework of the European RedCat Project.
As Marie Curie Fellow, his research project focused on the discovery and the elucidation of the mode of action of several natural and natural-based products as anticancer drugs. After acquisition of new skills in natural products isolation and structure elucidation at the Fundacíon MEDINA, he joined the Schmidt-Dannert lab in October 2016 as Postdoctoral Research Associate.
Sunyoung Kang
Research Associate
kang0326@umn.edu
Sun-young Kang (SUN) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate who joined the Schmidt-Dannert lab in March 2018. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacy at the Chungbuk National University (Korea). Also, she worked as a graduate research assistant at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (Korea). Her research focuses on increasing the secretion of scaffold protein fabricated by bacterial host. She is also interested in a synthetic biology approach for optimizing a biological system for the biosynthesis of natural products.
Eliana Pena
Graduate Student
pena0096@umn.edu
Eliana Pena is a graduate student in the BMBB program. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry at Texas State University and joined the Schmidt-Dannert lab in March 2021. Her research interests are in engineering and developing novel in-vitro biocatalytic strategies for the production of natural products and therapeutic agents. In her free time, Eliana enjoys playing D&D, hiking, rock climbing, identifying plants and mushrooms in nature, cooking, and promoting and advocating for diversity in STEM.
July Bondy
Graduate Student
bondy031@umn.edu
Julie is a Microbial Engineering student who joined the Schmidt-Dannert lab in January 2025. She received her B.S. in Biology and Industrial Design from Trinity University. Her research focuses on engineering more resilient microorganisms for PFAS biodegradation.
Julie is interested in synthetic biology and its interface with materials science, machine learning, and science communication for advancing sustainability. In her free time, Julie enjoys hiking, traditional dancing, photography, and doing art–including sculpting and mosaics.
Moonseok Kang
Graduate Student
kang0542@umn.edu
Moonseok completed his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the Seoul National University of Science and Technology and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in the Aksan lab. In January 2024, he set up his lab bench the Schmidt-Dannert lab to conduct research on a collaborative project between the Schmidt-Dannert, Aksan and Wacket Labs. His research focuses on developing environmentally safe synthetic biofilms and bioreactors for applications in biomining and biodegradation. He is particularly interested in synthesizing, characterizing, and modeling novel hybrid and engineered living materials for these applications.
Alex Crocker
Postdoc
crock235@umn.edu
Alex joined the Schmidt-Dannert Lab as postdoc in November of 2025. He obtained his PhD. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. His research focuses in the engineering of environmentally safe synthetic biofilm consortia for resource recovery and biodegradation.
Lab Alumni
The Schmidt-Dannert lab has developed a considerable network of alumni all over the world with employment in industry and academica. Students and postdoctoral scholars readily find positions in the biotechnology industry, others have obtained faculty positions. Many alumni are now in senior and leadership position at companies and several are tenure-track or tenured faculty members.
Graduate Students
| Name | Degree, Program | Duration | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Hanson | MS, BMBB | 2015-18 | Manufacturing Associate, Moderna, MA LinkedIn |
| Christopher Flynn | PhD, BMBB | 2011-16 | Staff Scientist, Ecolab, MN LinkedIn |
| Stephen Michel | MS, MicE | 2013-15 | Bioinformatician, U of M Clinics LinkedIn |
| Sarah Bloch | PhD, BMBB | 2009-14 | Patent Agent at Morrison & Foerster LLP LinkedIn |
| Grayson Wawrzyn | PhD, BMBB | 2009-13 | Account Executive, Bruker Cellular Analysis LinkedIn |
| Ilya Tikh | PhD, BMBB | 2008-13 | Senior Principal Scientist – Synthetic and Molecular Biology at Pfizer LinkedIn |
| Erik Holtzapple | PhD, BMBB | 2003-08 | Director of Research, Provenance Bio, San Diego LinkedIn |
| Sean Agger | PhD, BMBB | 2003-08 | Director Clinical Lab, Gunderson Healthcare System, La Crosse, WI LinkedIn |
| Erin Marasco | PhD, BMBB | 2002-07 | Global Biology Lead, Cargill, Twin Cities LinkedIn |
| Kevin Watts | PhD, BMBB | 2002-06 | Product Innovation Director, Cargill, Twin Cities LinkedIn |
| Jessica Williams | MS, MicE | 2004-06 | Senior Scientist, Center for Drug Design, U of M LinkedIn |
| Anuj Bhartija | MS, MicE | 2001-03 | Director & Founder, Carbochon, Mumbai, India |
Postdoctoral Scholars
| Name | Role | Duration | Current Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eui-Sang Cho | Postdoc | 2023-25 | Staff Scientist, National Center for Biological Resources, South Korea LinkedIn |
| Ruijie Zhang | Postdoc | 2019-24 | Research Associate, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute |
| Min-Ju Seo | Postdoc | 2019-21 | TBA LinkedIn |
| Anaya Pokhrel | Postdoc | 2019-22 | Senior Scientist, IFF Biotechnology LinkedIn |
| Sara Bratsch | Postdoc | 2019-21 | Plant Pathologist, Minnesota State Department LinkedIn |
| Maureen Quin | Research Assistant Prof. | 2010-19 | Staff Scientist, Beckman Coulter, MN LinkedIn |
| Seung-Oh Seo | Postdoc | 2017-19 | Assistant Prof., Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea LinkedIn |
| Guoqiang Zhang | Postdoc | 2015-18 | Associate Prof., Jiangnan University, China |
| Hui Chen | Postdoc | 2017-18 | Postdoc, University of Boulder, CO |
| Sarah Perdue | Postdoc | 2013-15 | Director of Communications, Dept. Physics, UW Madison LinkedIn |
| Alexander Kolb | Postdoc | 2013-15 | Senior Scientist, Douglas Scientific, MN LinkedIn |
| James Ellinger | Postdoc | 2012-14 | Lecturer, Nippon Medical School LinkedIn |
| Mark Held | Postdoc | 2011-14 | Director Strain Engineering, Air Protein, Berkeley, CA LinkedIn |
| Soo-Jin Yeom | Postdoc | 2010-12 | Professor, Chonnam National University, South Korea LinkedIn |
| David Babson | Postdoc | 2010-12 | Executive Vice President, Climate & Energy, XPRIZE, Los Angeles, CA LinkedIn |
| Swati Choudhary | Research Associate | 2009-12 | Program Manager, DARPA LinkedIn |
| Jacob Vick | Postdoc | 2008-11 | Senior Scientist III, Conagen, MA LinkedIn |
| Poonam Srivastava | Postdoc | 2010-11 | Scientist, Modern Meadow, New Jersey LinkedIn |
| Sreedhar Reddy | Postdoc | 2009-10 | Scientist, Merck, India |
| Fernando Lopez-Gallego | Postdoc | 2007-10 | Professor, Biocatalysis, CIC biomaGUNE, Spain LinkedIn |
| Ethan Johnson | Research Associate | 2005-10 | Passed away in a hit-and-run car accident |
| Alexander Pisarchik | Postdoc | 2004-07 | Program Director, Alcamena Stem Cell Therapeutics, MD LinkedIn |
| Pyung Cheon Lee | Research Associate | 2001-07 | Professor, Molecular Synthetic Biology Lab, Ajou University, Seoul, Korea Lab web-page |
| Benjamin Mijts | Postdoc | 2002-06 | Senior Director, Inscripta, San Francisco LinkedIn |
| Seok Joon Kwon | Postdoc | 2002-04 | Senior Research Scientist, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY LinkedIn |
| Ralf Petri | Postdoc | 2002-04 | Scientific Coordinator, Max-Planck Institute for Aging, Cologne, Germany LinkedIn |
| Arjo De Beoer | Postdoc | 2001-03 | Senior Scientist Life Science Fujifilm manufacturing, Netherlands LinkedIn |
| Priscilla Dombek | Postdoc | 2001-03 | K-12 Teacher |
| Abu Zafar Momen | 2000-02 | Scientist, RIKEN, Yokohama, Japan |