Marcy J. Balunas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Medicinal Chemistry
Associate Professor in Chemistry
Affiliate Faculty, Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Email: marcy.balunas@uconn.edu
Karen Tan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Karen received her M.S. in Pharmacy from University of the Philippines in 2010. In 2011, she moved to Japan, where she majored in Natural Products Chemistry and successfully defended her M.S. (2013) and Ph.D. (2016) theses in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Tokyo.
Samantha Gromek
Graduate Student
Samantha received her B.S. in Biology from Susquehanna University in 2010.
Jing Liu
Graduate Student
Jing received her M.S. in Medicinal Chemistry, Natural Products Division from China Pharmaceutical University in 2004 and her B.S. in Traditional Chinese Materia Medica from China Pharmaceutical University in 2001.
Sara Puckett
Graduate Student
Sara received her M.S. in Biochemistry from University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2016. She received her B.S in Biology and Pre-Professional Sciences and B.A. in Chemistry and Spanish from Ferrum College in 2014.
James deMayo
Graduate Student
Jimmy received his B.S. in Physiology from University of California Santa Barbara in 2013. In September 2016, Jimmy successfully defended his M.S. thesis in Medicinal Chemistry.
Lucas Gitzel
Research Specialist
Lucas received his B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Connecticut in 2017.
Current Interns
Kailey Huot, Undergraduate student
Lava Kareem, Pharm.D. student
Cindy Li, Undergraduate student
Andrew Maxwell, McNair Scholar and Undergraduate honors thesis student
Brendan Stewart, University Scholar and Undergraduate honors thesis student
Former Lab Members
Heather Winter, Research Specialist
Lilly Tartsinis, Undergraduate honors student
Alexander Trouern-Trend, Undergraduate student
Jillian Garcia, Research Specialist
Annie Sung, Undergraduate honors thesis student
Athena Tao, Pharm.D. honors thesis studnet
Ashley West, Pharm.D honors thesis student
Matthew Lin, Holster Scholar and Undergraduate honors student
Georgina Appiah-Pippim, McNair Scholar and Undergraduate honors thesis student
Meggy Chen, Pharm.D. honors student
Joe Molleur, Volunteer (UConn Alumnus)
Taylor Riley, Undergraduate student
Allegra Molkenthin, High school student
Behnoush Hajian, Graduate student
Julie Costello, Pharm.D. honors thesis student
Lyubina Yankova, Undergraduate honors thesis student
Christopher Pavlik, Postdoctoral scientist
Sarah Leverett, Pre-Pharmacy honors student
Josh Baldino, Pharm.D. honors student
Sarah Chambers, Pharm.D. honors student
Tatyana Dyndikova, University of Rochester undergraduate student (REACH Program)
Ahsum Khan, University of Rochester undergraduate student (REACH Program)
Kristin Kipp, Research Assistant
Ann-Chee Cheng, Research Assistant
Patrick Brooks, Pharm.D. student
Ashley Kalinauskas, Undergraduate student
Sara Trevisani, Undergraduate student
Aileen Yang, Undergraduate honors student
Anu Jojo, Volunteer
Samie Ahmed, Undergraduate student
Panama Lab Members
Rebecca Pike, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (CREO Program)
Jessica Schwartz, Franklin and Marshall College
Jessica Avalos, University of California Santa Cruz (CREO Program)
Brittany Graf, The College of New Jersey (CREO Program)
Manuel Grosso, Universidad de Panamá (Estímulos Program, CREO Program)
Daniel Wong, Universidad de Panamá (Estímulos Program)
Cecilio Atencio, Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí, (Estímulos Program)
Christina Wong, University of Rochester (CREO Program)
Amanda Fenner, University of Iowa (CREO Program)
Sarah Herbst, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (UMEB Program)
Kathryn Clark, McGill University (NEO Program)
Dioxelis López, INDICASAT