Principal Investigator

Alex Gao

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and of Microbiology & Immunology (CV)
Alex grew up in Moscow, Idaho and studied chemistry and electrical engineering at Stanford before completing a Ph.D. in biological engineering at MIT and the Broad Institute, where his work spanned CRISPR enzyme engineering and prokaryotic genome mining. He was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows before returning to Stanford in 2022. Outside of lab, he enjoys running on campus, basketball, social dance, and learning YouTube favorites on piano.

Administrative Staff

Morgan Williams

Department of Biochemistry | Administrative Associate 
Bio coming soon!

Postdoctoral Fellows

Hyunbin Lee

Postdoctoral Fellow
Hyunbin grew up in Seoul, South Korea and obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry from Seoul National University in the lab of Dr. Seokhee Kim, studying natural product biosynthetic enzymes. He joined the Gao lab in 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow, and is excited about new enzymatic activities in bacteria-phage conflict. Outside of lab, Hyunbin enjoys playing soccer, photography, and playing piano/singing.

Pujuan Deng

Katharine McCormick Advanced Postdoctoral Fellow
Pujuan was born and raised in Jiangxi, China. She completed her Ph.D. at Beijing Normal University, where she studied epigenetic regulation. She then pursued her first postdoctoral training at Tsinghua University in Dr. Jun-Jie Gogo Liu's lab, investigating mechanisms of retrotransposon retrotransposition. Pujuan joined the Gao lab in 2024, and is now exploring how bacterial immune systems defend against phage infection, and is particularly excited about reverse transcriptase-based defense systems. Outside the lab, she loves spending time with her child and family—they are her greatest sources of joy and motivation!

Graduate Students

Sofia Luengo-Woods

Biochemistry Ph.D. Student
Sofia grew up in San Diego, CA and studied Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at UCLA. There, she worked on the regulators of cellular iron homeostasis in the lab of Dr. James Wohlschlegel. She started her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Stanford in 2022, and she’s now interested in how bacterial defense systems can sense infection from a broad array of phage. When she’s not pipetting, she’s lifting, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or practicing bass riffs.

Simone Evans

Genetics Ph.D Student | Bio-X Bowes Fellow
Simone grew up outside of DC and studied cell biology and molecular genetics at University of Maryland before starting her Ph.D. in genetics at Stanford in 2022. She is interested in proteolytic activation immune effectors and the diversity of microbial genomes. Outside of lab, she can be found trail running, backpacking, triathlon-ing, or attempting to craft!

Collin Chiu

Biochemistry Ph.D. Student | Cellular and Molecular Biology Trainee
Bio coming soon!

Yu Tin Lin

Chemistry Ph.D. Student | Knight-Hennessy Scholar
Yu Tin grew up in Taiwan and moved to Florida when he was 12. He graduated from the University of Florida (UF) and studied chemistry, statistics, and biology. There, he worked on experimental and computational method development and applications in imaging mass spectrometry in the lab of Dr. Boone Prentice. Yu Tin joined Stanford Chemistry in 2024 and became interested in studying molecular interactions at the interface between microbes and phages combining artificial intelligence, molecular biology, and structural biology. Outside the lab, Yu Tin enjoys attending live music events and playing board games.

Hannah Barsouk

Biochemistry Ph.D Student | Hertz Fellow
Hannah grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. They studied biochemistry and biophysics at Yale, exploring ancient families of bacterial noncoding RNAs in the lab of Dr. Ronald Breaker. Since starting their Ph.D. in biochemistry at Stanford in 2025 and joining the Gao lab, Hannah is excited to explore new roles for macromolecules in the evolutionary arms race between bacteria and phage. Outside of lab, you can find Hannah skateboarding, reading nonfiction, or facetiming their brother's cats (Gojo and Naru).

Undergraduate

Katherine Wang

Human Biology | Bio-X Undergraduate Fellow
Katherine is an undergraduate at Stanford University studying Human Biology, originally from Ukiah, CA. She is studying protease-guided bacterial defense mechanisms alongside Simone, and is excited about exploring deeper into bacterial immunity and genetics. Outside of lab, Katherine loves learning Chinese dance, binging sci-fi movies with friends, and is always down to travel to new places!
We are welcoming new graduate students! If you are interested in joining us or doing a rotation, please email Alex at algao@stanford.edu. Prospective PhD students are encouraged to apply to the Stanford Biosciences program.

Alumni

Yannie Lam
Research Associate (2023-24)
Ph.D. Student at Stanford University (Hüttenhain Lab)