People

Principal Investigator

Sara Molinari, PhD

Chief microbe wrangler dreaming up sticky, living materials to save the world, one bacterium at a time!

Faculty Assistant

Sarah Browning, MEng

Sarah Browning joined the lab in September 2023 while completing her master’s degree at the University of Maryland. She’s working on surface display in bacteria and yeast as well as characterizing biomaterials. In her free time, she enjoys reading, beading, and spending time with Wompass.

Google Scholar

Graduate Students

Varunaa Sri Hemanth Kumar

Varunaa joined the lab in August 2023 and has been working on a variety of projects, including engineering bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs), developing quorum sensing systems, and creating new engineered living materials (ELMs). In her free time, she enjoys dancing, reading, and watching TV.

Google Scholar

Ingrid Dukundane

Ingrid joined the Molinari lab in 2025, and her work is on developing novel engineered living materials with applications in health and environmental remediation. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading and watching Sherlock Holmes–inspired stories.

Andrew Ng, MS

Andy will be joining the lab in Fall 2025, and we’re excited to welcome him to the team!

Undergraduate Students

Hahnbit Kang

Hahnbit is a Microbiology major and Data Science minor who loves working with microbes because they seem to be the solution to everything. They’re even cooler when she gets to use them to make fermented foods at home, since she loves cooking and eating. She also dreams of traveling and running around the world, and in the future hopes to pursue a PhD to learn more about the gut microbiome and nutrition.

Shiv Anderson

Shiv likes F1 and brainstorming project ideas.

Adib Khan

Adib is a bioengineering major who is fascinated by synthetic biology and has a newfound love for bacteria. In his free time he likes to cook, play the flute, and juggle.

Talia Levine

Talia is a senior majoring in bioengineering on the pre-med track. She loves working with bacteria, especially when it comes to studying biofilms. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, painting, and traveling.