Members
Gözde S. Demirer
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering (2022) - CV
2026 Journal of Nanobiotechnology Rising Star
2025 ASPB Jane Silverthorne Early Career Award
2024 Rising Stars in Plant Sciences Award
2024 ACS Zero Hunger Award
2023 AIChE’s 35 under 35 Award
Gözde was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey and received her B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Koc University in 2015. Gözde completed her Chemical Engineering Ph.D. at UC Berkeley with Prof. Markita Landry in 2020. During her Ph.D. studies, she developed nanotechnologies for plant genetic engineering. For her postdoctoral work, Gözde joined Prof. Siobhan Brady's lab at UC Davis, where she studied nutrient use efficiency of tomato and developed high-throughput functional genomics tools to study transcriptional regulation in crops.
Contact Gözde if you want to join the Demirer Lab!
Research Staff
Lab Manager
Tufan Oz
Tufan was born and raised in Turkey. He completed his PhD in Biotechnology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. He pursued various research opportunities in plant biotech and worked at the Palacký University Olomouc, the University of Florida and the Earlham Institute as a postdoctoral scientist. He developed genetic transformation and gene editing methods for model plants and non-model crops including sugarcane, barley and chickpea, and used synthetic biology and advanced mol bio techniques to generate and verify engineered plants.
Postdoctoral Scholar
Carl McCombe
Carl was born and raised in the small town of Casterton, Australia, and completed a bachelor's degree in biotechnology at Flinders University. He earned his PhD from The Australian National University in 2024 under the supervision of Prof Simon Williams, where he characterized effector proteins from pathogenic fungi. Carl’s research identified a conserved family of fungal enzymes that manipulate phosphate signaling in plants to promote disease. In the Demirer Lab, Carl will investigate plant interactions with beneficial soil microbes. When he’s not in the lab, Carl enjoys running, exploring hiking trails, and watching basketball.
YOU
YOU
Check out openings and apply!
Graduate Students
Chemical Engineering 2021
Mark G. Legendre NSF Fellow
Mark was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and earned his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame in 2021. During his time at UND, Mark developed supramolecular surface treatments for biomedical materials. He is currently pursuing his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering at Caltech as a member of the Demirer Lab where he is primarily focused on in planta protein delivery strategies for plant genetic engineering and developmental regulation. In his free time, Mark enjoys working out, playing and listening to music, and fly fishing.
Bioengineering 2021
Yunqing Wang FFAR Fellow
Yunqing was born in Chengdu, Sichuan, and earned her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2021. During her undergrad, Yunqing participated in iGEM and developed a DNA detection toolbox based on CRISPR-Cas12a. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering at Caltech as a member of the Demirer lab. She is passionate about applying synthetic biology techniques to plant engineering. Outside the lab, Yunqing enjoys hiking and photography, and is getting in the habit of working out and rock climbing.
Chemical Engineering 2022
Eugene Li NSF Fellow
Eugene was born in Phoenix, Arizona and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. During his undergrad, Eugene worked with Prof. Mukherjee to develop biomolecular MRI reporters. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering at Caltech as a member of the Demirer Lab. His research focuses on developing engineered living materials to achieve controlled release of agrochemicals in the rhizosphere. In his free time, Eugene enjoys playing sports and watching movies.
Biology 2022
Chiara Berruto NSF Fellow
Chiara was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She received her B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics in 2021 from the University of California, Los Angeles. During her time at UCLA, she worked under Dr. Jeffrey F. Miller studying the role of diversity-generating retroelements in the accelerated evolution of gut microbiota. She is now pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Biology as a member of the Demirer Lab. Her research focuses on plant-microbiome interactions and the ways in which the plant microbiome can be manipulated for sustainable agriculture. In her free time, Chiara enjoys going to the beach and spending time with loved ones.
Biology 2022
Kimberley Tanatswa Muchenje
Margaret McNamara Fellow
Kimberley was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and earned her B.S in Biology from Davidson College while investigating determinants of gene regulation at the transcriptional level in C.elegans. She has honed skills in genomic techniques and bioinformatic data analysis. She is now pursuing a PhD in Biology as a member of the Demirer Lab. Her research involves reconstituting biosynthetic pathways for efficient production of rare bioactive molecules with medicinal value in model plants using a synthetic biology approach. Kimberley enjoys mountain hikes, crocheting, running, reading novels, writing poetry and candid photography.
Bioengineering 2023
Catherine Griffin
Catherine received her B.S. in Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023. While at MIT, she researched bacteriophage behavior in mucus environments and participated in internships working on microfluidic lab automation and directed evolution of genome editing enzymes. She is now pursuing a P.h.D in Bioengineering at Caltech as a member of the Demirer Lab. Her research focuses on engineered living materials for plant stress resilience. Catherine is an avid rock climber and if not in the lab, can be found in the climbing gym or bouldering around California!
Chemical Biology 2024
Clair Colee
Clair grew up in Seattle, Washington and earned her B.S. in Biochemistry at Scripps College in Claremont, California in 2023. During her undergrad years, Clair worked in Dr. Aaron Leconte’s lab, where she used deep mutational scanning and high throughput biochemical assays to evaluate and optimize the light emission spectra of firefly luciferase. Now, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in Chemistry on the Chemical Biology & Molecular Biosciences track at Caltech. In the Demirer lab, her research focuses on engineering virus-like particles for improved cargo loading and delivery in plants. Outside of lab, Clair enjoys making music, hanging out with her cat, exploring new parts of the city, and strolling around the neighborhood.
Chemical Biology 2024
Andrés Heredia
Andrés was born and raised in San Diego, California. In 2024, he received his B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, he worked in Dr. Jose Rodriguez’s group investigating the impacts of Lysosomal Storage Disease-implicated lipids on alpha-synuclein pathology. He is now pursuing his PhD in chemical biology as a member of the Demirer lab. His research focuses on engineering genetically encoded systems for biomolecule delivery to plants. Outside the lab, Andrés enjoys playing piano, swimming, and exploring LA's food scene. You can also find him on the pool deck as a volunteer coach for the Caltech Men’s Water Polo team.
Major
YOU
Check our graduate program options at Caltech and apply!
Undergraduate Students
Biochemistry with ESE minor
Gigi Pistilli
Bioengineering
Aurelia Kuester
Bioengineering with Neurobiology minor