Lu obtained her Ph.D. from Columbia University, working with Prof. Wei Min. Too fascinated by the stimulated Raman scattering microscopy, she decided to stay at Columbia, continuing her postdoctoral work on developing new nonlinear vibrational imaging techniques. Lu joined the faculty at Caltech in 2018, and is also a Heritage Medical Research Institute (HMRI) investigator and a Ronald and JoAnn Willens Scholar at Caltech. Lu has recently been recognized by:

•  2017 ACS PHYS Division Young Investigator Award

• ​ 2018 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists

•  2019 Amgen Early Innovator Award

•  2020 NIH Director's New Innovator Award

•  2022 Sloan Research Fellowship

•  2022 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award

•  2022 Vallee Scholar Award

•  2023 NSF CAREER Award

•  2024 BPS Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award

•  2024 JCP-DCP Future of Chemical Physics Lectureship

•  2025 Coblentz Award

Ryan earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2023. His Ph.D. research focused on developing new methods for achieving super-resolution label-free imaging using stimulated Raman spectroscopy. His research interests center around developing new nonlinear optical methods to study biological systems, with an emphasis on cellular membranes and ion channels. His hobbies include crocheting and video games. His current favorite game is Baldur’s Gate 3.

Kwan was raised in Seoul, South Korea. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he worked in the labs of Prof. Bhargava and Prof. Bailey. When not in lab, Kwan enjoys getting outside, playing basketball, and hoping the LA Lakers will make the Western Conference Finals.

Xiaotian was born and raised in Shandong Province, China. She received her B.S. degree in Chemical Biology at College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University in 2019. During her undergraduate studies, she joined the Zoulab and worked with Prof. Peng Zou in developing voltage indicators for mitochondria.

Li-En was born and raised in Taiwan. He got his B.S. degree in Chemistry at National Taiwan University, where he worked on mass spectrometry imaging techniques in Dr. Cheng-Chih Hsu's lab. He enjoys searching for delicious food (especially desserts) outside of the lab.   

RJ graduated with a BS honors in Chemistry in 2020 from Trinity College Connecticut where he worked in a bioanalytical chemistry lab under the mentorship of Dr. Michelle Kovarik. His role involved investigating the specificity of peptide substrate reporters for Protein Kinase B in Dictyostelium discoideum. Following Trinity, RJ earned his Master's in Chemistry from Brown University in 2021. When not in the lab, RJ enjoys traveling, exploring new places to eat, and drinking coffee! LinkedIn

Adrian was born in Baja California, Mexico where he was partially raised before moving to San Diego, California. He earned a B.S in Biochemistry from San Diego State University, under the mentorship of Dr. Christopher Harrison in his bioanalytical chemistry lab. He worked in method development for direct blood doping detection utilizing capillary isoelectric focusing. Outside of the lab, Adrian enjoys hiking, cooking, and playing video games.

A native of Champaign, IL, Phil received his BS in specialized chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2016-2021). Phil performed highly precise mid-infrared spectroscopy in Professor Benjamin McCall’s lab (2015-2018) and computational modeling of nucleic acid-targeting ligands for myotonic dystrophy type 1 in Professor Steven Zimmerman’s lab (2018-2021). After undergrad, Phil worked for a year as a post-bachelor’s student in the Physical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory on several projects, including waveguide-based biosensing development and synthetic lipoprotein design and characterization. In his free time, Phil is a jazz trumpeter and composer, and he enjoys reading, cooking, and playing games with friends.

Noor was born in Illinois and raised in Southern California. She got her BS honors in chemistry from California Polytechnic State University, Pomona in 2022, where she worked in Dr. Gregory Barding’s bioanalytical chemistry lab. In her free time, Noor enjoys a good cup of coffee while reading a book!

Ziguang was born and raised in Wuhan, Hubei, China where he stayed there for eighteen years before he traveled to the US to pursue his undergraduate degree at UC Santa Barbara working on transition metal catalysis with Dr. Liming Zhang and Dr. Conghui Tang (HUST). After graduation, he decided to stay in California and moved south to Pasadena to pursue his Ph.D. degree at Caltech, hoping to work on the boundary of chemical biology and synthetic chemistry. Outside the lab, Ziguang enjoys traveling with his friends all around the world.

Joe is originally from Wyomissing, PA. He moved to Atlanta, GA to attend Emory University, where he received a B.S. in Chemistry and Theater Studies. As an undergraduate, Joe worked in Dr. Katherine Davis’s x-ray crystallography lab, structurally characterizing several health-relevant enzymes and protein-based biosensors. Outside of the lab, Joe enjoys playing the New York Times minigames, listening to Taylor Swift, and searching for fun coffee shops.

​Berea was born and raised in Austin, TX. She received a B.S. in chemistry in 2024 from the University of Texas at Austin, where she worked under the mentorship of Prof. Robert Newberry and Prof. Yi-Chih Lin. When not in lab, Berea can most likely be found at the climbing gym!