Summer Lab Assistants 2026
Alex Andrea
Alex Andrea, a Fall 2025 Biotechnology graduate, is focused on finding more sustainable ways to handle electronic waste. She is currently working on a project that uses a mix of plants and bacteria to pull Lithium and Cobalt out of contaminated soils. Her goal is to use these natural vegetation and microbial processes to make recycling batteries more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Manal Benzouina
My name is Manal Benzouina, specialize in bioinformatics, environmental sustainability, and scientific entrepreneurship. My background includes a sustainability engineering internship at Atlas Copco, AI training, and advanced bioinformatics research using tools like PyMOL and AutoDock Vina. Driven by an entrepreneurial mindset, I am focusing on conducting impactful research and exploring how to scale those innovations into market-ready solutions for global agricultural and environmental challenges.
Wren J. Brown
Wren, a biotechnology undergraduate is working with Dr. Khan. She will be exploring how microbes interact with minerals in plant systems. Her research contributes to a larger effort to understand and improve bioremediation studies to address environmental challenges.
Kenny D. Bui
Sophomore in Electrical Engineering interested in embedded systems and hardware design, hoping to learn to apply these skills to real-world systems.
Sam Chimvai
I’m Sam, a chemical engineering student at UH with a growing interest in sustainability solutions. I am passionate about seeing how small innovations can lead to impactful and significant change. Outside of the lab, I love the sun, food, and getting active, and I’m always willing to try something new.
Samira De Leon
Samira De Leon is a Biotechnology major who has been studying plant-mineral microbe interactions. Driven by a genuine curiosity for microorganisms and bridging the gap between geology and agriculture, her research is focused on sustainable agricultural solutions. Her work aims to uncover how microscopic relationships can improve soil health and crop strength.
Holly M. Huynh
Holly Huynh is a Biotechnology undergraduate student specializing in bioinformatics, genomic data analysis, and computational biology. Her research experience spans differential gene expression analysis, pathway enrichment, and genome assembly, with a focus on drug response mechanisms in triple-negative breast cancer. She has contributed to multiple computational biology projects involving Biopython-based data processing, sequence annotation, and comparative genomics. She is currently engaged in ongoing work analyzing chemotherapeutic response mechanisms through integrative transcriptomic and pathway-based approaches in cancer biology.
Dylan Joe
Dylan Joe, Spring 2026 graduate, working on the Phytoremediation of Watersheds using Floating Treatment Wetlands project. This project aims to reduce harmful pollutants in watersheds for a healthier ecosystem using the natural synthesis pathways in floating plants. Floating Treatment Wetlands are engineered systems that suspend the plants on the surface of the water and allow the roots to facilitate synthesis. This experiment consists of analyzing the water quality through plant-bucket constructed systems to study 3 different plant species in the uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Kinza Karim
Kinza Karim is a junior Biotechnology major at the University of Houston. She is passionate about biomedical research and excited to gain hands-on laboratory experience this summer. Kinza looks forward to developing technical skills and contributing to innovative research in the field.
Hamza Khan
I am Hamza Khan, an undergraduate engineering student interested in biotechnology. I maintain a hard-working personality with great persistence and analytical skills. My focus is designing and implementing a scalable rhizobox system that can improve high plant production processes.
Peter Lee
My name is Peter Lee, a Mexican-Korean undergraduate at the University of Houston with a fiery drive for microbiology and the role of microbiota in shaping health. I take pride in approaching my studies and interactions with a positive mindset, driven by a sincere passion for improving the well-being of all life forms. Through my academic journey and this amazing opportunity under the Agricultural Biotechnology department, I hope to contribute thoughtful and meaningful solutions applying biotechnology that would support both human health and the environment!
Binh M. Pham
Celine Saidy
Celine is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Geophysics. Using a combination of drone surveys and ground-based vegetation surveys, her research focuses on the role of the plant community in dune development and resilience in natural and restored dunes along the Texas coast.
Joshua Tannous
Joshua Tannous is a first year master’s student working on hyperspectral and other remote sensing techniques for rare earth mineral exploration in the western Llano Uplift. Centering research on the submerged rare earth mineral mine of Barringer Hill located under Lake Buchanan, Mr. Tannous is investigating the phenomena of rare earth element uptake in garnet-bearing rock found in areas of fault activity.
Jeremy Simon H. Tanueco
I am a recent B.S. in Biotechnology graduate, specifically the Bioinformatics track, and am very excited to participate in the Agricultural Biotechnology’s Summer Lab Program! I have a passion for genetic engineering and hope to pursue further education regarding this field in the future. My other passions include all things nerdy, fitness (especially rock climbing), and always trying to be positive in life!
Denise Tran
Denise Tran, a Biotechnology undergraduate working on genetic engineering of ACC deaminase expression in Bacillus velezensis QST713 to alleviate plant stress. Her research focuses on genetic modifications to enhance ACC deaminase production and evaluate enzyme function. She investigates the potential of ACC deaminase-producing bacteria to mitigate plant stress and promote beneficial plant-microbe interactions.
Jesus Villarroel
Jesus Villarroel, a Biotechnology undergraduate working with Dr. Lin, is exploring enzyme mining for cynarine biosynthesis. He hopes to find potential candidate enzymes that possess the motifs required to perform CCT activity and catalyze cynarine, a compound with several beneficial properties that is found in artichokes in low quantities and which is difficult to extract.
Payton Yen
My name is Payton Yen, and I am a first generation college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology. During my undergraduate studies, I contributed to a phytoremediation research project that utilized floating treatment wetlands to remove excess nutrients and improve water quality within local watersheds. This experience provided meaningful exposure to laboratory research and strengthened my interest in applied biotechnology. I intend to pursue a master’s degree in biotechnology with a strong interest in recombinant DNA–based drug development and biomanufacturing.
Christopher Yo
Christopher Yo recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in biomedical sciences at Texas A&M University. He currently is a student here at the University of Houston pursuing his master’s in biotechnology. His main interest of study and research is phytomining and its potential applications for the environment.