Varghese Group

About Us



Shyni Varghese

  • Shyni Varghese, Ph.D.

  • Director, Bio-Inspired Materials and Stem Cell Engineering Laboratory
  • Associate Professor; Department of Bioengineering
  • Faculty, Department of NanoEngineering; Materials Science & Engineering
  • Institute of Engineering in Medicine
  • University of California, San Diego
  • La Jolla, CA 92093-0412
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7920
  • Fax: (858) 534-5722
  • Email: svarghese@ucsd.edu

Affiliated & Visiting Professors


  • Colin Jamora, Ph.D.

  • Director, IFOM-inStem, Joint Research Laboratory.
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #333
  • Phone: (858) 822-7920
  • Email: colinj@instem.res.in

  • Sungwook Seo, M.D., Ph.D.

  • Associate professor
  • Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #332
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: sungwseo@skku.edu

  • Jaekwang Kim, M.D.

  • Associate professor
  • Department of Orthopedic Surgery. Ewha Womans University Medical Center
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #332
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: orth4535@gmail.com

  • Jae-Min Oh, Ph.D.

  • Associate professor
  • Department of Chemistry and Medical Chemistry, Yonsei University
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: jmoh8@ucsd.edu

  • Seong Keun Kwon, M.D., Ph.D.

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: skk023@eng.ucsd.edu

  • Masayuki Iida, M.S.

  • Research Scientist
  • KAO Corporation
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: Maiida@eng.ucsd.edu

Post-Docs


  • Yongsung Hwang, Ph.D.

  • Ph.D, Materials Science
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #332
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: yshwang@ucsd.edu

  • Yuru (Vernon) Shih, Ph.D.

  • Ph.D, Clinical Medicine
  • National Yang Ming University
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #332
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: yvshih@ucsd.edu

  • Manando Nakasaki, MD, Ph.D.

  • M.D., Ph.D., Medicine
  • Osaka University School of Medicine
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: Mnakasaki@ucsd.edu

  • Mrityunjoy Kar, Ph.D.

  • Ph.D, Polymer and Materials Chemistry,
  • CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, India
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #332
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: mkar@ucsd.edu

Graduate students


  • Aereas Aung

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: aeaung@ucsd.edu

  • Shruti Davey

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: skdavey@ucsd.edu

  • Heemin Kang

  • MS, Materials Science and Engineering
  • Stanford University
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: heemin@ucsd.edu


  • Vikram Rao

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, Merced
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: vgrao@eng.ucsd.edu

  • Sara Hariri

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, Irvine
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: s1hariri@ucsd.edu

  • Young Nam Seo

  • BS, Biology
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: ynseo@ucsd.edu


  • Mengqian Liu

  • BS, Materials Science
  • Univeristy of California, Berkeley
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: mel093@engucsd.edu

  • Ivneet Bhullar

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: ibhullar@eng.ucsd.edu

  • Jung Mi Kang

  • MS, Biomedical Engineering
  • University of Science and Technology, Dae-jeon
  • Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #332
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: kjm8473@kist.re.kr


  • Nailah Seale

  • BS, Chemical Engineering
  • Howard University
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: nseale@ucsd.edu

  • Han Liang Lim

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: hllim@ucsd.edu

  • Gaurav Agrawal

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: gagrawal@ucsd.edu


  • Eva González Díaz

  • BS, Chemical Engineering
  • University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: ecgonzal@eng.ucsd.edu

  • Priya Nayak

  • BS, Physics
  • California Institute of Technology
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: pmnayak@eng.ucsd.edu

  • Lynn Theprungsirikul

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • Duke University
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #333
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: jomkuan@ucsd.edu


  • Cong Dinh

  • BS, Materials Science and Engineering
  • Stanford University
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #333
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: cbdinh@ucsd.edu

  • Yuze Zeng

  • BS, Materials Science
  • Zhejiang University
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #333
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: yzeng3@eng.ucsd.edu



Undergraduate Students


  • Ojash Neopane

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: oneopane@ucsd.edu

  • Roshni Ravindran

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: rravindr@ucsd.edu

  • Claire Chen

  • BA, Human Biology
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: clchen@ucsd.edu


  • Christopher Plunkett

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of Rochester
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: cplunket@u.rochester.edu

  • Anamik Jhunjhunwala

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: anamik_jh2007@yahoo.co.in

  • Anhuy Pham

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, Irvine
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: anhuyp@uci.edu


  • Shashank Anand

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, San Diego
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: saanand@ucsd.edu

  • Katherine Pieri

  • BS, Bioengineering
  • University of California, Irvine
  • Office: Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall #331
  • Phone: (858) 822-7986
  • Email: kpieri@ucsd.edu