Ken Halvorsen

Senior Research Scientist | Principal Investigator

khalvorsen [at] albany.edu

Ken started his own lab at The RNA Institute at UAlbany in 2013. His professional life began as a mechanical engineer for a fuel cell company, took a sharp turn to ski bum in Jackson Hole, WY, and another sharp turn to grad school at BU. Intending to go back to industry, Ken was instead lured into a postdoc by grad school lab mate and friend Wesley Wong. He spends his career learning through failure and agonizing over whether he is a scientist or an engineer.

PhD, Biomedical Engineering | Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
BS, Mechanical Engineering and Physics | Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA 

Jibin Abraham Punnoose

Research Scientist

jabrahampunnoose [at] albany.edu

Jibin joined Halvorsen lab in January 2018 as a Postdoctoral Associate. He received his doctoral degree in Chemistry from Kent State University where he studied the folding dynamics of multiple DNA G-quadruplexes from single-stranded DNA through single-molecule optical tweezers. He is currently working on the development of a wireless, bench-top Centrifugal Force Microscope which can be used for high throughput single-molecule force measurements.  

PhD, Chemistry | Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.

Iranna Todkari

Postdoctoral Associate

itodkari [at] albany.edu

Iranna joined the Halvorsen and Sheng labs in March 2023 as a postdoctoral associate. In his PhD, Iranna studied supramolecular assembly formation of bimodal Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) such as double and triple duplexes, tetraplexes, and higher order structures. Currently he is working on applications of DNA nanoswitches.

PhD, Chemistry | Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India.

Vinod Morya

Postdoctoral Associate

vmorya [at] albany.edu

Vinod joined the Halvorsen lab in January 2024. During his PhD, Vinod worked on DNA nanotechnology and DNA-based hydrogels.

PhD, Biological Engineering | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, India.

Dadrian Cole

Research Support Specialist

dacole [at] albany.edu

BS, Biology | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.

Charlize Penalver

Undergraduate Researcher

cpenalver [at] albany.edu

Biology (Class of 2026) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.

Jennifer Mesidor

Undergraduate Researcher

jmesidor [at] albany.edu

Chemistry (Class of 2026) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

Zyon Small

Undergraduate Researcher

Biology with minor in Chemistry & Spanish (Class of 2027) | University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA