Natural Sciences
Showing 1-100 of 123 Results
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Michael Baiocchi
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and, by courtesy, of Statistics and of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center)
On Partial Leave from 01/01/2026 To 12/01/2026BioProfessor Baiocchi is a PhD statistician in Stanford University's Epidemiology and Population Health Department. He thinks a lot about behavioral interventions and how to rigorously evaluate if and how they work. Methodologically, his work focuses on creating statistically rigorous methods for causal inference that are transparent and easy to critique. He designed -- and was the principle investigator for -- two large randomized studies of interventions to prevent sexual assault in the settlements of Nairobi, Kenya.
Professor Baiocchi is an interventional statistician (i.e., grounded in both the creation and evaluation of interventions). The unifying idea in his research is that he brings rigorous, quantitative approaches to bear upon messy, real-world questions to better people's lives. -
Batoul Banihashemi
Postdoctoral Scholar, Physics
BioResearch interests: quantum gravity, holography
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Steven Banik
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
BioSteven Banik’s research interests center on rewiring mammalian biology and chemical biotechnology development using molecular design and construction. Projects in the Banik lab combine chemical biology, organic chemistry, protein engineering, cell and molecular biology to precisely manipulate the biological machines present in mammalian cells. Projects broadly aim to perform new functions that shed light on regulatory machinery and the potential scope of mammalian biology. A particular focus is the study of biological mechanisms that can be coopted by synthetic molecules (both small molecules and proteins). These concepts are applied to develop new therapeutic strategies for treating aging-related disorders, genetic diseases, and cancer.
Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford, Steven was a NIH and Burroughs CASI postdoctoral fellow advised by Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi at Stanford. His postdoctoral research developed approaches for targeted protein degradation from the extracellular space with lysosome targeting chimeras (LYTACs). He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2016, where he worked with Prof. Eric Jacobsen on synthetic methods for the selective, catalytic difluorination of organic molecules and new approaches for generating and controlling reactive cationic intermediates in asymmetric catalysis. -
Zhenan Bao
K. K. Lee Professor, Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering, of Chemistry, and of Bioengineering
BioZhenan Bao joined Stanford University in 2004. She is currently a K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering, and with courtesy appointments in Chemistry, Bioengineering and Material Science and Engineering. She was the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018-2022 and in 2025. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the current faculty director. Bao received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995 and joined Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She became a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 2001. Professor Bao currently has more than 800 refereed publications and more than 80 US patents with a Google Scholar H-index 237.
Bao is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Bao was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2021. She is a Fellow of AAAS, ACS, MRS, SPIE, ACS POLY and ACS PMSE.
Bao is a member of the Board of Directors for the Camille and Dreyfus Foundation from 2022. She served as a member of Executive Board of Directors for the Materials Research Society and Executive Committee Member for the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering division of the American Chemical Society. She co-founded C3 Nano Co. (acquired by Du Pont) and PyrAmes, which have produced products used in commercial smartphones and hospitals, respectively. Multiple inventions from her lab have been licensed and served as foundational technologies for several additional start-ups.
Bao was a recipient of the VinFuture Prize Female Innovator 2022, ACS Award of Chemistry of Materials 2022, MRS Mid-Career Award in 2021, AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award 2021, ACS Central Science Disruptor and Innovator Prize in 2020, ACS Gibbs Medal in 2020, the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Federal Minister of Science in 2018, the L'Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award North America Laureate in 2017. She was awarded the ACS Applied Polymer Science Award in 2017, ACS Creative Polymer Chemistry Award in 2013 ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2011. She is a recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize in 2009, IUPAC Creativity in Applied Polymer Science Prize in 2008.
In Stanford, Bao has pioneered molecular design concepts and fabrication processes to advance the scope and applications of skin-inspired electronics. Her group discovered nano confinement effect of conjugated polymers in polymer blends, which established the fundamental foundation for skin-inspired electronic materials and devices. Her work has resulted in new materials and device solutions for soft robotics, wearable and implantable electronics for precision health, precision mental health and advanced tools for understanding neuroscience and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Building on chemical insights, her group has developed foundational materials and devices that enabled a new generation of skin-inspired soft electronics. They provide unprecedented opportunities for understanding human health through developing monitoring, diagnosis and treatment tools. Some examples include: a neuromorphic e-skin that can sense force and temperature and directly communicate with brain, a wireless wound healing patch, a soft NeuroString for simultaneous neurochemical monitoring in the brain and gut, soft high-density electrophysiological recording array, a meta-learned skin sensor for detailed body movements, a reconfigurable self-healing electronic skin. -
Christopher O. Barnes
Assistant Professor of Biology and, by courtesy, of Structural Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in our lab is aimed at defining the structural correlates of broad and potent antibody-mediated neutralization of viruses. We combine biophysical and structural methods (e.g., cryo-EM), protein engineering, and in vivo approaches to understand how enveloped viruses infect host cells and elicit antigen-specific immune responses. We are particularly interested in the co-evolution of HIV-1 and broadly-neutralizing IgG antibodies (bNAbs), which may hold the key to the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. In addition, we are investigating antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and related zoonotic coronaviruses (CoV), with the related goal of developing broadly-protective immunotherapies and vaccines against variants of concern and emerging CoV threats.
HIV-1; SARS-CoV-2; coronaviruses; cryo-EM; crystallography; vaccines; directed evolution -
Kathryn Barton
Associate Professor, Biology
Consulting Professor, BiologyCurrent Research and Scholarly InterestsPlants make new leaves and stems from clusters of undifferentiated cells located at the tips of branches. These cell clusters are called apical meristems. We study transcription factors that control growth and development of apical meristems. Our studies include plants growing in environments rich in water and nutrients as well as in poor environments. The deeper knowledge of plant development gained from these studies will ultimately help increase food security in a changing environment.
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Stefan Oliver Bassler
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioStefan is a Bridging Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow in the Petrov lab at Stanford University and in the Aulehla & Steinmetz labs at EMBL (2025-now). He is fascinated by how evolution can be used to probe the genomic plasticity of biological systems. During his PhD with Nassos Typas at EMBL supported by the Joachim Herz Add-on Fellowship, he mapped the Genomic landscape of resistance evolution by performing high-throughput resistance evolution of the genome-wide KO library in E. coli. He discovered that evolvability genes constrain resistance evolution through gene-gene and gene-gene-drug interactions. In his postdoctoral work, he will Assess the inter-kingdom conservation of lifespan variants evolved in yeast.
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Rodrigo Bello Carvalho
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2023
BioI am a field biologist deeply passionate about wildlife ecology and conservation. My academic and professional journey bridges research, fieldwork, and environmental stewardship across some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
My work focuses on understanding the functional role of megafauna (large-bodied vertebrates) in shaping tropical ecosystems through processes such as frugivory, herbivory, and seed dispersal. I am particularly interested in how savanna biodiversity, structure, and functioning respond to the loss of megafauna (defaunation), and how ecological insights can inform restoration and conservation strategies in a rapidly changing world.
I hold a Master’s degree in Biodiversity Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford (2021), and graduated with honors in Biological Sciences (B.Sc., 2017) and Biology Teaching (B.Ed., 2018) from the University of Brasília (UnB). My ecological journey began at UnB’s Ecosystem Ecology Lab (2014–2018) under Prof. Mercedes Bustamante, where I first engaged with Cerrado ecology and savanna dynamics.
Driven by a commitment to applied conservation, I worked at the Brasília Zoological Garden Foundation (2018) and taught Science and Biology in Brasília’s private schools (2019), experiences that deepened my belief in connecting ecological science and conservation with communities.
At Oxford’s Ecosystems Lab (2020–2021), I studied defaunation and seed dispersal in the Cerrado, working under Dr. Imma Oliveras and Prof. Yadvinder Malhi. I later joined Brazil’s national environmental agency (ICMBio) as an Environmental Analyst and Park Ranger (2022–2023), where I was based in the Western Brazilian Amazon, engaging in biodiversity monitoring, sustainable management of natural resources, and frontline conservation enforcement of three Conservation Units within the Purus River Basin.
Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Biology at Stanford University in the Dirzo Lab, where my research explores megafauna-ecosystem interactions across Brazilian and African savannas, with a focus on how defaunation reshapes ecosystems. I also collaborate with UNESP’s Bird Ecology Lab on frugivory, seed dispersal, and ecological restoration in the Atlantic Forest. -
Stacey Bent
Jagdeep & Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Eng, Professor of Energy Science and Eng, Senior Fellow at Precourt & Prof, by courtesy, of Electrical Eng, Materials Sci Eng & Chemistry
BioThe research in the Bent laboratory is focused on understanding and controlling surface and interfacial chemistry and applying this knowledge to a range of problems in semiconductor processing, micro- and nano-electronics, nanotechnology, and sustainable and renewable energy. Much of the research aims to develop a molecular-level understanding in these systems, and hence the group uses of a variety of molecular probes. Systems currently under study in the group include functionalization of semiconductor surfaces, mechanisms and control of atomic layer deposition, molecular layer deposition, nanoscale materials for light absorption, interface engineering in photovoltaics, catalyst and electrocatalyst deposition.
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Paul Bergeron
Lecturer
BioDr. Paul Bergeron is a lecturer in the physics department, focusing on teaching the 40 series and engaging in curriculum reform. His background is in dark matter phenomenology, working on supersymmetric extensions to the Standard Model, detection of dark matter at neutrino telescopes, and the programmatic tools used by the community to make predictions. While doing particle physics research, his time was split with teaching, first as an LA at UCSC during his undergrad and then during his PhD at the University of Utah as a TA, Head TA, adjunct lecturer at a community college, and instructor for a continuing education course in astronomy that he developed. His time at the University of Utah also included Physics Education Research (PER) into the efficacy of Content Rich group problems as part of a curriculum redesign effort in the department there. Following his PhD, he did a post doc with the interdisciplinary education research group 3 Dimensional Learning for Undergraduate Science at Michigan State University. While there, he worked with faculty in the STEM Teaching and Learning Fellowship as they worked to align their teaching with how scientists think and do science, while doing research into the corresponding gateway course transformation effort and into student engagement with the Scientific Practice of using and constructing (scientific) models. After his post doc, he worked for two years as a professor at Pasadena Community College teaching introductory physics and astronomy lectures and laboratories. Originally from San Jose, he is excited to finally be back in the Bay Area and to be a part of the Stanford community!
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Dominique Bergmann
Shirley R. and Leonard W. Ely, Jr. Professor of the School of Humanities and Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe use genetic, genomic and cell biological approaches to study cell fate acquisition, focusing on cases where cell fate is correlated with asymmetric cell division.
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Carolyn Bertozzi
Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology
BioCarolyn Bertozzi is the Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Radiology at Stanford University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1993. After completing postdoctoral work at UCSF in the field of cellular immunology, she joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1996. In June 2015, she joined the faculty at Stanford University and became the co-director and Institute Scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H.
Prof. Bertozzi's research focuses on fundamental studies of disease-associated glycobiology and the development of new therapeutic modalities that target these pathways. Her inventions include bioorthogonal chemistries for in vivo imaging and bioconjugation, work for which she received the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As well, her lab has developed next generation antibody-drug conjugates, lysosome-targeting chimeras (LYTACs), antibody-enzyme conjugates and antibody-lectin chimeras. Several of these new therapeutic modalities have been translated into clinical candidates for treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Prof. Bertozzi has been recognized with many honors and awards for both her research and teaching accomplishments. For example, she is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Inventors Academy and the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and she is a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society. In addition, Prof. Bertozzi received the Priestley Medal of the American Chemical Society, the Welch Award, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the Heineken Prize, Lemelson-MIT award for inventors, and a MacArthur "Genius Award". -
Barbara Block
Charles and Elizabeth Prothro Professor of Marine Sciences, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThermal physiology, open ocean predators, ecological physiology and tuna biology
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Steven M. Block
The Stanford W. Ascherman, M.D., Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and of Biology, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSingle molecule biophysics using optical trapping and fluorescence
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Yvonne Boesch
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioYvonne received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from ETH Zurich and obtained her PhD in Biology, specializing in fungal denitrification, from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala under the guidance of Prof. Sara Hallin.
In January 2025, she joined the Peay Lab as a postdoctoral scholar, supported by the Swedish Wallenberg postdoctoral scholarship program.
Yvonne is fascinated by the intricate interactions among microbes and their relationships with higher organisms, such as plants. Her research focuses on exploring how these complex relationships impact plant health, forest productivity, and resilience in the face of changing environments. -
Charlotte Bøttcher
Assistant Professor of Applied Physics
BioCharlotte is joining the Stanford faculty in 2025 as an assistant professor of Applied Physics. Charlotte received her BSc degree in physics in 2016 from the Niels Bohr institute in Copenhagen where she focused on studying quantum phases transitions in two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays. She then moved to the US and finished her PhD in physics at Harvard University in 2022. Her general passion is to work at the intersection between condensed matter physics and quantum information, and during her PhD Charlotte also spent time at IBM Quantum. After her PhD, she joined Qulab at Yale University as a postdoc where she worked on hybrid material systems for quantum information.
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Carol Boggs
Bing Director in Human Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in how environmental variation affects life history traits, population structure and dynamics, and species interactions in ecological and evolutionary time, using Lepidoptera.
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Steven Boxer
Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPlease visit my website for complete information:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/boxer/ -
Megan Brennan
Advanced Lecturer
BioDr. Megan Brennan's interests include the development of organic chemistry lab courses that give students hands-on opportunities to explore chemistry while reinforcing and building upon concepts learned in lecture classes. She aims for her labs to bring chemistry to life, and to afford students a chance to have fun and experience a taste of scientific discovery.
While studying chemistry at Lafayette College (B.S. 2002), Dr. Brennan worked on the preparation of triazaphenanthrenes and the Oxa–Pictet–Spengler reaction of 1-(3-furyl)alkan-2-ols. She completed her doctoral work at Stanford (Ph.D. 2008), conducting her thesis research in palladium asymmetric allylic alkylation under the advisement of Professor Barry Trost. During her postdoctoral research with Professor Scott Miller at Yale University, she investigated the use of peptides containing a thiazole side chain for use in acyl anion chemistry. She joined the teaching staff at University of California, Berkeley in 2010 before coming returning to Stanford in 2011 to spearhead the development of a new summer organic chemistry sequence, a comprehensive course designed for pre-meds, offering an entire year of organic chemistry in nine weeks.
Dr. Brennan also acts as the liaison to the chemistry majors, to promote events with faculty in both the academic and social aspect: providing an environment that allows students to be comfortable and able to learn, while helping them take advantage of every opportunity that Stanford offers.
Dr. Brennan's current research is in the development classroom experiments that bring cutting edge industrial and academic research into the undergraduate laboratory experience.
