Harvard University
Graduate program in biophysics (2020-)
Medical engineering and medical physics, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (2020-)

Yale University
B.S. Biomedical engineering and art history, summa cum laude (2018)

Emergency Medical Technician
Connecticut licensure (2018)

Los Alamos High School
Graduation with honors (2014)

Graduate student – Liu Group, Broad Institute (2021-)
The Liu Group blends biology with chemistry to develop therapeutic gene editing tools and proteins with novel functions.

Research scientist – Isaacs Group, Yale University (2015-2020)
The Isaacs Lab develops genome editing technologies to probe biological function and to engineer organisms with new and useful biological functions. 

Visiting researcher – Abel zur Wiesch Group, University of Tromsø (2018) 

Senior editor – Yale Global Health Review (2017-2018) 

X-ray technician – Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Yale University (2017)

Research lead – International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) (2015-2017)
The annual iGEM competition brings together over 250 synthetic biology research teams from around the world. 

Assistant museum preparator – Yale University Art Gallery (2015-2017)

Research intern – Bradbury Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory (2013-2014)
The Bradbury lab engineers protein-based research and diagnostic tools.

( * = equal contribution)

Systematic optimization of prime editing for the efficient functional correction of CFTR F508del in human airway epithelial cells
Alexander A Sousa*, Colin Hemez*, Lei Lei, Soumba Traore, Katarina Kulhankova, Gregory A Newby, Jordan L Doman, Keyede Oye, Smriti Pandey, Phillip H Karp, Paul B McCray Jr, and David R Liu (2024). Nature Biomedical Engineering, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-024-01233-3.

Current approaches of building mechanistic pharmacodynamic drug-target binding models
Jungyi Liang, Vi Ngoc-Nha Tran, Colin Hemez, and Pia Abel zur Wiesch (2022). Methods in Molecular Biology, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34888713/.

Computational design and engineering of an Escherichia coli strain producing the nonstandard amino acid para-aminophenylalanine
Ali Zomorrodi*, Colin Hemez*, Pol Arranz-Gibert, Terrence Wu, Farren J Isaacs, and Daniel Segré (2022). iScience, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35789833/.

Mechanisms of antibiotic action shape the fitness landscapes of resistance mutations
Colin Hemez, Fabrizio Clarelli, Adam C Palmer, Christina Bleis, Sören Abel, Leonid Chindelevitch, Theodore Cohen, and Pia Abel zur Wiesch (2022). Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2022.08.030.

Disulfide-compatible phage-assisted continuous evolution in the periplasmic space
Mary S Morrison, Tina Wang, Aditya Raguram, Colin Hemez, and David R Liu (2021). Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26279-8.

Construction, characterization and crystal structure of a fluorescent single-chain Fv chimera
Nileena Velappan, Devin Close, Li-Wei Hung, Leslie Naranjo, Colin Hemez, Natasha DeVore, Donna K McCullough, Antonietta M Lillo, Geoffrey S Waldo, and Andrew R M Bradbury (2021). PEDS, https://doi.org/10.1093/protein/gzaa029.

Environmental and health impacts of electric service vessels in the recreational boating industry
Colin Hemez, Joy Chiu, Emma C Ryan, Jia Sun, Robert Dubrow, and Michael Pascucilla (2020). Water Practice & Technology, https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2020.063.

Selection and characterization of FcεRI phospho-ITAM specific antibodies
Nileena Velappan, Avanika Mahajan, Leslie Naranjo, Priyanka Velappan, Nasim Andrews, Nicholas Tiee, Subhendu Chakraborti, Colin Hemez, Tiziano Gaiotto, Bridget Wilson, and Andrew Bradbury (2019). mAbs, https://doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2019.1632113.

Organisms with alternative genetic codes resolve translation at unassigned codons via mistranslation and ribosomal rescue
Natalie Ma*, Colin Hemez*, Karl W Barber*, Jesse Rinehart, and Farren J Isaacs (2018). eLife, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.34878.

James Mills Peirce Fellowship, Harvard University (2020)

GENEWIZ Next-Generation Microbial Genomics Grant (2018)
For studying the long-term genetic adaptions of synthetic microbial consortia (more)

Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (2017)
National scholarship awarded to undergraduates with exceptional promise in scientific research (more)

Beckman Scholars Program (2017-2018)
This multi-year fellowship, awarded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, provides support to undergraduate scholars for research projects in biology and chemistry (more)

Franke Undergraduate Fellowship in Science and the Humanities (2017)
Provides support for projects that straddle the line between the sciences and the humanities (more)

Yale Science Scholars Fellowship (2016)
Awarded to Yale undergraduates in support of summer research projects

National Student-Athlete Scholarship Winner, National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (2014)
National award given to one male and one female student in recognition of distinguished academic, athletic, and leadership achievements (more)

Nicholas C. Metropolis Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics (2014)
Awarded by the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee (Los Alamos, NM)

Bronze Scholarship, Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation (2014)

Grand prize winner, Hack the OR (2018)
Surgery hackathon, Yale-New Haven Hospital

Wrexham Prize in the Humanities (2018)
For the best undergraduate thesis in the humanities, Yale University

D. Allan Bromley Prize in Biomedical Engineering (2018)
Yale University

Walter Louis Ehrich Prize in the History of Art (2018)
Yale University

Summa cum laude, Yale University (2018)

Phi Beta Kappa – Member (2017)
Academic honor society

Sigma Xi – Associate Member (2017)
International scientific research honor society

Tau Beta Pi – Member (2016)
National engineering honor society

Silver Medal, International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Competition (2015)
Our project focused on developing and testing genome engineering technologies in non-model and environmentally significant microbes (more)

Gatorade New Mexico Cross Country Athlete of the Year (2013)
Awarded in recognition of “athletic excellence, academic achievement, and exemplary character” (more)

Photographic journeys with the Princeton pictorialists
Materials and meaning: Decoding the preservation of cultural heritage. West Haven, CT (2019)

Climate, health, and cost impacts of a new solar-electric pump-out boat
States’ Organization for Boating Access Annual Conference, Duluth, MN (2018)

Uncovering the molecular mechanisms for unassigned codon resolution in genomically recoded organisms
Institute of Biological Engineering Annual Conference, Norfolk, VA (2018)

A simpler tool for performing skin punch biopsies
Yale-New Haven Hospital Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Monthly Meeting, New Haven, CT (2018)

Photograph weapon disaster
Yale College Mellon Forum, New Haven, CT (2017)

Synthetic biology: From discovery to design
Yale Resonance Conference, New Haven, CT (2017)

Nuclear visualities
Beyond Boundaries: Second Annual Symposium on Hybrid Scholarship at Yale, New Haven, CT (2017)

A framework for implementing gene editing techniques in nonmodel organisms
Institute of Biological Engineering Annual Conference, Greenville, SC (2016)