Principal Investigator

Camille Bilodeau

Camille is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia. She is interested in exploring the intersection between molecular simulations, statistical physics, and artificial intelligence to develop tools to discover and design of new molecules, surfaces, and proteins with optimized properties. Outside of work, Camille enjoys hiking in the mountains, cooking (and eating!) new foods, and playing board games.

Email: cur5wz [at] virginia [dot] edu

 

Graduate Student

Daniel Garzon

Daniel is a Chemical Engineering Ph.D. student from the National University of Colombia - Medellin campus. Originally from Barranquilla, Colombia, he is interested in applying graph neural networks to predict peptide properties. In his free time, he enjoys photography, traveling, sports, and hiking. He also likes sharing wine or beer and trying international cuisine with friends.

Md Jakir Hossen

Jakir studies the spatial arrangement of functional groups commonly found in natural amino acid sequences. His work illustrates the collective contributions of these groups, influenced by their separation by non-polar residues, common in complex biomolecular systems. This research has practical applications in tuning the interfacial properties of peptide-functionalized surfaces. He frequently uses computational tools such as AMBER, GROMACS, and INDUS. Outside the lab, Jakir enjoys cricket, soccer, and badminton.

 
 

Adel Nematipour

Adel joined the group in 2023 as a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Tehran in 2021. He employs molecular dynamics simulations to study pattern formation on functionalized surfaces and the influence of these patterns on surface properties, aiming to develop surfaces with desirable properties for bioseparation applications. In his free time, he listens to music a lot, enjoys watching or playing soccer, and hangs out with friends.

 

Shimanto Roy

Shimanto joined UVA in 2023 as a Chemical Engineering Ph.D student. He completed his bachelors from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET). He is interested in  using molecular dynamics and machine learning to predict supramolecularity in designing synthetic peptides. He enjoys cooking in free time. He loves to watch kDramas  and Marvel films and to hang out with friends and trying new foods and places.

 

Jason Lu

Jason is a ChE graduate student, who completed his undergraduate studies in mathematics and CBE at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, he’s working on studying the interconversion of metal nanoparticles and cations in zeolites, where he’s interested in applying machine learning (and deep learning) approaches. Outside of research, Jason likes taking nice walks, watching YouTube, and learning different languages and cultures.

 

Elizaveta Marjorie Bovbel Peoples

Liza joined the lab as a Chemical Engineering PhD student in the fall of 2025 looking to work on peptide property prediction using deep learning and neural network methods. Liza is a foodie and enjoys visiting local and far-away food hotspots, as well as baking and cooking at home. She also enjoys exploring the great outdoors through hiking and skiing, as well as engaging in deep philosophical conversations. She enjoys spending time with friends, her husband and their dog Arlo.

 
 

Undergraduate Students

Omid Akbari

Omid Akbari is an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at the University of Virginia (Data Analytics concentration). He works in the Bilodeau Research Group developing machine-learning models to predict antimicrobial activity of peptides, and previously contributed to thermoelectric materials research in Prof. Mona’s lab. Outside the lab, he enjoys going to the gym and reading.

 
 

Robin Kim Hur

Robin is an undergraduate Mechanical Engineer student at UVA. He joined to work in both the Lampe Biomaterials Group and the Bilodeau Group under Shimano Roy, a graduate student, to utilize molecular dynamics in designing synthetic peptides. Outside the lab, he enjoys listening to different genres of music, and playing video games. He also enjoys hanging out with friends, whether it be at the gym or at a dining location.

 
 

Lawrence McAllister

Lawrence is an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student. He joined the Bilodeau Group under grad student Shimanto Roy, to contribute to work using molecular dynamics to study peptide hydrogel self-assembly. He likes to swim, try new foods, travel to new places, and spend time with friends and family.

 
 

Jooyoung Kim

Jooyoung Kim is an undergraduate chemical engineering student at the University of Virginia. He works with the Bilodeau group, utilizing molecular dynamics simulations to study the properties of multimodal ligand-functionalized surfaces and their interactions with proteins. Outside of research, he enjoys fencing, crocheting, and cooking.

 
 

Evie Haner

Evie is a first-year undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at UVA. She is working under PhD student Daniel Garzon in the Bilodeau Research Group to analyze and curate peptide databases, with a focus on identifying peptides containing noncanonical amino acids. She is using these datasets to train PepMNet and generate peptide “fingerprints” that can be used in future applications. Outside the lab, she enjoys going to the gym, discovering new music, and reading.

 
 

Alumni

 

  • Emily Baum, Current: UVA BME PhD Student

  • Steffanie Jones, Current: Cornell University Undergraduate Student

  • Vanessa Campbell, Current: Undergraduate Student at the University of Virginia

  • Benson Harlan, Current: Undergraduate Student at the University of Virginia

  • Masa Murry, Current: Undergraduate Student at the University of Virginia

  • Yoyo Ni, Current: Undergraduate Student at the University of Virginia