About Us
We are an interdisciplinary research group driven by a single unifying mission: to uncover and engineer dynamics at the nanoscale.
Our team combines curiosity, creativity, and technical depth to tackle fundamental
scientific questions with high technological and societal impact. We thrive on
collaboration, across disciplines and across techniques,
and welcome researchers who want to push boundaries rather than stay in them.
We develop new tools, from advanced in situ liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (LPTEM)
and fluorescence optical microscopy to physics-informed AI/ML frameworks, stochastic thermodynamics models, and nanoscience-based platforms.
We use these innovations to watch nanoscale processes unfold in real time and apply what we learn to problems in biology, materials, and energy.
Our current research spans:
- Dynamics of nanoparticles — revealing how nanoparticles move, interact, and transform near heterogeneous surfaces and complex environments.
- Phase behavior of biomolecules — probing the formation, evolution, and function of biological assemblies in their native liquid environments.
- Single-particle tracking innovation — inventing new approaches to observe and quantify non-equilibrium protein dynamics with nanometer and millisecond resolution.
- AI for science — creating physics-informed and generative AI models to interpret microscopy data and uncover new nanoscale phenomena.
- Thermodynamics of liquid–liquid phase separation — connecting nanoscale stochastic processes to the macroscopic behavior of soft matter and biomolecular systems.
- Hardware–software co-design — building the next generation of bio-imaging platforms that merge adaptive instrumentation with intelligent algorithms.
Watch these videos if you want to hear more about our research:
Link to Youtube video of Vida's talk at Protochips webinar
Link to Youtube video of Vida's talk at Nano@Tech
Team
Principle Investigator
Vida Jamali (
CV)
Email:
vida@gatech.edu
Vida is an assistant professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
at GeorgiaTech since Aug 2022. She is also a program faculty of Machine Learning
and Bioengineering PhD programs. She is also an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for
Matter and Systems (IMS), Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB),
and Institute for Data Engineering and Sciences (IDEaS). Vida's work has been recognized by the NSF CAREER Award (2024),
ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award (2023), and she has been named a Scialog fellow in Automating Chemical Labs (2024),
30 voices of Chemistry of Materials (2023), and a rising star in soft and biological matter by the University of Chicago MRSEC (2021).
Vida is currently one of the initiative leads of IDEaS for AI in Chemical and Materials Discovery at Georgia Tech.
Before joining Georgia Tech, Vida was a postdoctoral researcher at
the University of California, Berkeley and Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute working
with
Paul Alivisatos where she also collaborated closely with
Kranthi
Mandadapu.
She received her PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Rice University advised by
Matteo Pasquali in
2017. Prior to that, Vida did her BS in Chemical Engineering at Sharif University of
Technology in 2011.
Graduate Students
Zain Shabeeb
BEng Chemical Engineering, Newcastle University, 2018
MSc Advanced Process Integration and Design, The University of Manchester, 2019
Email:
zshabeeb3@gatech.edu
Zain was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan and lived in Switzerland for four years during middle school.
Zain completed his BEng in Chemical Engineering and MSc in Advanced Process Integration and Design
from the UK. During his undergraduate studies at Newcastle University, Zain started developing
an interest in mathematical modeling and computer programming. For this reason, he pursued
a Master’s degree in Process Integration and Design, and in his free time, learned Python
programming, Machine Learning and Data Science. Before starting his Ph.D., Zain worked
in Fatima Group in Pakistan as a Supply Chain management associate, where he used
statistical time-series forecasting methods to forecast the prices of important commodities.
Zain is an avid fan of cricket, and in his free time loves to work out, play table tennis and pool.
Isabel Panicker
BS Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 2023
Email:
ipanicker@gatech.edu
Isabel was born and raised in Suburban Chicago, Illinois. She earned her Bachelor’s
degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2023. There, she worked
with Dr. Rakesh Agrawal in his Solar Energy Group where her research focused on
solution based synthesis of Multinary Sulfides for Photovoltaics. She has also
spent time as a Quality Engineering Intern at Tesla working on the continuous
improvement of the Drive Unit Manufacturing Line. Isabel joined the Jamali Lab in
2023 and is excited to be working with nanoparticles and studying their
non-equilibrium behavior utilizing Liquid TEM. In her free time, she likes watching films,
drawing and painting.
Brian Chettle
BS Chemical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, 2024
Email:
bchettle3@gatech.edu
Brian was born and raised in Villanova, PA. Brian earned his bachelor's in chemical
engineering with Honors in Chemistry from Penn State in 2024. In undergrad, he worked with
Dr. Andrew Zydney in characterizing fouling effects of proteins during viral filtration,
a step in the downstream processing of biotherapeutic development. He also performed physical
chemistry research with Dr. Bratoljub Milosavljevic to elucidate solvation effects on
bimolecular reactions in ethanol-water solutions. Brian joined the lab in 2024 and is
excited to study the behavior of biomolecules at the nanoscale using LPTEM. In his free
time, Brian enjoys watching films, reading, and crossword puzzles.
Undergraduate Students
Lauren Caldwell
Email:
lcaldwell30@gatech.edu
Lauren is a fourth-year Chemical Engineering major at Georgia Tech from Fishers, Indiana.
Within the Jamali Lab, she is interested in nanoparticle fluid analysis via both laboratory
techniques and machine learning developments. Outside of school, she enjoys playing soccer,
traveling, baking, and exploring Atlanta.
Isabella Faciano
Email:
ifaciano3@gatech.edu
Isabella is a fourth year chemical engineering major born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She joined the Jamali
lab to build upon her understanding of the synthesis and the applications of nanoparticles, more specifically
their computational and experimental methods. In her free time, she enjoys working out, exploring Atlanta with friends,
and watching TV shows (usually the same 5 over and over again)!
Madison Tat
Email:
mtat3@gatech.edu
Madison is a third-year Chemical Engineering major at Georgia Tech from Greensboro, North Carolina.
She joined the lab to build on her understanding of nanoparticles, LPTEM, and soft materials.
Outside of school, she enjoys running, cooking, and exploring coffee shops around Atlanta.
Max Xu
Email:
mxu381@gatech.edu
Max is a second-year Computer Science and Physics student at Georgia Tech from Duluth, GA.
He joined the Jamali Lab to explore the applications of machine learning in scientific research.
In his free time, Max enjoys playing golf and pickleball, as well as watching dramas.
Alexander Wang
Email:
awang652@gatech.edu
Alex is a third-year computer science student. He is interested in the low-level
design of computer systems (close to hardware), as well as the various aspects of artificial
intelligence and game design. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games competitively,
playing music instruments, and recently, cooking.
Group Alumni
Risha Goel (2024-2025), CHBE undergrad, Current Position: PhD student at the University of Minnesota
Cecilia Reed (2024-2025)
Laurence Lines (2024-2025)
Matthew Abernathy (2024), CHBE undergrad
Naisargi Goyal (2022-2024), CHBE undergrad, Current Position: PhD student at Princeton
Gabriel Joaquim Sampaio De Almeida (2023), CHBE undergrad
Arko Roy (2023), CHBE undergrad
