Joint Research Safety Initiative
Chemistry happens. Don’t let it happen to you.
JRSI
sustainable safety culture
educational tools
organized and centralized resources
By Researchers, For Researchers
The Joint Research Safety Initiative (JRSI) is a new safety community run by students, post-docs, and research assistants on campus that aims to provide centralized and accessible safety and educational resources for students and faculty. Our safety and efficiency is up to us, and only us.
What We Do
gather departmental data
We develop and implement surveys to measure the effectiveness of our initiative and the culture of our departments.
facilitate open dialogues
We put on events, safety demos, vendor fairs, and safety programs to encourage open dialogue and participation.
train lab safety contacts
We are working to improve the quality and availability of training resources for current and future LSCs.
gather departmental data
We develop and implement surveys to measure the effectiveness of our initiative and the culture of our departments.
facilitate open dialogues
We put on events, safety demos, vendor fairs, and safety programs to encourage open dialogue and participation.
train lab safety contacts
We are working to improve the quality and availability of training resources for current and future LSCs.
gather departmental data
We develop and implement surveys to measure the effectiveness of our initiative and the culture of our departments.
facilitate open dialogues
We put on events, safety demos, vendor fairs, and safety programs to encourage open dialogue and participation.
train lab safety contacts
We are working to improve the quality and availability of training resources for current and future LSCs.
Leadership
Serving Chemistry & PME
people
Lauryn Carver
lcarver@uchicago.edu
Co-President
Lauryn is a PhD Candidate in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering co-advised by Profs. Matthew Tirrell and Yun Fang. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May 2019 where she received B.S. in Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology. Her current research surrounds the use of nanoparticles in medical applications, specifically for the potential treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases and fibroses.
Joey Federico
jvfederico@uchicago.edu
Co-President
Joey is currently a third year PhD student in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering co-advised by Prof. Bana Jabri and Prof. Samantha Riesenfeld. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with his B.S.E. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, after which he spent several years working in the biotechnology industry. Upon returning to academia, he has shifted his scientific focus on the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases using various ‘omics techniques.
Colleen Foley
crfoley@uchicago.edu
Education Committee member
Publicity Committee member
Colleen is a third year PhD candidate in PME (Immunoengineering). She works in Melody Swartz’s lab, where she studies effects of lymphangiogenesis on immunotherapy response and metastasis in melanoma. Outside of lab, she volunteers with middle and high school students, and enjoys running and hanging out with her cats. She is excited to advocate for biosafety as a member of JRSI.
Ivan Vuong
ivuong1@uchicago.edu
Education Committee member
Research Committee member
Ivan is a second-year PhD student in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering advised by Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell. He earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Entrepreneurship and Management from Johns Hopkins University. In the Hubbell Lab, Ivan studies protein-protein interactions and engineers protein therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. He joined JRSI to help equip researchers across departments with safety practices and resources.
Maia Czaikowski
mczaikowski@uchicago.edu
Publicity Committee Chair
Maia is a fourth year in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Anderson Lab. Her research incorporates inorganic synthesis and electrocatalysis using base metals. In the JRSI, she serves on the Education and Publicity subcommittees. She joined the JRSI because she wanted to contribute to a culture of safety in the University and engage with graduate students across departments about safe research practices. In her free time, Maia enjoys running and skiing.
Andrea Diaz
andreadiaz@uchicago.edu
Education Committee member
Research Committee member
Ignas Masiulionis
ignas@uchicago.edu
Finance Committee Member
Education Committee Member
Ignas is a second year PhD Candidate in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and is a part of Prof. Supratik Guha’s group and spends most of his time at the Argonne National Lab. He graduated with B.S. in Astronomy and a secondary major in Physics from the Case Western Reserve University. His current research involves development of thin-film devices to be used as quantum repeaters.
Anna Slezak
annaslezak@uchicago.edu
Education Committee Member
Publicity Committee Member
Anna is a third year PhD student in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. She works in the lab of Jeff Hubbell and is developing polymeric drug delivery strategies for cancer immunotherapy and regenerative medicine. Previously, Anna studied Chemistry and Computer Science at Duke University.
Shubhashree Pani
spani@uchicago.edu
Finance Committee Chair
Shubha is a fourth year grad-student in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Dickinson group. Her research interests include synthesizing functional molecules to study biological processes. In the Dickinson group, she is working on developing a anew class of probes to study biomolecule localization and interaction in a subcellular context.
Matt Styles
mstyles@uchicago.edu
Research Committee Chair
Matt is a Postdoc in the Department of Chemistry in the Dickinson Lab. He received his PhD in 2021 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he worked in the Blackwell Lab at the intersection of biophysics, chemistry, and microbiology. His research in the Dickinson group focuses primarily on method development for directed evolution of protein-protein interaction modulating biomolecules.
Jelena Momirov
momirov@uchicago.edu
Education Committee member
Research Committee member
Jelena is currently a third year grad-student in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Dickinson group. She graduated from Barry University with BS in Chemistry, after which she spent several years as a research tech in the Boger Lab at Scripps Research. Her research interests include developing new chemical biology platforms to make drug discovery safer and more efficient. In the Dickinson group, she is developing new protein engineering approaches for targeted prodrug activation and extracellular protein labeling. Jelena joined JRSI in order to learn and promote more precautionary lab safety techniques among her peers