2022 Graduate School Convocation Program

VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE GRADUATE SCHOOL
2022
Convocation &
Commencement
Program

MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
1:30 PM | Tomatis Auditorium
Download a printable PDF of the program booklet and new student
biosketches at bit.ly/VAIConvComm2022.
PROCESSIONAL
OPENING OF CEREMONY AND DEAN’S REMARKS
Dr. Steven J. Triezenberg, President and Dean, Van Andel Institute Graduate School
EXCELLENCE IN GRADUATE EDUCATION AWARD
Recipient: Dr. Peter Laird
INTRODUCTION OF INCOMING STUDENTS
INTRODUCTION OF GRADUATES BY MENTORS
Zach DeBruine, Ph.D. — Dr. Tim Triche, Jr.
Emery Haley, Ph.D. — Dr. Juan Du
Katie Hollis, M.S. — Dr. Bart Williams
Jordan Prahl, Ph.D. — Dr. Gerry Coetzee
CONFERRING OF DEGREES
REFLECTION BY GRADUATES
CONTINUING STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
Menusha Arumugam, on behalf of the Graduate Student Association
OPENING OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR
RECESSIONAL
Reception to follow in the Cook-Hauenstein Hall.
Music for today’s celebration performed by Kopper and Keys.
Van Andel Institute continues to monitor COVID-19. Participants who feel more
comfortable wearing a mask may do so. If you feel sick or experience any COVID-19
symptoms please join others in tuning in to the virtual livestream.

INCOMING STUDENTS
Ebenezer Asiedu
Rafael Bená De Araujo
Samuel Daniels
Arkajit De
Mehrshid Faraji Zanooz
Cameron Forton
Jui-Hsien (Rita) Lu
Jae Min (Jamie) Park
Xinyu Ye
Natasha Zandstra
VAN ANDEL EDUCATION INSTITUTE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
David Van Andel
Chairman and CEO
Van Andel Institute
James E. Bultman, Ed.D.
Susan Keipper Meell
Juan Olivarez, Ph.D.
Teresa Weatherall Neal, Ed.D. (hon)
VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE
GRADUATE SCHOOL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Juan R. Olivarez, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Board
Mary O’Riordan, Ph.D.
Vice Chair
Maria Cimitile, Ph.D.
James B. Fahner, M.D.
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)
Candace T. Smith-King, M.D.
Danny R. Welch, Ph.D.
Thomas Curran, J.D.
Secretary to the Board
Katie Helder, B.S.
Treasurer to the Board
VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE
GRADUATE SCHOOL
FACULTY
Stephen B. Baylin, M.D.
José Brás, Ph.D.
Lena Brundin, M.D., Ph.D.
Nick Burton, Ph.D.
Hong-Yuan Chu, Ph.D.
Gerry Coetzee, Ph.D.
Juan Du, Ph.D.
Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf, Ph.D.
Stephanie Grainger, Ph.D.
Carrie R. Graveel, Ph.D.
Rita Guerreiro, Ph.D.
Brian B. Haab, Ph.D.
Michael Henderson, Ph.D.
Galen Hostetter, M.D.
Scott D. Jewell, Ph.D.
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)
Russell Jones, Ph.D.
Connie Krawczyk, Ph.D.
Peter Laird, Ph.D.
Heidi Lempradl, Ph.D.
Huilin Li, Ph.D.
Evan Lien, Ph.D.
Wei Lü, Ph.D.
Darren Moore, Ph.D.
Sara Nowinski, Ph.D.
Gerd Pfeifer, Ph.D.
J. Andrew Pospisilik, Ph.D.
Scott Rothbart, Ph.D.
Hui Shen, Ph.D.
Xiaobing Shi, Ph.D.
Matthew R. Steensma, M.D.
Piroska Szabó, Ph.D.
Tim Triche, Jr., Ph.D.
Steven J. Triezenberg, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)
Hong Wen, Ph.D.
Bart O. Williams, Ph.D.
Mary Winn, Ph.D.
Evan Worden, Ph.D.
Ning Wu, Ph.D.
Tao Yang, Ph.D.
Qiang Zhu, Ph.D.

HISTORY OF VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE GRADUATE SCHOOL
Van Andel Institute began with a vision to improve human health through biomedical
research and science education. Van Andel Institute Graduate School plays a key role
in this mission, combining rigorous coursework, extensive laboratory experience, and
the mentorship of VAI’s expert faculty to develop the biomedical research leaders of
the future.
The Graduate School was founded in 2005, with a charter to grant doctoral and
master’s degrees, through the leadership of Dr. Gordon Van Harn as the Director
of Van Andel Institute for Education. Dr. Steven J. Triezenberg became the founding
Dean in 2006, bringing a vision of creativity and innovation for biomedical graduate
education. The school earned accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission in
2013 and is gaining a national reputation for its program design, curricular approach,
and student support.
From the first cohort of three pioneering students in 2007, the Graduate School has
grown to a student body of 50 scholars from 14 different countries. Including today’s
graduates, 32 students have earned Ph.D. degrees and four have earned master’s
degrees. Graduate School alumni are now taking leadership positions in academia,
research and industry, carrying forward VAI’s values of curiosity, collaboration,
and urgency to improve the health and enhance the lives of current and future
generations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The success of Van Andel Institute Graduate School arises from:
• The vision and generosity of Van Andel Institute Founders Jay and Betty Van Andel
• The stalwart support of David Van Andel, Chairman and CEO of Van Andel Institute
• Encouraging guidance from Van Andel Education Institute Board of Trustees
• Creative direction and diligent oversight by past and current members of the
Van Andel Institute Graduate School Board of Directors
• Committed leadership of Dr. Steven J. Triezenberg, President and Dean of
Van Andel Institute Graduate School
• Dedicated and excellent work by Graduate School staff members Dr. Sarah
Bodbyl Roels, Taylor Boyd, Dr. Brian Haab, Michelle Love, Christy Mayo,
Susanne Miller-Schachinger and Alli Roman

New Graduate Student Bios
Ebenezer Asiedu
Ebenezer Asiedu, completed his undergraduate
education at the University of Cape Coast (in Ghana)
with a specialization in Biochemistry. His project focused
on the stabilization of ascorbic acid through liposomal
encapsulation. His long-standing interest in genomics and
bioinformatics research led him to the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, where he gained
research experience in structural bioinformatics, immuneinformatics,
microarray, RNA-seq, and ChIP-seq data
analysis. He is interested in using functional genomics and
epigenomics to understand how neurodegenerative and
cardiometabolic diseases influence cancer biology and
survival.
Rafael Bená De Araujo
Rafael Bená De Araujo completed his bachelor’s
degree in psychology at the Federal University of Mato
Grosso (UFMT), Brazil. He gained reseach experience
in several labs at UFMT and the University of São Paulo
spanning experimental psychology, neuroanatomy and
neuropsychobiology, and ethology and bioacoustics. He is
interested in the epigenetics of neuropsychiatric disorders,
such as depression and anxiety, intergenerational
inheritance, and the connections linking genetics and
environmental influences.
Samuel Daniels
Samuel Daniels graduated from Michigan State University
in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.
As a student research assistant in a neural engineering lab,
he explored the inflammatory response to microelectrode
arrays implanted into the brain. In early 2020, Samuel
joined Dr. Hong-Yuan Chu’s lab at VAI as a research
technician. His broad skill set includes stereotaxic surgery,
immunohistochemistry and confocal imaging, qPCR,
morphological analysis of different cell types, and patchclamp
electrophysiology. He would like to understand how
molecular and cellular changes of neuronal and astroglia
cells influence disease initiation and progression.

New Graduate Student Bios
Arkajit De
Arkajit De earned his undergraduate degree in
Biotechnology from Adamas University in India. His
primary research focuses on the structural and functional
dynamics of proteins that cause a variety of diseases.
His interests in protein homology modeling, molecular
docking, and molecular dynamics simulations motivated
him to pursue a research-focused degree in computational
structural biology. He aspires to work collaboratively
on interdisciplinary projects, perhaps applying various
computational techniques such as machine learning in
bioscience research.
Mehrshid Faraji Zonooz
Mehrshid Faraji Zonooz completed her bachelor’s in
Cellular and Molecular Biology at Al Zahra University and
subsequently her master’s in the Cellular & Molecular
Biology program at Islamic Azad University (Tehran,
Iran). She worked at Kariminejad-Najmabadi Pathology &
Genetics Center from 2011 to 2021 as a medical genetic
technologist and as an investigator in Next-Generation
Sequencing and Cancer groups. Mehrshid’s passion for
advancing knowledge in neurodegenerative disorders and
cancer and being in touch with patients suffering from
genetic disorders encouraged her to pursue studies at the
Ph.D. level, which she began at VAI in January 2022.
Cameron Forton
Cameron Forton graduated from Michigan State
University with degrees in Human Biology and Zoology. His
wide-ranging experiences include volunteering at Sparrow
Hospital, an undergraduate assistant in biology lab
courses, and studying animal behavior. After graduation,
Cam assisted in the water quality lab at Sleeping Bear
Dunes and worked as a technician on the bone marrow
transplant floor at Spectrum Butterworth. Most recently,
he has been studying the relationship between immune
response, neurodegenerative disease, and behavior in
Dr. Lena Brundin’s lab at VAI. Cam is interested in the
roles of genetics and immunology in the mechanisms of
neurodegenerative disease.

Jui-Hsien (Rita) Lu
Jui-Hsien (Rita) Lu is a Research Analyst at Washington
University in St Louis, working to integrate multi-omics data
to better understand cancer genomics. She obtained her
Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from National Taiwan
University in 2014 and completed her master’s degree in
the same program in 2016. Rita worked at Academia Sinica
to develop bioinformatics tools for understanding and
visualizing epigenetic modifications. Translational medicine,
cancer genomics, and computational biology are research
interests for Rita.
Jae Min (Jamie) Park
Jae Min (Jamie) Park is from South Korea. He graduated
from Franklin & Marshall College with a neuroscience
degree and joined a lab at Yale University as a postbac
where he began research in neurodegeneration.
He studied alpha-synuclein functions using in vitro
experiments and bioinformatics on Parkinson’s cortical
tissue. The heterogeneity of pathogenic mechanisms
in Parkinson’s disease leads him to look beyond
synapse-centric approaches, including the roles of
neuroinflammation and gut microbiome.
Natasha Zandstra
Natasha Zandstra obtained her bachelor’s degree in Cell
and Molecular Biology from Grand Valley State University.
She participated in research projects on cell polarity
and morphology, the ethylene synthesis pathway, and
enzymatic investigation of β-lactamases. These experiences
developed skills using confocal microscopy, RNA isolation
and extraction, and protein sequence analysis. A project
exploring the consequences of cell polarity and altered
morphology on cellular function guided her to develop
a passion for cancer biology and genetic pathology,
particularly for women’s reproductive cancers and
diseases.
Xinyu Ye
Xinyu Ye graduated from the University of Wisconsin-
Madison in 2020 with degrees in pharmacology-toxicology
and chemistry. His undergraduate research project
focused on developing a saposin–detergent system to
encapsulate the transmembrane domains of proteins
with a single transmembrane helix, thereby facilitating the
challenging structural determination for such proteins.
After graduation, he joined Drs. Juan Du and Wei Lü’s labs
as an assistant research technician, where he works on
the structural and functional analysis of transient potential
receptor melastatin (TRPM) family of proteins that mediate
sensations including temperature, taste, pain and vision.

Van Andel Institute Graduate School
transforms students into independent
scientists through an intense, problemfocused
Ph.D. degree in molecular and
cellular biology. By combining rigorous,
problem-based coursework with
extensive experience in laboratories
led by the Institute’s expert faculty, the
Graduate School prepares students
for productive careers in biomedical
research and beyond. The Graduate
School thrives within the state-of-the-art
facilities of Van Andel Institute, with
access to extensive core technology
support and the resources of
collaborators in Grand Rapids,
Michigan and around the country.