Associate Professor
Principal Investigator
sloan_devlin@g.harvard.edu
Chelsea Powell, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
chelsea_powell@hms.harvard.edu
After growing up in New York City, Chelsea attended Stanford University where she received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering with Honors in 2014. For her honors thesis research Chelsea worked in Dr. Matthew Bogyo’s lab, studying matrix metalloproteases using activity-based probes. She completed her Ph.D. in the Chemical Biology Program at Harvard University in September 2019. Her dissertation research was performed in Dr. Nathanael Gray’s lab (Harvard University/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) and was focused on developing novel cancer therapeutics by either inhibiting kinases or inducing their degradation with small molecules. In the Devlin lab, she studies the effects of bacterial metabolites on signaling pathways involved in human health and disease.
Outside of the lab, Chelsea enjoys writing and performing sketch comedy, game nights with her friends, seeing movies, and Broadway in Boston.
Elizabeth (Liz) Jones, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
elizabeth_jones@hms.harvard.edu
Liz received B.S. and M.S. degrees in medicinal chemistry from Northeastern University in her hometown of Boston, under the guidance of Michael Pollastri in the Laboratory for Neglected Tropical Diseases. She next worked in the medicinal chemistry group at Ensemble Therapeutics for 3 years before joining the research group of Stefan France at Georgia Tech in 2017 to pursue a Ph.D. Her doctoral work focused on methodological development and target-oriented syntheses for medicinally relevant scaffolds. While working as a teaching assistant and instructor during graduate school, Liz piloted a chemical education research program within the First-Year Chemistry curriculum, and in 2022 was named the Georgia Tech Graduate Student Instructor of the Year. Liz joined the Devlin lab in June 2022 to help develop chemical tools for deciphering host-microbe interactions in the gut and their impacts on health and diseases.
Liz is a longtime ultimate frisbee player and coach, currently coaching the Boston men’s club team Big Wrench. In her free time she enjoys putting her synthetic skills to the culinary test, expanding her vegan-cooking repertoire and is a budding mixologist.
Maribel Okiye, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
maribel_okiye@hms.harvard.edu
Maribel left her home island of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands to pursue her education, receiving a B.S. in Biochemistry & Hispanic Studies from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. Following her undergraduate studies, she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan. There, she studied microbial interactions and metabolic changes in the oral microbiome during disease progression under the guidance of Professor David H. Sherman and Director Ashutosh Tripathi at the Life Sciences Institute. During her graduate studies, Maribel was honored with several awards, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the NIH Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant.
Beyond her academic and professional achievements, Maribel has dedicated herself to advocacy and mentorship, focusing on promoting education equity and increasing the number of underrepresented scholars in STEM fields. She co-founded the academic and career consulting LLC, NextGen Career Café, where she continues to inspire and guide future generations. Maribel is also an avid Olympic lifter, spending much of her free time training and competing.
Mahmoud Mostafa, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
mahmoud_mostafa@hms.harvard.edu
Mahmoud’s academic journey began in Alexandria, Egypt, where he earned his B.S. in Chemistry and pursued postgraduate studies in Materials Science at Alexandria University. Transitioning to industry in Dubai for 10 years, Mahmoud delved into the intricate interactions between chemical and biological elements in ecological systems. His pursuit of knowledge led him to Saint Louis University in the US, where he earned his Ph.D. in the Edwards Lab. There, he focused on enhancing mass spectrometry for metabolomics and lipidomics. He developed analytical techniques for improving electrospray ionization and enhanced throughput and quantitation using isobaric tagging of fatty acids and phospholipids. Mahmoud’s stellar contributions have earned him numerous accolades, including an honors degree as an undergraduate, a Research Excellence Award from MSB, the Honor Society of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Alpha Sigma Nu award, SLU Dissertation Fellowship Award, and Outstanding Ph.D. chemistry student award. His research was recognized by the Royal Society of Chemistry and Wiley analytical science.
Outside of the lab Mahmoud would be found reading about astronomy, physics, or human history.
Yitong (Lexie) Li, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
yitong_li@hms.harvard.edu
Growing up in southeast China, Yitong (Lexie) started her academic journey as an undergraduate at Zhejiang University, China. She transferred to Cornell University, NY, US, in her junior year and earned dual B.S. degrees in food science. She joined Dr. Rui Hai Liu’s Lab at Cornell where she studied the molecular mechanisms of action of natural bioactive compounds for metabolic syndrome prevention and earned her Ph.D. there. Her dedication as a teaching assistant and student mentor was recognized with the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Lexie’s academic contributions and leadership have also been honored with many awards, including the Kosi Award, the Institute of Food Technologists Feeding Tomorrow Fellowship, and the Vitasoy & Lo Fellowship.
Outside of the lab, Lexie enjoys board game nights with friends, cooking and exploring new foods, working out, and spending time with her cat.
Po-Hsun Fan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
po-hsun_fan@hms.harvard.edu
Growing up in Taiwan, Po-Hsun began his academic journey as an undergraduate researcher at National Taiwan University. After earning his B.S. degree in 2016, he fulfilled his one-year military service before joining Dr. Hung-wen (Ben) Liu’s research group at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), where he completed his Ph.D. in 2024. During his doctoral studies, Po-Hsun specialized in natural product biosynthesis and mechanistic enzymology. As a member of the Devlin Lab, Po-Hsun now investigates bacterial enzymology within the gut microbiome, focusing on its impact on human health and disease.
Outside the lab, Po-Hsun enjoys exploring libraries, museums, parks, and Boston’s vibrant restaurant scene with his family.
Gabriel D’Agostino
Chemical Biology Ph.D. Student
gabriel_dagostino@g.harvard.edu
Originally from York, South Carolina, Gabriel earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of South Carolina in 2019. As an undergraduate researcher, Gabriel worked in Dr. Thomas Makris’s lab at USC studying substrate binding affinities in P450s and the enzymology of diiron enzymes. Additionally, he participated in NSF REU programs in Dr. Brian Bachmann’s lab at Vanderbilt University and Dr. Squire Booker’s lab at Pennsylvania State University.
Outside of lab, Gabriel can be found experimenting in the kitchen, catching a daily workout at the gym, or working/playing on his computer.
Jasmine Walsh
Chemical Biology Ph.D. Student
jasminewalsh@g.harvard.edu
After growing up in Southern California, Jasmine got her B.S in biochemistry at Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL. During her time at Oakwood, she did summer research internships at Loma Linda University and Boston University. She then did a post-baccalaureate program in Elizabeth Grice’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Her project centered around utilizing antimicrobials produced from the skin microbiome to inhibit the growth of MRSA.
Jasmine enjoys spending time with her friends, traveling, meditating, and taking care of her plants.
Melissa Tran
Biological and Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Student
melissatran@g.harvard.edu
Originally from Illinois, Melissa received her B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard College in 2019. As an undergraduate and lab technician, she worked in Dr. Aleksandar Kostic’s lab studying the ability of gut microbes to stimulate pancreatic development and attenuate diabetes symptoms. She is excited to be co-mentored in the Devlin and Huh labs, where she will study the role of gut bacterial metabolites in guiding host immunology and neurobiology.
When not in lab, Melissa enjoys painting, dancing with her troupe, and making and eating soup.
Cecilia Kim
Biological Sciences in Public Health Ph.D. Student
cecilia_kim@g.harvard.edu
After growing up in Vancouver, Canada, Cecilia received her B.A. in Chemistry from Princeton University in 2023. At Princeton, Cecilia worked in Dr. Robert Knowles’ lab, where she studied the use of light-driven reactions in the synthesis of macrocyclic peptides and contra-thermodynamic isomerization of olefins. Cecilia joined the Devlin Lab in 2024, and she is excited to study the effect of gut bacterial metabolites in mediating microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions.
Outside the lab, Cecilia enjoys reading, taekwondo, and exploring Boston’s bookstores and restaurants with her friends.
