Lab Members

Nathaniel J. Himmel, PhD

Principal Investigator

Nate recieved his undergraduate degrees in biology at Santa Fe Community College and the University of Florida. After working for 2 years as a technician in the lab of Mitsi Blount (Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA), he then completed a PhD in Neuroscience in the lab of Daniel N. Cox, at Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA, USA) where he was funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31), a fellowship from the Brains & Behavior Program, and a Kenneth W. and Georganne F. Honeycutt Fellowship. He then traveled to Switzerland, funded by a Human Frontiers Science Program Long-Term Fellowship, to do postdoctoral research at l'Université de Lausanne, in the lab of Richard Benton.

email: nathanieljohn.himmel (at) unil.ch

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Sanniddhya Bardhan

PhD Student (2026 - )

Sanniddhya holds a BTech in Medical Biotechnology from the Dr. Dy Patil Bioinformatics and Biotechnology Institutes, and an MS in Bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University, where he worked in the labs of Evgenia Nikolava and Scott Krummey, and in the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing. Sanniddhya joined the lab in 2026 and is interested in using multiomics approaches to understand complex biological systems.

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Patrick DeMarinis

Visiting Masters Student (Fall 2026)

Patrick received his BS in bioinformatics from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After graduating, he went to work for Pfizer's vaccine research and development group. He is now a student at NJIT pursuing an MS in bioinformatics. He joined the lab in 2026 to study how ligand binding might be conserved in distantly related homologous proteins.

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Roshna Harish

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Roshna is a second year Biology major on the pre-med track at NJIT. She works as a medical scribe at Hackettstown Medical Center. She joined the lab in Fall 2026 to study the neurobiology and behavior of non-model animals.

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Rishi Thakkar

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Rishi is a first year Chemistry major at NJIT. Rishi joined the lab in Fall 2026 to study the complex evolutionary dynamics of chemosensory receptors.

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Gurnoor Kaur

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Gurnoor is a third year Biology major on the pre-med track at NJIT. She is a certified EMT at Kendall Park First Aid Squad. She joined the lab in Fall 2026 to start an independent project on the evolution of dragonfly vision.

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