{"id":1063,"date":"2015-02-20T20:12:13","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T20:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/avada.theme-fusion.com_demos\/law\/?page_id=10"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:50:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:50:52","slug":"lab-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/lau-lab\/lab-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAB TEAM<\/h2>\n<\/div>
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\"Gee<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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PRINCIPAL\u00a0INVESTIGATOR<\/h5>\n

Professor of Pathobiology
\nEmail: geelau@illinois.edu
\n<\/a>Phone: (217) 333-5077
\nFax: (217) 244-7421<\/p>\n

Brief biography. <\/strong>\u00a0Gee came from Malaysia where he finished high school. He received his B.S. (1990) and M.S. (1992) degrees in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and PhD (1997) from Purdue University, studying the genetics and molecular pathogenesis of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea<\/em> under Al Ellingboe and John Hamer, respectively. He did a 2-year postdoc with David Holden at the Imperial College School of Medicine, examining functional genomics of virulence in Streptococcus pneumoniae.<\/em> He did a second postdoc with Laurence Rahme at the Massachusetts General Hospital\/Harvard Medical School studying modulation of Drosophila<\/em> innate immunity by Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/em>. Between 2002-2006 he was a research assistant professor under Frank McCormack at the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, studying lung-bacterial pathogen interactions. He joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006, where he is currently Professor of Pathobiology.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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WOOSUK CHOI<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE<\/h5>\n

EMAIL: wchoi38@illinois.edu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brief biography. <\/strong>Woosuk, a former graduate student of the lab, officially rejoined our team as a postdoctoral researcher in January 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Celina<\/span><\/div><\/div>

SOOK YIN CHONG<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>
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GRADUATE STUDENT<\/h5>\n

EMAIL: <\/strong>sychong2@illinois.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Brief biography. <\/strong>Sook Yin is originally from Malaysia. She completed her BS in the Department of Agronomy and MS in Microbiology at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, both from the National Taiwan University, Taiwan. She joined the lab as a PhD student in 01\/2022. Her thesis projects focus on the host-pathogen interactions between Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/em> competence regulon-regulated virulence and lung.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Johnny<\/span><\/div><\/div>

SHI QIAN LEW <\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>
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GRADUATE STUDENT<\/h5>\n

EMAIL:<\/strong> sqlew2@illinois.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Brief biography.<\/strong> Shi Qian is originally from Malaysia. He completed his BS and MS in the Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, Division of Microbiology, from the National Taiwan University, Taiwan. He joined the lab as a PhD student in 01\/2022. His thesis projects focus on the regulation of airway mucus secretion in the diseased lungs.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Cong<\/span><\/div><\/div>

CONG (ARYA) WU<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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GRADUATE STUDENT<\/h5>\n

Description:<\/strong> Arya is originally from Sichuan China. She completed her DVM and M.S. at the Chinese Agricultural University in Beijing, China, working on diagnostic viral immunology. She joined the lab as a PhD student in 08\/2023. Her thesis projects focus on the regulation of airway mucus secretion in the diseased lungs by novel transcription factors.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Udeni<\/span><\/div><\/div>

UDENI WALGAMAGE<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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GRADUATE STUDENT<\/h5>\n

Description:<\/strong> Udeni Kumudumalee completed her DVM at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science, University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. She joined the lab in August 2024. Her master’s project will investigate novel vaccine candidates against Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Anna<\/span><\/div><\/div>

TONGYU (ANNA) ZHANG<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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GRADUATE STUDENT<\/h5>\n

Description:<\/strong> Anna Zhang obtained her BS and MS from the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the UIUC. She joined the lab in May 2024. Her master’s projects will investigate molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate the breach of alveolar-capillary barrier by Streptococcus pneumoniae<\/i> and Pseudomonas aeruginosa<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Mila<\/span><\/div><\/div>

MILA ARSLAN<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>
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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT<\/h5>\n

Description:<\/strong> Mila is currently a UIUC Senior majoring in Biochemistry. She joined the lab in March 2024. She will assist Dr. Lau in characterizing antibacterial properties of novel antimicrobial peptides.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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