Meet The Team

Priyanka Naik

PULse/ Department of Biological Sciences

5th Year

Tesmer Lab

Fun fact: "I get unreasonably excited about well-made figures".

naik35@purdue.edu

Michelle Bush

Department of Biological Sciences

5th Year

Noinaj Lab

Fun fact: "I used to run and host a Science Podcast".

bush85@purdue.edu

Mercedes DeMoss

Borch Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

4th Year

Danzhou Lab

Fun fact: "I have a cat named Will o' the Wisp (Willow)".

demoss0@purdue.edu

Sandali Piladuwa Gamage

Department of Biological Sciences

3rd Year

Tesmer Lab

Fun fact: "I make GRKs spill their secrets".

spiladuw@purdue.edu

Sydney N. Bogan

Department of Biochemistry

4th Year

Mesecar Lab

Fun fact: "I have a dog named Pepper".

sbeechbo@purdue.edu

Harris Giles

Department of Physics and Astronomy

1st Year

Liu Lab

Fun fact: "I've lived in 8 different states across the U.S.!".

gilesh@purdue.edu

Ryan Peters

Department of Biological Sciences

5th Year

Kuhn Lab

Fun fact: "I enjoy growing spicy peppers and many garden vegetables".

peter742@purdue.edu

Jayamini Gunaratne

Department of Chemistry

3rd Year

Das Lab

Fun fact: "I love to experiment in the kitchen".

gunaratd@purdue.edu

Nicholas Noinaj

Associate Professor

Faculty Advisor

Interested in being an organizer?

The Purdue Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Biomolecular Galaxy Symposium Organizing Committee is a team of mostly graduate students from diverse disciplines in life sciences. We have a different faculty advisor every year. Being an organizer gives you training and experience in fundraising, networking, marketing, and other leadership skills.

If you are interested in joining our 2026 Organizing Committee, please reach out to us at hitchhikersguide2biogal@gmail.com