Nellie Kolon

• Built the chemical analysis system for Deleon’s miniaturized capillary electrophoresis device with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF), working with our hardware engineers to take it from an idea to a working instrument.
• Developed the assay from scratch. It now labels and detects 10+ amino acids in a 2-minute run, with run-to-run consistency within 3% of a commercial instrument.
• Owned method development end to end: labeling chemistry, buffer conditions, and voltage settings. Troubleshot alignment and focus of the optical system.
• Act as the biology domain expert for our ML engineers, translating metabolic pathways and physiology into model design.
• Recruited, hired, and manage two research interns from Georgia Tech’s undergraduate and master’s programs. I wrote the role, ran the interviews, and had them running the device on their own within a month. I set their weekly priorities, give feedback, and turn company goals into the experiments they run.
• Moved the lab from trial-and-error to AI-guided experimental design. I give the model our past runs and the relevant literature, and add what it can’t see, like dye buildup in the chip.

2024 – 2025

Graduate Student Researcher

Georgia Institute of Technology, Ackun-Farmmer Lab

The lab develops ways to retrain immune cells to stop attacking the body in multiple sclerosis.

• Rethought the lab’s polymeric nanoparticle synthesis using recent literature, updating long-standing protocols and cutting synthesis time from 10 hours to 30 minutes.
• Designed peptide-targeted nanoparticles to reprogram T cell responses.
• Co-wrote a review in Biomaterials Science, including the sections on lipid-based materials.
• Mentored an undergraduate researcher, training him in nanoparticle synthesis and in vitro techniques and helping him earn a research scholarship.

2021 – 2024

Senior Research Associate, Genetic Medicine

Eli Lilly and Company, Cambridge, MA · promoted from contractor

• Helped build a fully automated lipid nanoparticle synthesis and characterization platform with Lilly’s automation engineers. The team went from about 5 formulations a day by hand to more than 100 a week, and the platform is still in use.
• Generated the data for an ML model of how lipid chemistry affects nanoparticle formation and efficacy, and used it to narrow down candidates for mouse and non-human primate studies.
• Ran all hands-on experiments on a two-person team led by my supervisor, programmed Hamilton liquid handlers for the characterization assays, and presented results to teams in Indianapolis and San Diego.
• Used Design of Experiments to map how design parameters and lipid components interact, and scaled formulation from 100 µL–1 mL batches up to 1 L for non-human primate studies.

2019

Analytical Chemistry Co-op

Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA

• Ran purity, stability, and solubility assays on oncology drug candidates and presented an in vivo ELISA study to 50+ scientists.

Education

• Biomaterial-mediated immunomodulation of regulatory T cells in cancer Hengen, A.C.; Kolon, H.; Ackun-Farmmer, M.A. Biomaterials Science, 2026
• How Participation in a Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program (REU) Transforms Chemistry and Biochemistry Majors’ Understanding of Research and Scientific Inquiry Kolon, H.; Mabrouk, P.A. Journal of Chemical Education, 2022 · Editor’s Choice