Nile grew up in Upstate New York and moved to the Boston area to do his undergraduate studies at Tufts University. Despite actively rooting against Boston sports teams, Nile decided to stay in the area for graduate school. Outside of research, Nile enjoys snowboarding, playing soccer and hockey, and drinking craft beer.

Bella is from Michigan. Outside of lab, she enjoys hiking, skiing (or thinking about it when there is no snow), drinking too much coffee, listening to music, playing board games, embroidering, and trying to salvage her dying plants.

Lindsey grew up in Oklahoma and bounced across the country to Arkansas for undergrad and Wisconsin for grad school, before finally settling in Massachusetts when the Raines lab moved to MIT. Lindsey is passionate about dance and spends most of her free time dancing in local professional tap and contemporary dance companies, as well as MIT’s own DanceTroupe. She also enjoys gardening in the summer and skiing in the winter.

As a San Diego native, Oscar enjoys being active and enjoys good food and craft beer. An avid long-distance runner, Oscar is always excited to race in half and full marathons. While not training for a race, he loves playing soccer, surfing, hiking, and finding the best tacos in Boston. When not in lab, he likes to cook, root for all UCLA sports teams, and solve the New York Times daily mini crossword puzzle.

Yana is originally from Moscow, Russia. She moved to California when she was fifteen to pursue a dream of attending a research university with a T-Rex skeleton – lovingly, Bezerkeley. Yana’s favorite hobbies are drawing and reading (Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Nabokov, Fitzgerald, and Isaacson are some of her favorites; Alan Watts is a recent fascination). Yana also loves dancing salsa at weekend socials, exploring nature, traveling to different countries, and simply connecting with friends.

Born in Uzbekistan, Dilyara spent the second decade of her life growing up in NYC. There, she developed her passion for chemical biology research and nonprofit education work. Outside of the lab, Dilyara drives initiatives at the MIT Biotechnology Group and is an avid puzzler.

Evans came up to New England for graduate school after spending 22 years in southeastern Virginia, and he enjoys teaching Northerners the finer points of the Southern dialect, like the difference between “y’all” and “all y’all.” When not educating the masses, he enjoys undertaking overly ambitious baking projects, exploring new cocktails, evangelizing the Legend of Zelda, and finding his next coffee shop to be known by on a first-name basis.

Born in South Korea, Vicky loves to explore new places and is always open to a new adventure. Recently, she has developed enthusiasm for tennis, rock climbing, wake surfing, and snowboarding. She is an avid lover of food and will never say “no” to trying a new delicacy especially from different cultures.  When away from the lab, she enjoys exploring local cafes and discovering hidden gems. A lifelong night owl, Vicky aspires to be an early bird one day.