Fellow:Klevin Lo

Aspiring Scientist-Entrepreneur in Biotechnology

Klevin is a fourth-year biological chemistry student at the University of Chicago who seeks to create and inspire positive social change through science, biotechnology, and entrepreneurship. Klevin has worked in various research groups on campus, engaging major questions in molecular biology, biochemistry, virology, and biophysics. Recently, he had research that he did at the James Franck Institute on the physical laws governing single-cell growth and division published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Klevin also has hands-on entrepreneurial experience from interning at Chicago-based social media technology startup Freebie and writing a white paper for the company, which detailed his findings on best practices for marketing through social media. In addition to working in entrepreneurship, Klevin had the opportunity to serve as an Associate at the University of Chicago's Innovation Fund, which invests in early-stage technologies and startups created by faculty, students, and staff, and develop an understanding for the parameters that venture capitalists and investors use to evaluate business proposals. As an Associate, Klevin analyzed the market potential for a new nanotherapeutic cancer technology, and guided a seed investment of $100,000 to the inventor and his research group in order to obtain pre-clinical trial data of the treatment's impact in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

For the last two years, Klevin has served as the President of the Phoenix Biology and has helped the organization increase its audience and strengthen its reputation in delivering quality events and professional development programs for undergraduates in the biological sciences. Klevin also helped found the university's iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine)competition team GeneHackers and worked as a research member on the team's first project in engineering a novel keratinase-based feather waste degradation system. Klevin is also the founder of his campus's chapter of Zeta Psi fraternity, the former rush co-chair of Alpha Phi Omega co-ed community service fraternity, and a current member of the Maroon Key Society.

In his free time, Klevin enjoys playing the guitar, hanging out with friends, learning new things, and meeting new people. He loves meeting new people and talking about anything from basketball to biotechnology, and can easily be reached by e-mail, LinkedIn, or on his personal website.