Education: B.S., Stanford University; 
Ph.D., Princeton University

Sue started at Fred Hutch in 2000 after completing post-doctoral work in Dr. Andrew Murray's lab at UCSF. She was trained as a geneticist but will use any technique necessary to answer a scientific problem. Although her major interests are the cytoskeleton, cell cycle and chromosome biology, she keeps an eye out for an interesting scientific problem. She enjoys mentoring and wants everyone in the lab to achieve their personal goals. When she is not in the lab, she enjoys hanging out with her family (i.e. carpooling) or running with their hyperactive mini-Aussie.  

Education: B.S., University of Washington



Angelica joined the Biggins lab in the fall of 2022. She graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Biology, specialty in physiology. During her last year at UW, she investigated the presence of the PAX6 protein in green sea urchins at Friday Harbor Labs. Outside of the lab Angelica can be found spending time with family and friends, going on hikes, and tide pooling around Washington.

Education: B.S., University of Redlands


Daniel joined the Biggins lab in 2019, and is co-advised with the Asbury lab at UW. As an undergraduate he studied signaling pathways that drive preterm birth using murine models, but discovered a love of structural biology and biophysics while working as a technician in the Puglisi lab at Stanford studying HIV reverse transcription. For his graduate work, Daniel is interested in using biochemical, structural, and biophysical tools to investigate how the architecture of the kinetochore allows both for its unique function, and for that function to be tuned through out the cell cycle. When he’s not busy pipetting tiny volumes of clear liquids into other clear liquids, Daniel enjoys practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, listening to podcasts, and slowly accruing house plants until his apartment becomes a jungle.

Education: B.S., Goucher College

Jamie joined the lab in Fall, 2019. As an undergrad she studied biology at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. After a stint at OHSU working in neuroanatomy, she earned her MS in marine toxicology at College of Charleston in S. Carolina. While there, she studied the mechanistic effects of marine biotoxins on embryonic fish development with NOAA's Biotoxins lab, then transferred to NOAA Ocean Services in Seattle where she studied the mechanistic impacts of anthropogenic contaminants ranging from estrogens in waste water to petroleum particulates on embryonic fish development. One more transfer to NOAA's Fishery Service resulted in a couple of years working in age and growth, supporting the Alaska Groundfishery. In 2016 she switched into freelance photography, covering everything from pets and weddings to, wrestling and protests. She recently completed a leg of eXXpedition, sailing across the Caribbean and researching ocean microplastics. In her free time, she enjoys adventure travel, boxing, movies and doting on her dog Mako.

Education: B.A., Colgate University; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

Devin moved to Seattle and joined the Biggins lab as a staff scientist in the summer of 2020. Devin received his PhD in experimental physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he developed magnetic resonance techniques to study biomolecular structure. For his postdoctoral work, he joined the Perkins lab at University of Colorado, Boulder studying protein folding using AFM-based single molecule force spectroscopy. Outside of lab Devin has only just started exploring Seattle and the surrounding area looking for places to hike, bike, and run.

Education: M.S., Paris Diderot Univeristy;
Ph.D., Paris Diderot University

Sabrine joined the Biggins lab as a post-doc in early 2017 and is interested in understanding the role of centromere transcription and non-coding RNAs in the regulation of kinetochore assembly and function. Originally from France, she received her PhD from Paris Diderot University in the lab of Claire Francastel, where she studied the interplay between the DNA damage response and centromeric chromatin in murine cells. Outside of lab Sabrine enjoys baking, traveling and playing soccer on rainy Sunday mornings.

Education: Ph.D., Kansas State University

Changkun joined the lab as a postdoc in Summer 2022. As an undergraduate student, he worked on oil-producing yeast strains that can be used for environment purification and clean energy. Changkun's M.S. evaluates the effect of antioxidants on the invasiveness of melanoma. Changkun's Ph.D. studies to what extent beta human papillomavirus disrupts double-strand break repair in human keratinocytes. In the Biggins lab, Changkun is trying to understand the kinetics of kinetochore assembling using TIRF microscopy. Outside of the lab, he likes hiking, cooking, and beachcombing.

Education: B.S., Sun Yat-sen University;
Ph.D., Texas A&M University

Mengqiu joined the Biggins lab as a postdoc fellow in the summer of 2021. During her graduate studies in Junjie Zhang’s lab at Texas A&M, she focused on utilizing Cryo-EM and various biochemical tools to study the invading mechanism of the human pathogen Clostridium difficile. After completing her Ph.D., Mengqiu (recklessly) decided to step out of her comfort zone and into the wonderland of eukaryotic cell biology. Particularly, she found the structural basis of the kinetochore assembly is mysterious and captivating. Outside the lab, she enjoys spending time with her family, hiking, and trying out all kinds of Chinese cuisine recipes.

Education: B.S., Presidency College;
Ph.D., Texas A&M University

Hi, I am Nairita. I joined the Biggins Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in the summer of 2021. I completed my Ph.D. from Michael Polymenis lab at Texas A&M. My graduate work focused on the translational control of lipid synthesis during the cell cycle of budding yeast. Cell division has always fascinated me. I decided to pursue postdoctoral research in Sue’s lab to learn more about chromosome segregation and the army of proteins that enable the process. Currently, I am interested in the assembly of the inner kinetochore proteins and identifying post-translational modifications that facilitate both the assembly and function of this giant megadalton protein complex. Outside of the lab, I love traveling to different food places (especially the Indian ones).

Education: B.S., University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Darren joined the Biggins lab in 2020 as a graduate student. During his undergraduate, Darren majored in biology and was a teaching assistant for introductory and advanced cell and molecular biology courses. He then joined the Bezanilla Lab at Dartmouth College, where he worked as a technician for 2 years studying the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton in plant cells, as well as improving current genome editing methods in plants. When he’s not in lab, he enjoys making electronic music with his collection of synthesizers, writing new software, hiking & camping, and finance.

Education: B.A., University of Washington

Education: B.A., Whitman College; Ph.D., UC Santa Cruz

Christian loved working in the Biggins Lab so much that he joined for a second time in the Spring of 2019 as a Staff Scientist. He previously worked in the lab as a Research Technician from 2007-2010, before completing his PhD at UC Santa Cruz in Needhi Bhalla’s lab. Throughout Christian’s time in science, he has studied the mechanisms underlying faithful chromosome segregation in mitosis and meiosis, focusing on understanding how molecular checkpoints monitor and respond to chromosome behaviors to help prevent aneuploidy. Outside of the lab, Christian loves the outdoors, running, and spending time with his young daughter, Zelda.

Education: B.S., Washington State University;
Ph.D., Oregon State University

Hi my name is Andrew Popchock and I am a post-doc in Sue’s lab. I grew up on a small ranch in eastern Washington and studied Biophysics at Washington State University. I received my Ph.D. from Dr. Qiu at Oregon State University, where I studied molecular motors using single-molecule microscopy. Outside the lab, I spend my time playing basketball (when my knees and back permit) or enjoying the outdoors of the PNW and I try to get up to the mountains when the snow flies. I joined Sue’s lab first and foremost to do great science and am currently interested in the role of phosphorylation during kinetochore assembly.