Irene Dzaye

Bio

Irene was born in Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, West Africa. She completed her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. As an undergraduate, she worked under the supervision of Dr. Mercy Badu on the extraction and quantification of phytochemical properties of underutilized oilseeds to help curb food insecurity in Northern Ghana.
Irene went on to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry at East Tennessee State University and worked under the guidance of Dr. Catherine McCusker. Her master’s level research focused on investigating the role of charge separation in triplet state formation of zinc dipyrrin photosensitizers. Following her graduation in May 2021, Irene relocated and joined the Castellano lab in August 2021 as a first year PhD student.
Irene loves to cook, especially traditional foods where she portrays her background and where she comes from.