Thesis Reviews

A member of the Coon Lab, Zhu’s research uses mass spectrometry to enhance methods and technologies used to quantify protein homeostasis.

Ferdous explores the molecular mechanisms that help to regulate stem cells as a member of the Kimble Lab.

Nina Bonde, an IPiB graduate student, will be defending her Ph.D. research on May 11. Bonde’s research focuses on the roles and interactions of proteins involved in DNA repair processes. She is a member of both the Keck Lab in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry and the Cox Lab in the Department of Biochemistry.

Anthony Meger, an IPiB graduate student, will be defending his Ph.D. research on May 10. As a member of the Raman Lab, Meger has worked on protein engineering, with a focus on split-protein systems.

Thuong Ho, an IPiB graduate student, will be defending his Ph.D. research on May 8. Ho, who is a member of the Merrins Lab, has focused his research on identifying the mechanism for insulin secretion in cells. “Knowing more about insulin secretion is important,” explains Ho, “because there are serious medical conditions, including diabetes, that …

Alexander Duckworth joined the Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB) with the goal of learning more about how scientists ‘solve biomolecular structures’ — that is, how they figure out what essential components to life, such as proteins, look like. Duckworth’s research as a member of the Keck Lab revolves around genome maintenance proteins, which bind to …

Eosinophils (EOS) have broad immunomodulatory and inflammatory effects — these white blood cells are implicated in eosinophilic asthma, eradicating parasitic infections, involvement in the gut microbiome and tumor microenvironment, and more — yet scientists still don’t have a complete understanding of how they are activated, or how they release granular content and deliver their noxious …

Edrees (Eddie) Rashan became interested in the life sciences as a college sophomore. He’d heard of DNA but never really appreciated what it looked like, how it was made, or the characteristics that make it so important to life. He eventually switched majors from engineering to biochemistry to learn about biomolecules and how they function …

Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in response to elevated blood glucose levels. Insufficient amounts of insulin can result in Type II diabetes, while excess can lead to hypoglycemia — both life-threatening conditions. Sophie Lewandowski, an IPiB graduate student in the Merrins Lab, studies how pyruvate kinase fits into insulin secretion and regulation. Pyruvate kinase, …

Antibiotic resistance is one of the great public health problems of our time. Since Peyton Spreacker joined IPiB as a member of the Henzler-Wildman Lab, she has been studying the role multidrug efflux proteins play in this phenomenon. “We know that these proteins can take drugs out of bacterial cells, making them less effective,” says …