Congratulations to our 2022 PhD/MS Graduates!
Jorvani Cruz Villarreal, PhD Chemistry
Mentor: Alexandra Ros
Hyphenated Microfluidic and MALDI Mass Spectrometry Platform for Targeted Intracellular Protein Analysis
“Jorvani’s attention to detail and commitment to the project were extremely commendable and have made a technically challenging project combining microfluidics with mass spectrometry a success. She has established conditions of microfabrication for multilayer devices with integrated valve functionality, developed assays for measuring protein content from minute sample amounts as small as just a few cells and combined this with mass spectrometry. She interfaced these novel technical capabilities to shine light on an unsolved mystery in Alzheimer’s Disease which can now be addressed in more detail. She developed quantitative protocols that will be important to future applications of this novel method. During her PhD she also managed to mentor several undergraduate students which have benefited from her patience, attention to detail as well as calm and motivating character." - Alexandra Ros
Matthew Goode, PhD Biochemistry
Mentor: Petra Fromme
Purification, Characterization, and Structural Determination of Proteins Vital to Infectious Disease
“Matt Goode is an excellent and highly motivated scientist who has focused his work on Ph.D. graduate student. The work in this dissertation progressed the research of structural discovery for two targets critical in the fight of infectious disease. Francisella lipoprotein 3 (Flpp3) is a virulent determinant of tularemia and was the first protein of study, which studied using a hybrid modeling theory that used small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in combination with computation analysis to generate a SAXS-refined structure that discovered a flexible hydrophobic cavity inside the protein that could be used for drug discovery purposes. The second protein he worked on is the NSP15 from SARS-CoV-2 (NendoU), where he collaborated on with Emily Kaschner on solving the cryo-EM structure of this protein, that plays an important role in avoiding the recognition of coronaviruses by the immune system. Matt has successfully secured a position at Millipore Sigma where he will work on the development of immunoassay platforms starting in May 2022 and we are sure that will make large impact on research and new product development.” – Petra Fromme
Rebecca Jernigan, PhD Biochemistry
Mentor(s): Petra Fromme & Debra Hansen
Serial Crystallographic Studies for Therapeutic Drug Advancement
“Rebecca Jernigan is the most outstanding and creative scientist that you can imagine. She joint my group already when she was 15 years old and received the Governors Young Innovator of the year award for her work as a high school student. After focusing her outstanding work and undergraduate honor thesis on Taspase 1, an important cancer project, she joint the SMS Ph.D. program in 2020 to discover the structure and dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 protein NendoU with Serial fs crystallography at X-ray Free electron Lasers. NendoU is the key protein for the understanding why COVID-19 is causing the pandemic as it hides the virus from the immune system. With the breakthrough discovery of the first room temperature structure and the development of time resolved studies her outstanding PhD dissertation lays the foundation for the development of novel therapeutics against emerging viral diseases. She will join veterinary school at UvA in the fall 2022 and continue to support the Fromme group on the COVID and cancer projects on a 50% PostDoc position. She plans to become one of leading veterinarian scientists and as future faculty in veterinary science fighting infectious diseases that humans and animals suffer from including a focus on valley fever and viral infections.” – Petra Fromme
Liang Jing, PhD Biochemistry
Mentor: Yuval Mazor
Structure Determination of G Protein Coupled Receptor
“Liang is a hardworking and careful scientist. During his work at the Liu lab, Liang tackled the challenging subject of structural determination of GPCR signaling complexes. His work expanded to find new routes for solving these structures using electron diffraction of micro crystals. Liang was able to make the critical steps in combining the GPCR crystallography and electron diffraction providing a new route for discovering numerous important drug targets to benefit our society.” – Yuval Mazor
Emily Kaschner, PhD Biochemistry
Mentor: Petra Fromme
Biophysical Characterization and Structural Studies of Proteins in Pursuit of Vaccinations Against Infectious Diseases
“Emily is an outstanding scientist and very skilled experimentalist. She spearheaded the work on key proteins of the outer membrane of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi – the causative bacterium of Lyme disease. While the outer membrane proteins are key to the infection cycle, no structure has been determined to date for any of the outer membrane proteins from this bacterium. Her pioneering studies were focused on the protein OspA to allude to both a role in colonization of B. burgdorferi in the tick vector and in evasion of the human immune system. Her work describes the first ever biophysical and structural studies of OspA as it is seen by the immune system: in the outer membrane. Her work provides the first evidence of multimeric formation of OspA when translocated to the outer membrane, which presents a new perspective from which to build upon for the design of vaccinations against Lyme disease. In her second project she has worked together with Matt Goode on the cryo-EM structure of the SARS-CoV2 protein NendoU and several mutants that are prevalent in recent COVID-19 variants. She has accepted a position at Miltenyi Biotech where she will start working in May 2022 on new antibody therapeutics. We wish her all the success at this position, where she can make a large impact on human health.” – Petra Fromme
Purbasha Nandi, PhD Chemistry
Mentor: Po-Lin Chiu
Cryo-EM Enables Structural Studies of Protein-complexes Relevant to Neurodegeneration
“Purbasha is interested in investigating how biomolecules are altered in their structures and functions, ultimately leading to diseases. She uses a comprehensive biochemical toolbox and cryogenic electron imaging to probe the molecular underpinnings of these disease molecules. Her diligence and persistence in research have helped in discovering new knowledge on the cause of neurodegeneration. Purbasha’s hard work will continue to be influential to the scientific community.” – Po-Lin Chiu
Jan Siebert, PhD Chemistry
Mentor: Christina Birkel
Development of Wet Chemical Synthesis Strategies for the Class of MAX Phases
“Jan Paul has been an exceptional student and an essential part of my group getting the lab up and running, training incoming graduate students as well as teaching and mentoring undergraduate students, many of which became co-authors on one of his papers. Within a short three years, he has established innovative synthesis routes that lead to new types of carbides (so-called MAX phases) with unique shapes (wires, (hollow) microspheres) and functionalities. He has approached all projects with great enthusiasm and creativity, and has developed into an independent researcher capable of leading new areas of research, disseminating the results with papers and patents, and pushing the boundaries of materials science.” – Christina Birkel
Kirstie Swingle, PhD Chemistry
Mentor: Neal Woodbury & Alexander Green
Understanding and Utilizing Protein Interactions in Diverse Environments
“Kirstie took on the very challenging goal of bringing together fundamental studies of protein molecular recognition, driven by high throughput measurements and machine learning, with the development of novel molecular-based devices that perform rapid and sensitive analyte measurements in low-resource environments. Her persistence and devotion paid off and she was able to complete projects in both realms, mastering a broad skillset in the process.” – Neal Woodbury