Office Location: Mudd 567
Area of Specialization: Inorganic Chemistry
My research focuses on identifying the mechanism of Supercapacitive Swing Adsorption (SSA) for carbon dioxide capture. Using in-situ spectroscopic techniques and titration of charged electrodes, I aim to study the underlying processes that drive SSA. This understanding will enable improvements in CO₂ sorption capacity and make the technology more practical and scalable.
Office Location: Mudd 648
Area of Specialization: Biochemistry
I am a graduate student in Damien Thévenin’s lab. Previously published work focused on an immunotherapy using a fusion of a pH-sensitive peptide and a nanobody to target cancer cells in their acidic environment. The targeted cancer cells displayed the nanobody on their surface such that they were subsequently destroyed by natural killer cells, while sparing healthy cells at a neutral pH. Current work is aimed at expressing and purifying the transmembrane and intracellular domains of a class of membrane proteins and reconstituting them in nanodiscs as a lipid membrane mimic. Further experiments will be conducted in order to understand the structure and activity of the reconstituted proteins. In my free time, I enjoy music, playing the guitar, ukulele, and piano, crocheting, reading, and walking on nature trails.
Office Location: Sinclair 304
Area of Specialization: Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy
I am interested in exploring the role of atomic force microscopy (AFM) variants to decipher the chemical, electrical, and mechanical properties of materials such as macromolecules, heterogeneous materials, and nanostructures.
Office Location: Mudd 657
Area of Specialization: Bioanalytical Chemistry
I am currently a graduate student working under Dr. Nathan Wittenberg. My research focuses on the chemistry of lipid bilayers, specifically outer membrane vesicles of gram-negative bacteria and their role in antibiotic resistance (an increasing dire issue). By understanding how bacteria defend against antimicrobial peptides using analytical methods, I hope to pave the way for the discovery and testing of new antibiotics. My outside interest is in theology.
Office Location: Mudd 423
Area of Specialization: Organometallic Chemistry
I am motivated by exploring the role of chemistry in the environment and collaborating with others. My research interests are in the catalyst development for recycling inert high-global-warming-potential hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants.
Office Location: Mudd 657
Area of Specialization: Bioanalytical Chemistry and Biomembrame
I am a 5th-year Ph.D. Candidate at Wittenberg's lab, where I use cell membrane model systems to study the molecular factors that underlie Myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) interaction, specifically, I explore the role played by cholesterol and/or lipid rafts on MAG-Gangliosides interaction.
Office Location: Mudd 643
Area of Specialization: Biochemistry
Reactive oxygen species, as well as exposure to ionizing radiation and environmental
stresses are among the main sources that lead to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs).
DSBs are considered the most toxic form of DNA damage and rely upon four major
repair pathways. Physiologically relevant DSBs often have chemical modifications that
make them difficult to repair by direct ligation or the non-homologous end-joining
(NHEJ) repair pathway. My research focuses on designing reporter systems and using
fluorescence- and luminescence-based functional assays to measure repair efficiency
and accuracy of complex DSBs in cells, as well as how break complexity influences
repair pathway choice.
Office Location: Mudd 522
Area of Specialization: Organometallic Chemistry
My primary research areas are organometallic and fluorine chemistry. In particular, I am interested in developing new metal-mediated synthetic methodologies to functionalize high global warming potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. My current work involves catalytic sp3 C-H activation of HFCs with the aim of producing value-added fluorinated intermediates. I am also interested in mechanistic evaluation of these reactions to better understand the unique behavior of HFCs bound to transition metal complexes.
Office Location: Mudd 643
Area of Specialization: Biochemistry
My research focuses on developing reporter plasmids and functional assays to measure
single-stranded DNA gap repair. In cancers, such as glioblastoma, intrinsic and
acquired resistance to treatment results in the proliferation of treatment-resistant cells.
This proliferation is accelerated by translesion synthesis repair (TLS), which allows
cancerous cells to tolerate unrepaired DNA damage and resist chemotherapy. I am
developing quantitative functional assays for measuring TLS capacity in live cancerous
cells, providing information on how mutagenic DNA repair pathways influence and
contribute to treatment resistance.
Office Location: Mudd 573
Area of Specialization: Solid-State Transient Absorption Spectroscopy
I am primarily interested in solar cells due to their potential environmental and economic benefits. I work collaboratively with synthetic chemists, studying complete or partial solar cell stacks to grant insight into rational modifications to improve efficiency. My goal in studying charge transfer dynamics is to help push us toward a future where environmentally friendly energy generation is also efficient and inexpensive, allowing the technology to be deployed at scale.
