STUDENT CONTACTS IN BIOPHYSICS AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
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B.S. LeMoyne College, 2003 Hi, I'm Charlie Mace and I am currently entering my fifth year in the Biophysics cluster as a member of the Miller Lab. I am an Upstate New York lifer, having grown up in Auburn, NY before attending Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY, where I earned a B.S. in Physics. The Miller lab studies molecular interactions through standard biophysical techniques, organic chemistry, and novel, label-free biosensor platforms. My Ph.D. research is to develop arrayed imaging reflectometry (AIR), an optical biosensor that directly detects the presence of probe/target complex formation through the destruction of a unique antireflective coating on a silicon wafer. Through AIR, we hope to create arrays of antibodies and other molecular probes to specifically detect and differentiate proteins involved in human health. I enjoy the scientific atmosphere in our cluster, as it encourages and fosters collaborations between other students and faculty members.
B.S. University of Science & Technology of China Hi, I am Zhi (John) Lu. I came from University of Science and Technology of China four years ago, where I earned my B.S. degree of Biosciences. Now I am a fifth year graduate student in David Mathews' lab. Our group is a bioinformatics group working on RNA structure prediction. RNA is found to be playing many important roles in cellular function. For example, it can form tertiary structures that, like proteins, can be catalytic. RNAStructure, a software package for RNA secondary structure prediction, is developed by Mathews' group. My ph.D. research is to improve siRNA design in RNA interference and to find new non-coding RNA in genomes. I am enjoying the scientific atmosphere in the biophysics cluster. Also, I am living in a friendly Chinese community (CSSA) in University of Rochester. You are welcome to contact me for any questions.
M.S. Indian Institute of Technology, 2006 Hello, my name is Ankit Gupta and I 'll be beginning my second year in the Biophysics and Structural Biology cluster. I graduated in 2006 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India with a BS and MS (Dual Degree) in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering. I have been in Rochester for about an year and would say that it is a great place for research as well for social activities and music. Currently, I am doing my PhD research in Clara Kielkopf's Lab. In the lab, I am focusing on proteins, U2AF65 and Splicing factor 1, involved in pre-mRNA splicing and trying to understand how these two proteins interact with one another and RNA. During the course of my graduate research, I will have an opportunity to learn a number of biophysical techniques like crystallography, NMR, fluorescence and calorimetry. Besides working in the lab, I like watching movies, listening to Indian music and visiting exciting places for hiking, gaming, etc. in Upstate New York.
B.A. Colgate University, 2006 Hi, my name is Krystle Williams and I'm entering my second year in the Biophysics program. I graduated in 2006 from Colgate University with a concentration in Physics. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, I have called western NY my home for the last five years, having developed a perplexing affinity for snow. I'm a proud member of the Kielkopf Lab, where we primarily study splicing proteins through x-ray crystallography and other biophysical methods, such as isothermal titration calorimetry. I'm currently working with a splicing protein from Drosophila melanogaster called Sxl which functions during sex determination. When I'm not doing research I can probably be found playing softball on the departmental team, watching bollywood movies, doting on my plants or playing steeldrum with a local band.
B.S. Harvey Mudd College, 2004 Hi, my name is Matt Seetin, and I'll be going into my fourth year as a grad student in the biophysics and structural biology program. I'm originally from Seattle, WA, and I got my B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. I work under Dr. David Mathews. Our lab is a computational lab, and we focus on RNA structure prediction and dynamics employing molecular dynamics simulation and thermodynamic modeling. I'm currently working on three different projects for my Ph. D. research. For the first, I'm collaborating with the Wedekind lab and calculating low-energy pathways by which our RNA molecule can fold between two different conformations. We will use the data from these calculations to identify possible intermediates that can be trapped, blocked, or otherwise studied experimentally, bridging the gap between experimental and computational science. For my other projects, I'm updating the AMBER molecular dynamics package to include structural features for RNA molecules including base pairing and coaxial stacking restraints, and I'm looking at the free energies of folding small RNA structures and comparing them with the Nearest Neighbor model, the current standard for RNA secondary structure prediction developed here in the Turner lab. It keeps me on my toes!
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