Research Students
Lin Duong (Occidental College '03, Biochemistry) Atomic force microscopy of bacteria and DNA-protein complexes. Presented her work at the Southern California Council on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) conference October 2002 and the American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana in March 2003. Lin is currently working on a doctorate in pharmacy at UC San Diego. |
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Elaine Ly (Occidental College '05, Chemistry) (right) Atomic force microscopy of bacteria and DNA-intercalator complexes. Presented her work at the SCCUR conferences in the fall of 2002, 2003, and 2004, at the "Seeing at the Nanoscale" conference in Santa Barbara in August 2003, at the Biophyisical Society National Meeting in Baltimore in February 2004, and at NCUR in April 2005.
Phyllis Chan (Occidental College '05, Biology) (left) Atomic force microscopy of bacterial biofilms. Presented her work at SCCUR in the fall of 2004. Phyllis is working on a Master's in Bioscieces at the Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, CA. |
| Anne Malhowski (Mount Holyoke College '05, summa cum laude in Chemistry) Destabilization caused by DNA base lesions. Anne attended the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia in August 2004. Anne worked on protein aggregation as a research technician at Colorado State University after graduation, and is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania. |  |
| Amber Rosenberg (Mount Holyoke College '05, High Honors in Biochemistry) Detecting DNA base lesions. Amber served as a CASCADE program research mentor. Amber worked on Nucleotide Excision Repair at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Ohio State University after graduation, and is currently working on a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Wright State University. |  |
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Aleksandra Mihailovic (Mount Holyoke College '07, Biochemistry) Atomic Force Microscopy of DNA. Aleksandra learned new single-molecule techniques in the Physics Department at Northeastern University in the summer of 2005. After studying in Italy during the spring of 2006, she recently graduated and is working as a research technician at the Rockefeller University in NYC. |
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Catherine Volle (MHC '06, Biology w/ Chemistry minor, High Honors in Biochemistry) Catherine completed a senior honors thesis about Bdellovibrio binding to model lipopoly-saccharide membranes. She worked full-time after graduation to follow through with the Bdellovibrio experiments and generally keep the lab under control. She presented her work at meetings of the Biophysical Society, the American Chemical Society, and the American Society for Microbiology, and is first author on two manuscripts. She is currently a Ph.D. student at Brown University in the MCB program. |
| Amy Rumora (MHC '07, High Honors in Biochemistry) Amy's thesis explored DNA destabilization by base lesions using small molecule probes and the thermodynamics of DNA melting in the presence of thymine dimers. Amy attended the "Current Trends in Microcalorimetry" conference in Boston in August 2005 and presented a poster at the Biophysical Society Metting in Baltimore in March 07. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Vermont. |  |
from left to right: Amy Rumora; Morgan Appleberry (MHC '08, Biology) Effect of DNA structure on rates of base excision repair; Elizabeth Marek (MHC '06, Biochemistry) DNA repair in chromatin. Beth earned a Master's Degree at Georgetown University in scientific methods to examine alternative therapies; and Catherine Volle.
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Akriti Singh (MHC '08, Biochemistry) Biochemical characterization of lipopolysaccharide molecules from Bdellovibrio predators and prey. |
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Jacqueline Wade (MHC '08, Honors in Biochemistry) presented her work on DNA repair at the Biophysical Society Meeting in March 2007. She used NMR to examine the effect of damaged base lesions on double-helical DNA for her senior honors project. She is currently working as a research associate at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. |
| Stephanie Azan (MHC '08, Chemistry) Characterization of lipopolysaccharide molecules from Bdellovibrio predators and prey using Langmuir-Blodgettry and Atomic Force Microscopy. She presented her work at the Biophysical Society Meeting in March 2007. |  |
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Sara Barnes (MHC FP '08, Biochemistry) Sara helped to synthesize and characterize thymine dimer lesions as well as to design a new chromatography lab sequence for Organic Chemistry laboratory. She subsequently did a senior honors thesis with Lilian Hsu, and is currently working as a research associate at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. |
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Courtney Branch (MHC '10) Courtney studied base excision repair by the BER enzyme Fpg (a.k.a. MutM). |
| Kasia Kolodziejczak (MHC '10, Biochemistry) is studying DNA destabilization by thymine dimer lesions. |  |
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Doris Tabassum (MHC '10, Biochemistry) Doris studied the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio. |
| Mya Steadman (MHC '10, Chemistry) Mya is interested in biofilms in the environment, and Bdellovibrio's effect on them. |  |
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Melissa K. Hart (MHC '08, Biochemistry) Missy studied biofilms of prey and Bdellovibrio using Atomic Force Microscopy. |
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Xiaowen (Wendy) Wang (MHC '11) Wendy is examining DNA mismatches and DNA-binding small molecules using single molecule techniques. |
Lindiwe Ndebele (MHC '09, Chemistry) Lindiwe examined the structure of supercoiled DNA containing base lesions by AFM. She is currently working at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute as a research assistant.
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Emily Harcourt (MHC '09, Biochemistry) Emily did organic synthesis research with MHC professor and organic chemist Darren Hamilton for several years, and one semester she designed experiments to test the DNA-binding and cleavage properties of her new family of heterocyclic, aromatic organic molecules. She will be a Ph.D. student at Stanford University starting in the fall of 2009. |
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| Kelley Harpin (MHC '08, Biology) Kelley is a longtime PLUMS mentor who has joined the lab to study DNA lesions. She is also keeping things running as our new Laboratory Associate. |  |
Laura Bleyendaal ('09, Biology) Laura is investigating quorum sensing in bacterial biofilms.
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Elisa Frankel ('11, Biochemistry) is working on NMR of DNA with lesions.
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He (Clare) Xu ('12), left, and Phuong Vo ('10, Biochemistry), right, are working together to examine Bdellovibrio's interaction with mixed-species biofilms. |
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Martha Segovia ('13) is working with Elisa Frankel as a Science Scholar during the summer of 2009. |
And here they are hard at work...(?)
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| I don't remember hiring that guy.... |  |
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MHC Graduation 2005 Amber, Catherine, and Anne. |
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Wedding of Anne Malhowski '05. Bridesmaid Catherine Volle '06 is just to the left of the bride. |
The whole group as of October '04: (clockwise from front center) Amy, Amber, Catherine, Beth, Morgan, Aleks, and Anne.
Group in June '06 (left to right): Amy, Jackie, Stephanie, Akriti, and Catherine. Not shown: Sara, Courney, and me. Yes, we wear sweatshirts in the summer here in Massachusetts.
Stephanie, Jackie, Amy, and Catherine at the Biophysical Society National Meeting in Baltimore in March 2007.
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Jackie, me, and Missy at Mount Holyoke's 2008 commencement |
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Summer 2009 (Megan, Kelley, Martha, Elisa, Clare, Phuong. Not shown: Wendy). |