Graduate Student Representatives
Graduate Student Representatives are responsible for opening the avenues of communication between graduate students and the Biochemistry and Biophysics faculty. Representatives provide advice, organize graduate student events and act as a resource for their fellow graduate students.
2021-2022 Biochemistry & Biophysics Representatives
Koe is a third year BCBP graduate student working with Jeff Gelles and Jane Kondev. Her specific area of research lies within the world of prokaryotic transcription. She utilizes experimental single molecule biophysics techniques to collect quantitative data; this data is then used to drive mathematical modeling that may provide new insight into these biological processes.
Michelle is a BCBP graduate student in Maria-Eirini Pandelia’s lab. She is researching metal containing proteins and how they utilize their metallocenters to perform chemistry. Specifically, Michelle studies the functional and structural role of a novel iron-sulfur cluster in the Hepatitis B viral protein, HBx. Because the Hepatitis B virus is linked to the development of hepatocullar carcinoma (HCC), HBx serves as a potential target for the development of anti-cancer drugs. Michelle’s spectroscopic and functional characterization of the HBx metallocofactor will help to define the oncogenic pathways and mechanisms of this causative protein.
Crís is a graduate student in the BCBP program working in the lab of Douglas Theobald. He is currently researching the evolution of a naturally occurring