Trevor Boram | Committee Chair, Dept. of Biochemistry
Trevor is a fourth-year graduate student in Dr. Jeremy Lohman’s lab as part of the Department of Biochemistry. He is currently designing malonyl-CoA analogs to probe the mechanism of various carbon-carbon bond forming enzymesusing crystallography. In his free time, Trevor enjoys writing music and playing guitar.
Evan Billings | Dept. of Biological Sciences
Evan is a third-year graduate student in the Noinaj Lab within the Department of Biological Sciences. He is currently using cryo-EM to study the machinery involved in thebiogenesis of outer membrane proteins within the bacterial pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. In his free time, Evan enjoys playing guitar, gaming, hiking, and readingscience fiction.
Ariana (Ari) Cardillo | Dept. of Chemistry
Ari is a fifth-year chemistry PhD student in the Hrycyna Lab. Her research uses a combination of techniques including mass spectrometry, photo-crosslinking, and fluorescence microscopy to investigate the role of methylation in CaaX protein structure, function and localization within the cell. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Emmanuel College in Boston. During her free time, she enjoys playing soccer and going on adventures with her dog Zuri.
Mackenzie Chapman | Dept. of Biological Sciences
Mackenzie is a third-year graduate student in Dr. Andrew Mesecar’s Lab in the Department of Biological Sciences. She is currently investigating a protease encoded in Coronaviruses, the papain-like protease. Her work includes purification and characterization of the protease as well as using structure-based drug design to develop small-molecule inhibitors to treat the virus. Outside of science, Mackenzie loves to go to musicals and could probably sing you a showtune word-for-word if you asked her to. She even named her adopted, red and curly-haired dog, Annie. (Cue "The sun'll come out tomorrow...")
Clinton (Clint) Gabel | Dept. of Biological Sciences
Clint is a third-year graduate student in Dr. Leifu Chang’s lab in the Deparmentof Biological Sciences. Clint studies CRISPR-Cas systems and proteins involved in the regulation of mitosis and spindle development. Clint completed his undergraduate studies at Texas Tech University majoring in Biology and Spanish. In his free time, Clint enjoys cooking, baking, running, hiking, and Spanish literature.
Sebastian Kenny | Dept. of Chemistry
Sebastian Kenny (goes by Kenny) is a third-year graduate student in the lab of Dr. Chittaranjan Das in the Chemistry Department. Kenny’s research focuses on the hijacking of pathogenic effector proteins onto the host ubiquitination system. His current project is to understand the mechanism by which HPV-E6 protein repurposes an E3 ligase to ubiquitinate p53. His study uses cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, as well as various other spectroscopic techniques. When away from the lab, Kenny enjoys going on road trips to state and national parks with his trusty companion, Benzene the chemistry dog.
Kristos Negron | Dept. of Chemistry
Kristos is a fourth-year graduate student in Dr. Chittaranjan Das’ lab as part of the Department of Chemistry. He is currently using a combination of disulfide chemistry and protein crystallography to better understand the ubiquitin-binding regions in effectors found on Legionella. Kristos did his undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla, majoring in Biology. In his free time, Kristos enjoys playing bass and cooking.
Dr. Jeremy Lohman | Faculty Advisor
Dr. Lohman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry. He studies the structure-function relationships of enzymes in the metabolism of malonyl-CoAs, which serves as the basis for fatty acid and polyketide biosynthesis. When not in the lab he can be found on a climbing wall or foraging for mushrooms.
