News
Shen Shen PhD (2013 Alum) Update
July 18, 2022Shen Shen is Senior Director of Gene Therapy Vectorology at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, MA. Her expertise involves gene therapy vector design, therapeutic CRISPR/Cas9 editing design, preclinical pharmacology studies for both viral and non-viral delivery modalities, and molecular engineering of AAV production platforms. View the UNC Biochemistry and Biophysics department news post to read more about this featured alumni spotlight.
Barry Lentz Travel Award recipients
June 21, 2022Five trainees in the Molecular and Cellular Biophysics Program received the Barry Lentz Travel Award this spring. The award provides financial support to students who are traveling to a conference to present research. I-Te Chu in the Pielak lab – Presenting “Protein dimer formation in vitro and in cells” at the Annual Protein Society Symposium in San Francisco, CA Jack Eicher in the Pielak lab- Presenting “Biophysical characterization of tardigrade desiccation tolerance protein” at the Annual Protein Society … Read more
First annual field day competition
May 23, 2022Last Friday, May 20, biophysics students planned and participated in a friendly field day competition. Students were grouped by cohort and a biophysics faculty joined each team. Games included centrifuge bottle bowling, serological pipette horseshoe, beaker flip, and a lab coat relay among others. Congratulations to the 4th year blue team (Amelia, Edgar, Dr. Rick Baker, and Dr. Kevin Slep) for winning!
New Student Talks
May 12, 2022On May 19th, four Molecular and Cellular Biophysics trainees will give talks on a research project of choice from their first year rotations. The event is hosted by the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics to welcome new students to the department. Matthew Hvasta, Biophysics “A conserved set of mutations for stabilizing soluble E protein dimers from Dengue and Zika viruses” Lab: Brian Kuhlman … Read more
Nick Randolph awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
May 12, 2022Nick Randolph was recently awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Nick is a member of Brian Kuhlman’s lab and a student in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology curriculum. Read the Biochemistry and Biophysics department news post for more details.
Jeff Bonin earns his PhD!
May 2, 2022Jeff Bonin, a student in Dr. Andrew Lee’s lab, successfully defended his dissertation on April 19, 2022. See the Biochemistry and Biophysics department news post for details about Jeff’s time at UNC and future plans.
Rhese Thompson earns his PhD!
May 2, 2022Rhese Thompson, advised by Dr. Qi Zhang, successfully defended his dissertation on April 20th. See the Biochemistry and Biophysics department news post for details on Rhese’s time at UNC.
Graduate Student Appreciation Week
April 1, 2022April 4 – April 8 is Graduate Student Appreciation Week. Molecular and Cellular Biophysics Program students are invited to a lunch to celebrate students and everything they contribute to the program and community. Please join us for lunch and lawn games!
Cathy Spangler earns her PhD!
February 7, 2022Cathy Spangler successfully defended her dissertation titled “Exploring the Mechanistic Basis of Nucleosome Interactions” on January 27th, 2022 under the direction of Dr. Robert McGinty. Cathy received a double B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016. During this time, she began her scientific research career in the lab of Dr. Nikolay Dokholyan, where she worked on the development of novel organophosphate protein bioscavengers and investigated the … Read more
Uriel Jean Baptiste named IMSD Peer Mentor of the Month
February 2, 2022Congratulations Uriel for being named IMSD’s peer mentor of the month! See UNC Biochemistry and Biophysics post for details. Uriel is a current 2nd year graduate student in the department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and is a member of the MCBP program. Uriel works in the Neher lab.