Current Graduate Students

Undergraduate Institution: Osun State University, Nigeria.

Master’s Degree Institution: Bayero University Kano, Nigeria.

Research Mentor: Padmanabhan P Pattabiraman, PhD

Research Focus: My research focuses on the metabolic regulation of the trabecular meshwork and its role in maintaining intraocular pressure (IOP) homeostasis. By defining the metabolic drivers that contribute to IOP dysregulation, I aim to identify novel molecular targets that can drive the development of more effective glaucoma therapies.

Undergraduate Institution: Western Carolina University

Research Mentor: Amber Mosley, PhD

Research Focus: Katelyn's project involves developing a mass spectrometry-based analytical assay for enhanced quantitation of EXOSC3 variant peptides linked to Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 1b, a rare neurodegenerative disease. She also investigates the impact of EXOSC3 variants on protein-protein interactions, neuronal differentiation and RNA homeostasis.

Undergraduate Institution: IU Bloomington

Research Mentor: John Turchi, PhD

Research Focus: My research focuses on Ku70/80, a protein well known for its role in DNA double strand break repair via the non-homologous end joining pathway. My work investigates Ku’s ill-defined, DNA-independent functions, particularly its involvement in RNA regulation.

Undergraduate Institution: University of Calcutta

Master’s Degree Institution: Banaras Hindu University

Research Mentor: Jason M. Spaeth, PhD

Research Focus: I investigate how chromatin remodelers orchestrate endocrine lineage specification during pancreatic development. Using mouse models and single-nucleus multi-omics, I am trying to understand how dynamic chromatin landscapes drive islet cell identity and function.

Undergraduate Institution: IU Indianapolis

Research Mentor: Jeffery M. Tharp, PhD

Research Focus: Combining multiple synthetic biology techniques to create a bacteria display platform capable of generating and screening unique high affinity cyclic peptides with multiple desired chemical properties of intracellular proteins.

Undergraduate Institution: University of Southern Indiana

Research Mentor: Evan M. Cornett, PhD

Research Focus: My research under Dr. Cornett aims to functionally characterize lysine methylation on non-histone proteins. More specifically, I focus on the ubiquitous scaffold protein 14-3-3. To achieve this, I employ cellular approaches, in vitro biochemistry and chemical biology, and mass-spectrometry based proteomics.

Undergraduate Institution: The University of Alabama

Research Mentor: Carmella Evans-Molina, MD, PhD

Research Focus: My research with Dr. Evans-Molina focuses on the pathophysiology of Type 2 diabetes, particularly identifying changes in microRNA activity and calcium homeostasis that contribute to pancreatic β cell dysfunction. Our ultimate goal is to elucidate transcriptomic and physiologic changes underpinning β cell failure that may better inform the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

Undergraduate Institution: Butler University

Research Mentor: Jonah Vilseck, PhD

Research Focus: Our group is an in silico biochemistry lab interested in understanding protein-protein and protein-ligand dynamics and interactions. My research is focused on optimizing our lab's alchemical free energy method LaDyBUGS, which stands for λ Dynamics with Bias Updated Gibbs Sampling. To pursue this, I'm working to create a target-specific LaDyBUGS based active learning framework capable of screening large ligand libraries with high efficiency.

Undergraduate Institution: Belmont University

Research Mentor: X Charlie Dong, PhD

Research Focus: I am investigating the role of DNMT1 in hepatic stellate cells in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. I am specifically examining the mechanism through which haptic stellate cell-specific DNMT1 promotes liver fibrosis.

Undergraduate Institution: Texas A&M University

Research Mentor: Evan M. Cornett, PhD

Research Focus: My research is focused on understanding the antagonistic functions of a lysine methyltransferase (SETD8) and a lysine demethylase (PHF8) in regulating the same histone mark and how this regulates the cell cycle in glioblastoma (GBM). Additionally, I am interested in identifying novel non-histone substrates of these enzymes to explore the function of lysine methylation on these proteins.

Undergraduate Institution: NIT Durgapur

Master’s Institution: MANIT Bhopal

Research Mentor: Hyun Roh, PhD

Research Focus: My research focuses on how chromatin remodeling and epigenetic regulation control thermogenesis in adipose tissue and shape metabolic adaptation to environmental cues. By combining genomics, molecular biology and physiology, I aim to understand how fat cells regulate energy expenditure and identify pathways that could be targeted to improve metabolic health.

Undergraduate Institution: Cairo University

Research Mentor: Shannon Hawkins, MD, PhD

Research Focus: Ovarian endometriosis, being a major risk factor for some histotypes of ovarian cancer, is my main research interest. The main focus of my project is understanding the mechanisms underlying ovarian endometriosis for the discovery of serum biomarkers as a non-invasive diagnostic method for the disease.

Undergraduate Institution: University of Kentucky

Research Mentors: Carmella Evans-Monlina, MD, PhD and Jamie Felton, MD

Research Focus: I am interested in better understanding why the immune system attacks pancreatic beta cells in Type 1 Diabetes. My research focuses on how alterations in both lymphocytes and beta cells can contribute to the development of autoimmune diabetes, specifically focusing on calcium signaling. By pursuing this research, I hope to contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms of diabetes development that can be exploited to prevent and treat this disease.

Undergraduate Institution: University of Kentucky

Research Mentor: Ronald C. Wek, PhD

Research Focus: Targeting protein synthesis and cellular stress response processes in prostate cancer therapy

Undergraduate Institution: University of Missouri

Research Mentor: Jonah Vilseck, PhD

Research Focus: My research project uses alchemical free energy methods to predict how single amino acid mutations alter binding affinity within protein-peptide complexes. Improving the accuracy and efficiency of these computational approaches is critical for accelerating peptide-based therapeutic design.

Undergraduate Institution: Purdue University

Research Mentor: Jason M. Spaeth, PhD

Research Focus: My project focuses on examining the roles of two NuRD complex-forming coregulating proteins known to aid PDX1 in the transcription of pancreatic islet cell functional proteins. Through a developmental biology lens, my research investigates how the PDX1 transcription factor and its coregulators impact transcription related to islet cell development and beta cell function.

Undergraduate Institution: Loyola University

Research Mentor: Quyen Hoang, PhD

Research Focus: My research is focused on understanding the structure and function of the protein Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), mutations of which are the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s Disease. I hope to provide insight into the natural regulatory mechanisms of LRRK2 and uncover how pathogenic mutants disrupt the LRRK2 structure-function relationship to drive neurodegeneration.

Undergraduate Institution: Ball State University

Master’s Institution: Indiana University School of Medicine

Research Mentor: Amber Mosley, PhD

Research Focus: My work establishes an integrated multi-OMIC framework for interpreting disease-associated SETX missense variants by linking genotype to changes in transcriptional regulation and genome stability. I utilize CRISPR models to profile at transcription, total proteomics, RNA occupancy, and R-loop abundance to define molecular signatures that help explain how distinct SETX perturbations can lead to neuronal vulnerability.

Undergraduate Institution: University of Mumbai

Research Mentors: John Turchi, PhD and Lata Balakrishnan, PhD

Research Focus: My research focuses of various factors regulating DNA damage tolerance including Translesion synthesis (TLS), PrimPol mediated repriming and Fork reversal. PrimPol, a eukaryotic Primase Polymerase enzyme exhibits TLS and repriming activity, and my project aims to investigate the determinants governing its choice between the two pathways and how it might be implicated in response to cancer therapeutics.

Undergraduate Institution: Fort Lewis College

Research Mentors: Scott T. Aoki, PhD and Jeff Tharp, PhD

Research Focus: I am interested in developing new tools to study chemical modifications to RNA. We are currently working to engineer RNA-binding proteins to repurpose them to study the biological roles of RNA modifications.