Principal Investigators
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students
What's next for graduates of the Mierke/Pellegrini Group?
Liam N. Locke, BS 2021
MD student, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Liam.N.Locke.MED@dartmouth.edu
Tamar Basiashvili, MS 2021
University of California San Diego, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Heidi Chapman, PhD 2019
2020-present Partnership Management Specialist, Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp.
2018-2020 Post-doctoral Business Development Associate, ASCEND Project Manager, Virtici, LLC
Karen Lagasse, PhD 2019
Chemistry Lecturer with the Learning Strategies Center at Cornell University
Adam Barczewski, PhD 2019
2021-present Research Investigator, Purification Process Sciences, Incyte
2019-Feb 2021 Scientist, Downstream Development and Formulation at Flexion Therapeutics
Alexandra Panaitiu, PhD 2017
Mascoma uses the tools of modern biotechnology to develop microorganisms (yeasts) that improve industrial production of fuels and chemicals from biomass.
James Elder, MS 2017
Professional Research Assistant
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Jiaxue Ma, MS 2016
Bingqian Guo, PhD 2015
HitS Platform Scientist at WuXi AppTec. Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Formerly: Research Scientist 2 at Huntsman Research Center
Formerly: Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvar Medical School and Career Development Program Fellow Award of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Author with Chris Audu of "The Silverwares: Spinky gets his wishes"
Bingqian's graduate research mainly centered around the protein called NEMO (NF-kB Essential Modulator). One project utilizes protein engineering to stabilize the IKK binding domain of NEMO and restore its IKKb binding affinity. The other project involves using biophysical methods such as biomolecular NMR, fluorescence anisotropy assay and ELISA assay to screen for inhibitors targeting NEMO-IKK interaction. Besides the NEMO projects, there's also an interesting side project developing a novel method to detect ATP/GTP hydrolysis and screening for ATPase inhibitors using proton NMR.
Outside of the lab, I like hiking and taking photos of the beautiful white mountains. While indoors, I enjoy watching movies and drawing, it was a great fun working with Chris on the Children's book "The silverwares: Spinky gets his wishes" 🙂
Jeremy Fitzpatrick, PhD 2014
Scientist at ScitoVation, developing computational toxicology.
Previously worked at the National Center for Computational Toxicology within the United States Environmental Protection Agency
Joshua Weiner, PhD 2014
Scientific Project Manager at Dartmouth College
Josh's graduate work centered on two projects, both of which fall under the title of “using novel approaches to investigate GPCR structure and function”. The first project is the investigation of the parathyroid hormone receptor (PTH1R) using a soluble protein scaffold. We address the use of a scaffold protein, TM1526, as a suitable mimic of the transmembrane domains of PTH1R. Using NMR, pulldown, and other structural characterization methods, we show that our chimeric PTH1R/TM1526 fusion is able to mimic some of the characteristics of the native receptor, while being far more amenable to various biochemical and structural techniques. Additionally, we have recently determined that PTH1R binds GTP, using our chimeric PTH1R, and have confirmed this with native PTH1R expressed in HEK cells. The second project I am also working on is the structural characterization of the C-terminus of the endothelin A (ETA) receptor in solution. We demonstate the expression and characterization of a peptide of the C-terminus of ETA, and the development of a revised structural model determined by NMR and molecular dynamics.
Christopher Audu, MD (Geisel School of Medicine), PhD 2014
Resident, Integrated Vascular Surgery, University of Michigan
Post Doc in Medicinal Chemistry and Immunology
Follow Chris at: @ChrisAuduMD
Author with Bingqian Guo of "The Silverwares: Spinky gets his wishes"
Walter Russ, MS
LSC - LifeSciences Consultants, Senior Associate
Genentech, Market Analysis and Strategy, formerly: Operations Manager
Nashville Biosciences, Business Development Intern
Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management, Master Of Business Administration and Management
Gabriel Gaidos, PhD
Professor of Biology, Florida Southwestern State College
Chamila Rupasinghe, PhD
Progressive Diagnostics LLC
Achani Yatawara, PhD
Technical Supervisor at Progressive Diagnostics