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Students

Molecular Biophysics Training Program Appointees 
(2026-2027)

 

Kristen (Nikki) Amarillo

Christensen Lab, 2nd year IBiS student

Investigating the Effect of Dynactin Composition on its Diverse Cellular Roles

Nikki is studying how dynactin, an essential multi-subunit cofactor for the motor protein dynein, affects microtubule dynamics.



Jackson Boodry

Shrinivas Lab, 2nd year ChBE student

Developing biophysical models to probe ensemble-derived functions of intrinsically disordered proteins

Jackson works on developing efficient physics-based computational approaches for the design of functional intrinsically disordered proteins.


Michael Vannieuwenhoven

Mondragon Lab, 2nd year IBiS student

Structural and Biophysical Interrogation of Virulence-Regulatory Transcription Factor in S. pneumoniae

Michael is using structural and functional techniques to characterize how virulence is regulated at the transcriptional level in pathogenic bacteria.          Specifically, he's interested in the biophysical basis by which bacterial                                                            capsule  expression is regulated and how cellular and environmental stimuli                                                  lead to physical changes in capsule thickness.

Anika Wilen

George Lab, 2nd year DGP student

Intracellular sodium dynamics and ion translocation kinetics in Na+/K+-ATPase mutant neurons

Anika is interested in the neurophysiological and electrochemical consequences of disease mutations in the Na+/K+-ATPase. She is currently developing new biosensors for sensitive measurement of intracellular ion                                                       concentrations and translocation in vivo.

Yuntong Zou

Lucks Lab, 2nd year IBiS student

Predictive Modeling of Riboswitch Function through integrating biophysical mechanism into machine learning models

Yuntong's research develops predictive models of ZTP riboswitch function by integrating biophysical modeling with machine learning, with the goal of enabling de novo RNA design.