Students

Molecular Biophysics Training Program Appointees 
(2025-2026)

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.

Miranda Flores Escobar

Christensen Lab, 3rd year IBiS student
Functional Role of Aps Proteins on Dynein Activation and Coordinated Nuclear Movement

 Miranda is investigating how the potential dynein adaptors—ApsA, ApsB, and ApsC—activate and regulate multiple dynein motor complexes to drive nuclear transport within Aspergillus nidulans.

 

Irving Francisco

Vafabakhsh Lab, 3rd year IBiS student
Biophysical investigation of the nucleolus assembly

Biophysical studies on the principles governing nucleolus assembly during mitosis.

Karen Gomez

Ziarek Lab, 3rd year DGP student

Biophysical Approaches to Selectively Modulating NTSR1 for Substance Use Disorder

Karen aims to create a framework for engineering pharmacologically distinct GPCR ligands to explore broader mechanisms of allosteric modulation.

 

 Lydia Kenney

Pinkett Lab, 3rd year IBiS student

Investigating the Roles of Accessory Domains as Regulators of Bacterial ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporters Through Biophysical and Structural Characterization

 Lydia is studying the ProU osmoregulatory ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter from Yersinia pestis and its cystathionine-ß-synthase (CBS) regulatory domain using structural biology and biochemistry techniques like cryo-EM, EPR spectroscopy, and transport assays.   

Sarah Keuning

Du Lab, 2nd year IBiS student

Structural and functional investigation of human CALHM2 under native conditions

Sarah is studying the structural and functional characteristics of human calcium homeostasis modulator 2 (CALHM2), a recently identified, extracellular Ca2+-inhibited ion channel implicated in an array of neurological disorders. She is using both cryo-EM and electrophysiology to investigate the role of physiological temperature and the native lipid environment in regulating CALHM2’s function and gating mechanism.

Adun Obisesan

Rocklin Lab, 3rd year IBiS student

Determining design rules for miniproteins with high folding stability and low hydrophobicity

 Adun works on using high-throughput and computational approaches for designing proteins to be highly stable and active across a wide range of conditions.

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.