Author

CSB Spotlight: Prashant Singh, Iverson Lab

May. 30, 2025—Prashant Singh, is a Senior Research Associate in the Iverson Lab. He’s getting used to the spotlight from his recent appearance on the YouTube channel SmarterEveryDay. However, he’s still the down-to-earth Prash, as he’s known to his friends and family, who is always ready to respond to the “call of duty.” Meet Prash … What is...

Redefining synaptic architecture: nanoblocks as key organizing units in the postsynaptic density

May. 9, 2025—Cellular function relies on the nanoscale organization of molecular components. Pre-synaptic, post-synaptic and cell adhesion proteins within the synapse are carefully organized in nanostructures to facilitate the transmission of information between neurons, a process which is essential for synaptic plasticity, learning and memory formation. However, the precise structural arrangement of synapses is largely unknown due...

CSB Research Spotlight: Wankowicz Lab – How protein movement influences function

Apr. 28, 2025—Understanding how proteins get from point A to point B is top of mind for Stephanie Wankowicz, assistant professor of molecular physiology and biophysics. The Wankowicz lab conducts research on how entropy, a measure of the tendency toward disorder or randomness within a system, shifts when a protein binds to a drug or another protein....

CSB Spotlight: Katherine Stefanski, Sanders Lab

Apr. 25, 2025—Sanders Lab Postdoc Katherine Stefanski’s lab motto might be “a place for everything and everything in its place.” Outside the lab she likes to wreak a bit of havoc in Smashville! That is, when it doesn’t get in the way of a good book. Meet Katherine … What is the focus of your research? I...

From activation to repression: decoding the impact of PPARγ ligands on ligand-binding domain conformation

Apr. 11, 2025—Nuclear receptors (NRs) are a group of transcription factors that control gene expression in response to endogenous metabolites and synthetic ligands. Ligands bind the C-terminal ligand-binding domain (LBD) of NRs which is widely believed to alternate between transcriptionally active and repressive states and be stabilized upon ligand binding. Various X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy studies...

CSB Spotlight: Areetha D’Souza, Chazin Lab

Mar. 21, 2025—Areetha D’Souza is a research instructor in the Department of Biochemistry and the Chazin Lab. With a diverse scientific background centering on NMR and cryo-EM, she still has time for the finer things in life—especially tacos! Meet Areetha … What is the focus of your research? I’m currently studying nucleotide excision repair (NER). NER is...

CSB Research Spotlight: X-ray Crystallography – Paving the way for ‘hypoallergen’ treatments against peanut allergies

Mar. 7, 2025—Ben Spiller, associate professor of pharmacology, and collaborators recently published two papers that dig into how peanut allergies are provoked and providing support for the use of a potential treatment option: hypoallergens. Both papers were published in February in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Read more about how the IgE antibodies’ structural, immunological...

CSB Research Spotlight: Sanders Lab – New mechanisms that cause irregular heartbeat

Mar. 3, 2025—In a recent collaboration with researchers at Northwestern University, newly-minted PhD Kathryn Butcher (Brewer) and Professor of Biochemistry and Vice Dean of Basic Sciences Chuck Sanders found that, for people with long QT syndrome, a heart condition that causes an irregular heartbeat, a more tailored approach to treatment could be more beneficial than the usual...

Greater than the sum of its parts: the role of VARP-SNX27 binding in endosomal “supercomplex” formation

Feb. 14, 2025—In cells, multi-subunit coat protein complexes are responsible for coordinating the transport of transmembrane proteins and lipid cargo between membranes. At the endosome, cargo trafficking is mediated by retromer, a heterotrimer composed of VPS26, VPS29, and VPS35. Retromer serves as a “master regulator”, recruiting machinery to help deform the membrane and sort cargo into vesicles...

CSB Student Profile: Clay Tydings

Feb. 7, 2025—Teamwork makes the dream work! Clay Tydings, of the Walker and Meiler Labs, thinks collaboration is key to not only furthering his scientific endeavors but also for achieving a personal goal. Meet Clay … What is the focus of your research and what tools/techniques do you use? I work on developing methods for modeling peptides...

« Previous Page