Lab Members

Professor, Department of Pathology and Immunology

Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics

Education

• BS, Chemical Engineering: University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (1986)
• PhD, Biochemistry: University of California, La Jolla, CA (1993)
• PostDoc, Molecular Biophysics: Columbia University, New York City, NY (1994-98)
• PostDoc, Immunology: National Jewish Center, Denver CO (1994-98)

Education/Training Program Affiliations

• Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology program
• Immunology program
• Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis program

Research Summary

Investigating mechanisms of host immunity and viral evasion.

Education

• BS, Chemical Engineering: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI (1985)
• PhD, Immunology & Molecular Biology: Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1994)
• PostDoc, Pathology & Immunology: Washington University, St. Louis, MO (1994-1998)

Awards

• Spencer T. Olin Award (1994)

Research

Several poxvirus immune evasion proteins make use of a conserved β-sandwich-domain that we propose calling a “PIE scaffold”. PIE domain-containing proteins are abundant among chordopox. We estimate there may be as many as 20 separate PIE families. My current aim is to determine the function of as many PIEs as possible, to understand their role in immune evasion, and by x-ray crystallography understand how they bind so many disparate ligands.

Education

• BS, Pharmacy: Tianjin University, Tianjin, China (2008)
• PhD: University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China (2013)

Research interests

• Structural basis of antibody-mediated protection of influenza virus
• Structural analysis of natural killer cell receptors and ligands

Education

• BS, Chemical Engineering: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (2012)
• MS, Chemical Engineering: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (2014)
• PhD, Computational and Molecular Biophysics: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO (2019)

Awards

• NSF-GRFP: Honorable Mention (2014)
• WUSTL Center for Biological and Systems Engineering Scholar (2016)
• Monsanto/Bayer Graduate Research Fellowship (2016)
• Needleman Pharmacology Prize (2019)

Research

Utilizing cryoEM, I am working to structurally characterize the ways that antibodies target alphaviruses. This will enhance our mechanistic understanding of infection and improve therapeutic strategies.

Education

• BS, Chemistry: Quincy University, Quincy, IL (1981)
• BS, Biology: Quincy University, Quincy, IL (1981)
• MA, Microbiology: Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL (1983)

Research

I have maintained an in house x-ray source used to collect data, freeze crystals, and teach students the fundamentals of crystallography.  This has been a wonderful addition to my career getting the privilege to come back to the academic environment at this stage in my work life.  It continues to be most stimulating, due to the continued learning (thanks to Dr. Fremont, Dr. Nelson, and the all the students in the Lab), and rewarding, due to the interactions with all the wonderful people at WUSM.

Education

• BS: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (2011)

Education

• BS, Chemistry: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (2014)
  • Minor in Music

Awards

• Student Award from the American Institute of Chemists (2014)
• Carnegie Mellon Senior Leadership Recognition Award (2014)
• Outstanding Poster Award at NIH Postbac Poster Day (2015)

Research

How I’d describe my research in one sentence: Structural characterization of neutralizing Alphavirus antibodies and virus-receptor interactions.

Education

• BS: University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA (2015)

Education

• BS, Biochemistry: Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX (2017)

Awards

• Chancellor’s Student Research Scholar (2017)
• ACS-Dallas/Ft. Worth Outstanding Undergraduate Student (2017)

Research

My work focuses on understanding how accessory proteins from poxviruses and coronaviruses evade the host immune response via biochemical and biophysical techniques, as well as characterizing their structures.

Education

• BS, Chemistry & Mathematics: Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, OK (2016)

Awards

• Fleming Scholarship (Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 2014)
• Outstanding Science Graduate (OBU, 2016)
• Outstanding Mathematics Graduate (OBU, 2016)
• Outstanding Presenter, Postbac Poster Day (NIH, 2017)

Research

I use structural and biophysical techniques to characterize host-virus interactions, including receptor engagement and antibody binding/evasion, with a current focus on SARS-CoV-2.