Current Staff

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: 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, 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, 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.