Mentor: Brian Crane
Education:
Ball State University, B.S., 2003
Case Western Reserve University, M.S., 2005
Awards:
Ball State Chemistry Department Summer Internship Award, 2002–2003
Research Experience:
Undergraduate Research Assistant at Ball State University, 2001–2003.
Advisor: Terry L. Kruger
Research Topic: Synthesis and Study of Chromophorically Labeled 18–Crown–6 Ether Interactions with 1° and 2° Ammonium Centers
Graduate Research Assistant at Case Western Reserve University, 2003–2005.
Advisor: Robert G. Salomon
Thesis: Generation of a pIX Human Phage Display Library for Selection of scFv Antibiodies to CEP
Current Research Activities:
Circadian clocks offer the opportunity to understand the relationship between chemical reactivity and behavior. Small perturbations to the molecular components that comprise biological clocks can lead to dramatic changes in response of the organism.
We are currently focused on the use of molecular and biochemical techniques for the expression and structural characterization of two nuclear transcription factors, White Collar–1/2 (WC–1/2) that heterodimerize via Per Arnt Sim (PAS) domains to form the White Collar Complex (WCC) in Neurospora crassa. Reconstitution of a soluble WC–2 and its photoreceptor partner WC–1 in the WCC would allow us to explore the effects of light on the chemical and structural properties of the WCC and help elucidate how the WCC initiates transcription in response to light and how FRQ inhibits this activity. A soluble WCC would also make it possible to determine if cysteine mutations analogous to those found in Vivid affect the oligomeric state and DNA binding of the WCC. Further, additional mutations would allow for investigation of the reaction mechanism of adduct formation, lifetimes and quantum yields of the light–adaptive state and their effect on WCC formation and dynamics.