People

Program affiliation
Human and Statistical Genetics
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science

Research summary
Genetic studies of alcoholism, smoking and drug dependence, depression, suicidality and anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and methodological research in genetic epidemiology

Key words
substance abuse, development, modeling, psychiatry, quantitative genetics

Program: Plant Biology

Graduation Year: 1991

Thesis Advisor: Tuan-Hua D. Ho

Thesis Title: "Regulation of Gene Expression During Barley Seed Germination"

Program: Evolutionary and Population Biology

Graduation Year: 1999

Thesis Advisor: Peter (P. Mick) M. Richardson

Thesis Title: "Phylogenetic Studies of the Neotropical Species of Salacia L. (Hippocrateaceae) and Its Relatives"

Program: Evolutionary and Population Biology

Graduation Year: 1995

Thesis Advisor: Alan R. Templeton

Thesis Title: Speciation and Morphological Evolution in Cave Spiders (Araneae: Nesticidae: Nesticus)

Program affiliation
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Utilization of nucleic acid molecular recognition and self-assembly to generate functional architectures for biosensing and bioimaging

Key words
Chemical Biology, Molecular Recognition, Biomolecular Assembly, Nucleic Acids, Biosensors, Cellular Imaging, RNA Editing, Biomaterials

Program: Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Graduation Year: 2023

Thesis Advisor: Jeffrey P. Henderson

Thesis Title: "Function and regulation of virulence-associated siderophores in uropathogenic Enterobacterales"

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
My research centers on defining how the dynamic conformational landscape of drug targets governs ligand binding, selectivity, and downstream signaling. Using integrated approaches—including molecular dynamics simulations, pharmacophore modeling, and virtual screening—I identify and characterize novel modulators for several targts. These studies uncover previously unrecognized binding pockets, reveal mechanisms of ligand-induced activation or inhibition

Key words

Program: Molecular Cell Biology

Graduation Year: 2019

Thesis Advisor: David G. DeNardo

Thesis Title: T cell immunity in pancreatic cancer is undermined due to dendritic cell dysfunction

Program: Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Current advisor: Armando Bravo, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of North Alabama, 2024

Program: Neurosciences

Graduation Year: 2010

Thesis Advisor: Pablo M. Blazquez

Thesis Title: Roles of inhibitory interneurons in cerebellar cortical processing for oculomotor control.