People

Program: Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Current advisor: Tamara L. Doering, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of California-Berkeley, 2023

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Current advisor: Angela Hirbe, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Benedict College, 2020

Program: Cell Biology & Biochemistry

Graduation Year: 1992

Thesis Advisor: Athanasios A. Theologis

Thesis Title: Molecular Aspects of Plant Hormone Action

Program: Human and Statistical Genetics

Graduation Year: 2016

Thesis Advisor: Cristina Strong

Thesis Title: The Role of Epidermal Enhancer 923 in the Chromatin Architecture and Transcriptional Regulation of the Epidermal Differentiation Complex

Program: Computational and Systems Biology

Current advisor: Eva-Maria Strauch, PhD

Undergraduate university: Carnegie Mellon University

Program affiliation
Cancer Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Immunology

Research summary
Mechanisms of dysregulated signaling in blood cancers

Key words
cancer biology, signal transduction, JAK2, leukemia, hematopoiesis, stem cells, mass cytometry, CyTOF, genomics

Program: Biochemistry

Graduation Year: 2017

Thesis Advisor: Jeffrey P. Henderson

Thesis Title: Novel Insights into Yersiniabactin Biosynthesis in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Program: Molecular Cell Biology

Graduation Year: 2013

Thesis Advisor: Timothy A. Graubert

Thesis Title: Allele-Specific Effects of U2AF1 Mutations on Alternative Splicing

Program affiliation
Neurosciences
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Okuno Lab investigates how water molecules interact with protein surfaces and explores the underlying mechanisms of protein folding and aggregation through NMR spectroscopy.

Key words
Biophysics, NMR, solvent, protein hydration, aggregation, reverse micelles

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Graduation Year: 2010

Thesis Advisor: Jeffrey M. Arbeit

Thesis Title: Determination of HIF-1-induced targets that regulate adult neovascularization