Spring 2025 Defenses

We are excited to announce that several of our dedicated students will be presenting their doctoral and master’s thesis defenses this month, showcasing their hard work and groundbreaking research. Please join in us congratulating them!

Doctoral Defenses

Feb. 27th – 1pm

Kimberly Paulsen

Molecular Hide and Seek: KSHV miRNAs Target STING to Evade Host Immunity

Kimberly Paulsen

Mar. 7th – 1pm

Mario Chang

Investigating Cancer Metabolism and Therapeutic Efficacy with Stable Isotope Tracer Methods

Mario Chang

Mar. 14th – 2pm

Nicholas Hiers

The Life and Death of Animal microRNAs

Nicholas Hiers

Master’s Thesis Defenses

Feb. 25th – 9:30am

Catherine McKenzie

Adeno-Associated Virus-Mediated Delivery of Inflammatory Cell Death Executioners for Cancer Therapy

Catherine McKenzie

Feb. 25th – 3pm

Renbin Liu

INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF YAP ACTIVATION IN POLYPLOID GIANT CANCER CELLS FORMATION

Renbin Liu

Feb. 26th – 1pm

Pranit Manohar

Regulation of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase via Tyrosine Phosphorylation mediates Mitochondrial Metabolism and Cancer Progression

Pranit Manohar

Feb. 26th – 2:15pm

Wenxin Hu

Phosphorylation Regulation in GSDMD of Pyroptosis

Wenxin Hu

Feb. 28th – 9:30am

Sunfeel Akaphan

Molecular Mechanisms and Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Translation Fidelity in Mammals

Sunfeel Akaphan

Feb. 28th – 3pm

Alexander Pearce

Investigating the roles of Type 1 Diabetes genetic risk loci CTLA4 and BACH2 in modulation of regulatory and effector T cell function

Alexander Pearce

Mar. 3rd – 11am

Junlin Wang

USING PROBIOTIC LACTOBACILLUS CASEI 393 TO EXPRESS THE TUMOR-RELATED GENE P53 FOR CANCER VACCINATION

Junlin Wang

Mar. 3rd – 3pm

Erick Castro

Impact of Cancer Associated Pol Beta Variants on Base Excision Repair Coordination

Erick Castrog

Mar. 4th – 1pm

Mustafa Kalaycioglu

Biochemical, structural, and single-molecule characterization of DNA ligase 1 active site residues demonstrate role of F635 and F872 for faithful ligation

Mustafa Kalaycioglu

Mar. 5th – 11am

Leonardo Perez

CATCH mediated delivery of synthetic zinc finger proteins to JURKAT cells

Leonardo Perez

Mar. 6th – 2pm

Jacob Ratcliffe

CHARACTERIZATION OF NICK BINDING AND SEALING BY DNA LIGASE 1 HUNTINGTONS DISEASE VARIANT K845N AT THE BIOCHEMICAL, STRUCTURAL, AND SINGLE-MOLECULE LEVELS

Jacob Ratcliffe