People in the lab

Principle Investigator

Rebecca Page: Associate Professor of Biology, Deparment of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry

Current Lab Members

Post-docs

Rakhi Bajaj: Post-doctoral scientist (PhD, Goettingen University). Rakhi, an NMR spectroscopist and experienced protein chemist, will using NMR and X-ray crystallography to further unravel the PP1 regulatory protein interaction code, with a focus on nuclear regulatory proteins.

Nicolas Bland: Senior post-doctoral scientist (PhD, University of Leeds; visiting from MBL). Nick is an enzymologist with extensive experience in drug development. He is combining X-ray crystallography and enzymatic studies to develop more potent, effective treatments for malaria.

Meng Choy: Senior post-doctoral scientist (PhD, National University of Singapore; joint post-doc with Dr. Wolfgang Peti). Meng, an expert cell biologist, is now using a battery of biophycial studies to elucidate the molecular basis of PP1-mediated regulation of protein translation adn disease

Dana LordDana Lord: Post-doctoral scientist, PhD, Brown University, 2014 : Dana studies the structures and functions of proteins important for biofilm formation using NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. During the course of her studies, she discovered a novel TA system, the Type V TA system.

Undergraduate Students

Greyson Lewis: Brown University, class of '14, Applied Mathematics concertrator.: Greyson combines bioinformatics and biochemical studies to understand how nuclear regulators of PP1 direct its activity in the cell. Greyson's current research focus is to understand how PP1 is regulated in the nucleus using biochemistry and biophysics.

Robin Rolander: Brown University, class of '14.: Robin is using biochemistry and structural biology to understand how PP1 activity is regulated during the cell cycle. She has been awarded a 2014 UTRA fellowship for her research.

Research Technicians

Emily Chen: Brandies University, class of '13.: Emily is using NMR and X-ray crystallography to study proteins important in the immune system and their interaction with novel inhibitors and drugs. She is also working with Dana and carrying out studies on TA systems in bacteria.

Alumni

Post-docs and Graduate Students

Katja Betz, PhD: Post-doctoral Fellow Currently conducting biomedical research in Europe.

Dana Francis, PhD: Graduate Student, awarded PhD in 2013: Dana studied the regulation of MAP kinases by upstream kinases and downstream phosphatases using x-ray crystallography, NMR and SAXS. She is now a medical writer.

Dorothy Koveal, PhD: Graduate Student, awarded PhD in 2013: Dorothy now holds the Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Breann Brown, PhD: Graduate Student, awarded PhD in 2012, for which she received the 2012 Joukowky Outstanding Dissertation Prize. Currently a post-doc with Dr. Tania Baker, MIT and the recipient of a prestigious Jane Coffin Childs post-doctoral fellowship.

David Critton, PhD: Graduate Student, awarded PhD in 2010: After completing his PhD, David had a two-year industrial post-doc at Pfizer, Groton, CT. In July 2012, he joined Bristol Myers Squibb as a Research Scientist.

Igor Nederlof, PhD: Masters Student Research Fellow, 2007: Graduated with honors. Currently a post-doc in the group of Jan Pieter Abrahams in the Biophysical Structural Chemistry department at the University of Leiden, Belgium.

Technicians

Antoni Tortajada: Senior Research Associate and Lab Manager : Expertise is protein expression, purification, enzyme and biophysical assay, crystallization, among many others. He currently holds a senior reseach position at St. Andrews University, Scotland.

Jennifer Arruda ('07-'12): Undergraduate and Research Assistant, RIC and NSF-EPSCoR fellow: Expertise in molecular biology, protein expression and protein purification. Currently a Research Scientist at Dow Chemical Company.

Undergraduates

Kevin Zheng ('11-'12): Undergraduate from Brown University; Senior honors thesis awarded in 2012, which received the Leallyn B. Clapp Prize for the oustanding thesis in biochemistry. Applying to medical school.

Alexander Haley ('11): Undergraduate from the University of Arizona. Structure of phosphatase:inhibitor complexes.

Austin Wood ('11): Undergraduate from Westminster College, Utah and EPSCoR summer undergraduate fellow. Purification and crystallization of MAPK regulatory proteins.

Christie Ciarlo ('08-'09): Undergraduate from Brown University, Senior honors thesis awarded in 2010. Currently a graduate strudent at Harvard University.

Anthony Dutra ('10): Undergraduate from CCRI and EPSCoR summer undergraduate fellow.

Melody Lopez ('09): Undergraduate Summer Intern, The Leadership Alliance (2009).

Ojus Doshi ('06-'08): Undergraduate from Brown University; Senior honors thesis student awarded in 2008. Currently a graphic design artist at a start-up company in San Fransisco.

Geoffrey Stetson ('06-'07):Undergraduate from Brown University; Senior honors thesis student awarded in 2007. Currently doing his residency after attending medical school at The Ohio State Univesity.

Michael Hadley ('05-'06):Undergraduate from Brown University; Senior honors thesis student awarded in 2006 and the 2007 recipient of the Maria L Caleel Memorial Prize for Academic Excellence: Currently in Harvard University Medical School.

Fun Stuff

Photos: Joint Lab Party

Undergraduate Poster Sessions:Michael's honors senior thesis poster presented at the Undergraduate Honors Poster Session, April 20, 2006 Ojus's UTRA poster presented at the UTRA Poster Session, August, 2006 Geoff's Honors Senior Thesis poster presented at at the Undergraduate Honors Poster Session, April 18, 2007.