Jessica Hobson successfully defended her dissertation titled “Urzymes – Minimal Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases: Addressing Their Catalytic Authenticity and Technical Challenges to Utilization” on March 21st, 2022, under the direction of Dr. Charles Carter, Jr.
Jessica received her B.S. in Biology and minor in Chemistry from Towson University in 2012. While an undergraduate at Towson University, Jessica was a research participant of the 2011 Baltimore iGEM Team. She also conducted undergraduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Hemm, where she co-authored two papers.
In 2015, Jessica received her M.Sc. in Biology from Towson University under the direction of Dr. Matthew Hemm and her thesis resulted in a first-author publication.
Jessica started at UNC in 2015 and subsequently joined the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department. Her graduate research in Dr. Carter’s group focused on the molecular origin of life. The Carter lab utilizes synthetic minimal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, Urzymes, to investigate the co-evolution of the genetic code and codon-dependent protein translation.
While at UNC, Jessica mentored three undergraduate students and the East Chapel Hill iGEM team. In addition, she served as the laboratory manager and safety supervisor for the Carter lab. Jessica presented her research at both regional and international conferences and was awarded multiple accolades for her presentations.
Jessica is joining the laboratory of Dr. Robin Stanley at the NIEHS to complete a postdoctoral fellowship utilizing cryoEM and biochemical techniques to investigate protein-RNA interactions.
Publication “A Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase Urzyme: Authenticity of tRNA Synthetase Catalytic Activities and Promiscuous Phosphorylation of Leucyl-5’AMP” JJ Hobson (April 2022)