Mark Kowalewski successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Mucin degrading glycoside hydrolases in the gut microbiome” on March 31, 2025, under the direction of Dr. Matthew Redinbo.

Dr. Ike Emerson successfully defended his thesis, titled "Post-transcriptional mechanisms regulate cardiac sex differences," on March 28, 2025, under the direction of Dr. Frank Conlon.

Edgar Faison standing outside with arms crossed

Edgar Faison under the direction of Dr. Qi Zhang successfully defended her dissertation on March 20, 2025, and received his PhD! Program: Biochemistry and Biophysics. The title of his dissertation was “Chemical Visualization of Transient Conformational Processes in RNA”

Brandy Curtis under the direction of Dr. Amy Galdfelter successfully defended her dissertation on March 12, 2025 and received her PhD!

Brian Strahl, undergrad Phu N, Abid Khan

Phu Nguyen, an undergrad in the Strahl Lab, has recently added another accolade to his name by winning the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium held at Rice University. His success is a testament to his dedication and the exceptional mentorship provided by Dr. Abid Khan and Dr. Brian Strahl.

four photos in a collage summarized the research poster event

Our poster session featured over 20 of our trainees and was held on the afternoon of Feburary 26, 2025 in the Genetics Medicine Lobby.

Ike Emerson and Dr. Frank Conlon were featured on a podcast about his research published in Circulation Research. Episode 69 of Discover CircRes. The Episode includes a discussion about their recent study, X Chromosome-Linked MicroRNAs Regulate Sex Differences in Cardiac Physiology.

Alejandro Lopezi under the direction of Dr. Leslie Morrow successfully defended his dissertation on January 31, 2025 and received his PhD! Program: Biochemistry and Biophysics The title of his dissertation was “Novel Inhibitory Sites of [3α,5α]3-hydroxypregnan-20-one on Toll-like Receptor 4 Neuroimmune Signaling”

In a new study led by graduate student Ike Emerson in the laboratories of Frank L. Conlon, PhD, professor of biology and genetics, and Bill Marzluff, PhD have recently made a large stride in the field, uncovering one of the molecular reasons behind sex disparities in heart disease.

San Diego Zoo entrance sign with Starbird lab members

The Starbird lab attended the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology that took place December 14-18, 2024, where lab members presented their work. Dr. Starbird presented research at 2 sessions, sitting on 2 panels, and completing activities...

Dalia Fleifel is the recipient of the Diane Harris Leadership Award in the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department for exemplary leadership.

collage of 8 photos from Christmas party with awardees

We held our annual end-of-year holiday party at the Kenan Conference Center. Latasha Mingo MBA introduced our chair, Jean Cook PhD, who shared our growth and successes over the past year. Qi Zhang PhD spoke and then Dr. Silvia Ramos announced awards...

Tag: Student News

Mark Kowalewski earned his PhD!

Ike Emerson earned his PhD!

Congrats to Edgar Faison who earned his PhD!

Congrats to Brandy Curtis who earned her PhD!

Phu Nguyen Receives Outstanding Presentation Award at Prestigious Symposium

Biochemistry and Biophysics department hosts poster session

Ike Emerson was featured on a podcast

Congrats to Alejandro Lopez who earned his PhD!

Researchers pinpoint small molecules that greatly affect differences in heart health in men and women

Starbird lab attends annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology

Dalia Fleifel receives the Dianne Harris Leadership Award

Department announces winners of our BCBP 2024 Excellence Awards