People

Michelle E. McCully, PhD

Associate Professor, Biology

IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Francisco

PhD, Biomolecular Structure & Design, University of Washington

BS, Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis

Shayna Fallin

Biology 2025 | Minor: Musical Theater

My research is an investigation of the thermostability and function of engineered proteins produced through machine learning. After successfully expressing and purifying the proteins generated by Neural Optimization for Melting-temperature Enabled by Leveraging Translation (NOMELT), I will assess their thermostability and function using Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays and Circular Dichroism.  

Neel Mukkavilli

Bioengineering 2024

My research focuses on understanding how designed proteins are able to achieve thermostability. I will be looking at molecular dynamics simulations of chimeras and designed proteins of EnHD and UVF which are modeled in AlphaFold2. 

Karishma Nijjar

Neuroscience 2025 | Minor:  Philosophy

My work will be computational research, specifically on EnHD, UVF, and their chimeras. Using a number of modeling softwares, namely Modeller and RoseTTAFold, I will model the 3D structures of these proteins and focus on generating more reliable structures for the chimeras, while maintaining the thermostability and binding affinity with DNA. 

Sam Perez

Public Health 2025 | Minor:  Chemistry

My research looks at the correlation between the structure and function of designed proteins, specifically looking at the relationship between protein cores and/or surfaces with that of resulting entropic or enthalpic properties. I will express and purify multiple chimeras of EnHD and UVF for further analysis through circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, T-melt assays, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs).