POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH AT UCSB
In my postdoctoral work at UCSB, I developed and characterized a number of biosensor platforms and analytical tools for the rapid, reagentless detection of DNA, RNA, proteins, and small molecules.
All biosensor platforms utilized biopolymers which undergo binding-induced folding or
binding-induced dynamic changes, immobilized on electrode surfaces. I developed an immunosensor for the detection of anti-HIV-1 antibodies, an RNA sensor, and a cocaine sensor, each of which employed a different signal transduction mechanism. Much of my work involved the development of new protocols to derivatize electrode surface with functional biopolymers, such that the modified electrodes exhibit optimal surface density, target affinity, and stability.
To assist in the interrogation
of our biosensor systems, I developed an analytical method for extracting peak parameters from voltammograms using a combination of second derivative analysis and linear regression, deployed as a Visual C++.NET application.
From 2003 to 2006, I was a
Santa
Barbara Foundation Tri-counties Blood Bank postdoctoral fellow
in the
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
at the University of California, Santa
Barbara. I work with
Prof. Kevin Plaxco and
Prof.
Alan Heeger on the development of electrochemical biosensors.
By comparing spectra of protein thin films to those of proteins in aqueous solution, changes in protein structure upon immobilization were assessed. My research focused primarily on an adhesive protein from the common blue mussel (Mytilus edulis foot protein-1 or Mefp-1) and several related proteins and polypeptides. I investigated cohesive and adhesive properties of protein thin films by measuring the kinetics of removing crosslinked and non-crosslinked films from gold and glass surfaces. Additionally, I developed an improved method to determine protein secondary structure in solutions and thin films (g-factor analysis) from circular dichroism and UV absorbance spectra. This new g-factor technique allows protein secondary structure fractions to be determined with high accuracy and precision without explicit knowledge of sample concentration, pathlength, molecular weight, or amino acid composition. Further studies described solution and thin film studies of Mefp-1 structure and preliminary results from investigations into the secondary structure of cellular and chemically polymerized prion protein. The development of these bioanalytical techniques will allow further studies of proteins and biopolymers before and after surface immobilization.
I attended University of California, Los Angeles
from September, 1996 to
September, 2003. I received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the
Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry
under the guidance of
Prof. Robin L. Garrell.
In my graduate research, I conducted biophysical studies to investigate the structure, dynamics,
and adhesive properties of repetitive proline-rich proteins.
I was a W. M. Keck Research Fellow in the Summer and Fall of 1995, working in the laboratory
of Prof. Graham Palmer, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University. During
my 1995 Fellowship studies, I designed singular value decomposition (SVD) software for enzyme transient kinetic analysis.
I was an undergraduate researcher in the Fall of 1994 and Spring of 1995 in the laboratory
of Prof. Ron Parry, Department of Chemistry, Rice University. During my stay in the Parry lab, I synthesized and characterized metabolic precursors of the antiviral compound
sinefungin.
I attended
Rice University, in Houston, Texas, from August, 1992 to
May, 1996. I graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry (cum laude) on May 11, 1996. While a
student at Rice, I participated in undergraduate research in two laboratories.