Outcomes Data & Alumni
Trainee Survey Results
What We've Done Well - Tier 1 Trainee Survey Results
| 61% of Tier 1 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "In general, I found the 'What's Hot' presentations to be informative and interesting on a scale of 1 to 5" |
| 89% of Tier 1 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "In general, I found the Alumni presentations to cover a range of topics that were relevant to my career goals and interest on a scale of 1 to 5" |
| 72% of Tier 1 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "My participation in the Tier 1 program helped develop my awareness of the broad range of Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics research across the schools at UPenn" |
| 94% of Tier 1 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "Overall my participation in the Tier 1 program was useful to my graduate training at UPenn" |
| Comments: |
| "The exposure to a wide breadth of potential career options beyond academia was incredibly valuable to my career trajectory." |
| "Hearing alumni tell stories of turning struggles into success gave me the confidence to face some challenges that I experience, especially ones that seem small in comparison to these stories" |
| "Most scientists I know only talk about going into academia or industry post grad, as if these are the only two choices. It was nice to hear about other paths that UPenn graduates have taken and the opportunities at Penn that are available to us now to help set us on track to reach out end goals by the time of graduation." |
What We've Done Well - Tier 2 Trainee Survey Results
| 57% of Tier 2 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "I found the journal club presentations of my cohort to be informative and interesting" on a scale of 1 to 5 |
| 100% of Tier 2 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "I appreciated having the chance to learn more in depth about the research carried out by other trainees and found the Tier 2 presentations a useful format for this" on a scale of 1 to 5 |
| 86% of Tier 2 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "I found preparing the journal club presentation to be useful to my overall training" on a scale of 1 to 5 |
| 100% of Tier 2 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "I found preparing the research presentation to be useful to my overall training" on a scale of 1 to 5 |
| 100% of Tier 2 Trainees rated a 5 or 4 when asked "Overall my participation in the Tier 2 program was useful to my graduate training at UPenn" |
| Comments: |
| "My participation in Tier 2 of the SBMB Training Grant has had a tremendously positive impact on my graduate school experience. I have had the opportunity to network with alumni working in careers I would like to pursue, attended a conference that helped accelerate my research progress, and learned more about the resources I can use for my dissertation project." |
| "Access to a community of peers enabled me to apply many methods beyond those used regularly in our lab, and provided useful feedback and suggestions for my current and future research." |
| "Preparing for my journal club presentation was very useful for me because I was able to really dive deep into the methods-based paper I presented. I learned the specifics of the method and had a thoughtful discussion about the limitations of the method with my fellow trainees." |
Areas to Improve
| "Maybe more forums to present our work? Perhaps with the other TGs?" |
|
Careers/Topics not covered that trainees would like to see include:
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Alumni
2022 Appointees
| Name | Graduate Group | Thesis Advisor | Current Position | Thesis Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elana Baltrusaitus | BBCB | Roberto Dominguez | Senior Scientist, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Structural-functional Characterization of Two Unique MIRO1-TRAK1 Interactions |
| Diane Rafizadeh | CHEM | David Chenoweth | Medical Student, University of Pennsylvania | Collagen Mimetic Peptides: Biophysical Characterization, Structural Analysis, and Biological Application |
| Helen Leclair (Claire) Woodward | BBCB | Nikolaos Sgourakis | Senior Scientist, Merck & Co. | Characterizing the structure and dynamics of adaptive immune proteins to inform immunotherapy design |
2021 Appointees
| Name | Graduate Group | Thesis Advisor | Current Position | Thesis Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katie Copley | NGG | James Shorter | Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University | Developing RNA therapeutics for TDP-43 proteinopathy in ALS/FTD |
| Benjamin Creekmore | BBCB | Yi-Wei Chang & Edward Lee | Medical Student, University of Pennsylvania | Therapeutic targeting of valosin-containing protein and structural characterization of neurodegenerative disease in situ |
| Fred Fregoso | BBCB | Roberto Dominguez | Scientist I, Structural Biology General Proximity | Mechanisms of Arp2/3 complex activation, inhibition, and branch destabilization |
| Sarah Gardner | BBCB | Ronen Marmorstein | Structural Biology Co-op, Kymera Therapeutics | Molecular Characterization of 3β-hydroxy-∆5-C27-steroid Oxidoreductase and Discovery of Novel Inhibitors for Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma |
| Adriana Santiago-Ruiz | BBCB | Melike Lakadamyali | Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania | Super-Resolution Imaging of Alzheimer's Disease Tau Aggregates |
| Neha Srikumar | BBCB | David Issadore and Ben Garcia | Development of a Microfluidic Mixing-Electrospray Platform for Microsecond Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry |
2020 Appointees
| Name | Graduate Group | Thesis Advisor | Current Position | Thesis Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pamela Gallo | BBCB | Vera Moiseenkova-Bell | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Biochemistry Weill Cornell Medicine | TRPV2 Ion Channel Dynamic Proximity Proteome Reveals Functional Links of Calcium Flux With Cellular Adhesion |
| Chloe Jones | BBCB | E. James Petersson | Investigator, GlaxoSmithKline | Towards the Development of Intrinsically Fluorescent Unnatural Amino Acids for In Vivo Incorporation into Proteins |
| Chris Ostaszewski | CHEM | Jeffrey Saven | De Novo Design of Heterotetrameric Coiled-Coils | |
| Michael Owens | BBCB | Kathy Liu | Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University | DEAD-boxes tell new tales: functional differences between sexually dimorphic RNA helicases DDX3X and DDX3Y and their implications in sex-biased health and disease |
| Samantha Sustek | BBCB | Paul Lieberman | Structural Studies of EBNA1 and Host Telomere Protection Proteins at the Epstein-Barr Virus Origin of Latent Replication | |
| Hau Truong | BBCB | Nik Sgourakis | Associate Scientist, Janssen Research & Development, LLC | To investigate the global domain motions of class I major histocompatibility complex using nuclear magnetic resonance |
| Amber Yanas | BBCB | Kathy (Fange) Liu | Scientist, Johnson and Johnson | Unveiling the Biophysical Choreography of DDX3X and DDX3Y in Enzymatic Clusters |
2019 Appointees
| Name | Graduate Group | Thesis Advisor | Current Position | Thesis Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faviolla Baez-Cruz | BMB | Mike Ostap | Postdoctoral Research Scientist, University of Pennsylvania | Drosophila Class-I myosins that can impact Left-Right asymmetry have distinct ATPase kinetics |
| Edwin Carl Fluck | BMB |
Vera Moiseenkova-Bell |
Cryo-EM Core Facility Manager, Weill Cornell Medical College | Structural Studies of TRPV5 Modulation |
| Julian Stoute | BMB | Kathy (Fange) Liu |
Scientist, Strand Therapeutics |
Nucleo-loss: Characterization of Ribosome Biogenesis Factor DIMT1 |
| Mary Szurgot | BMB | Ronen Marmorstein | Law Student, Georgetown University Law Center | Molecular insights into histone deposition by the HIRA complex |
Selected Trainees from Earlier Phases of our T32-Supported Program (pre-2019)
| Name | Current Position |
|---|---|
| Ismail Ahmed |
Assistant Professor, University of Utah |
| Joshua Allen | Chief Technology Officer, Chimerix Inc. |
| Stephen Artim | Director, Merck & Co. |
| Yawen Bai | Senior Investigator, National Institute of Health |
| Gretchen Bender | Director, Merck & Co. |
| Nicholas Bessman | Assistant Professor, Rutgers University |
| Abani Bhuyan | Senior Professor, University of Hyderabad |
| Christopher Bialas | Director, Incyte Pharmaceuticals |
| Scott Bresler | Associate Professor, Michigan Medicine |
| Geoffrey Chang | Professor, University of California San Diego |
| Enn-Ling Chen | Assistant Professor, Duke University |
| John Choi | Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| Gregory Connelly | Senior Director, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc |
| Rachelle Crescenzi | Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University |
| Jennifer Dashnau | Vice President, Century Therapeutics LLC |
| Jamaine David | Assistant Professor, Meharry Medical College |
| Jamie Denizio | Associate Director, Verve Therapeutics |
| Morgan Desantis | Assistant Professor, University of Michigan |
| Olivia Dickens | Scientist I, MilliporeSigma |
| Huangen Ding | Professor, Louisiana State University |
| Umamaheswar Duvvuri | Professor and Chair, NYU Langone Medical Center |
| Dawn Eastmond | Senior Director, Scripps Research Institute |
| Tammer Farid | Vice President, Head of Genomics Access, Illumina |
| Yiqing Feng | Vice President, Eli Lilly and Company |
| Maria Fernandez-Seara | Professor, University of Navarra |
| Kendra Frederick | Assistant Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas |
| Kelly Gallagher | Associate Professor, SUNY Oneonta |
| Helena Gaweska | Director, Pfizer |
| Kathleen Giangiacomo | Associate Professor, Temple University |
| Bryan Gibb | Associate Professor, New York Institute of Technology |
| Daniel Gray | Associate Professor, University of Rochester |
| Marilyn Gunner | Professor, City College of New York |
| Feng Guo | Professor, University of California Los Angeles |
| Lucie Guo | Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania |
| Kyle (Kai) Harpole | Director, GlaxoSmithKline |
| Steve Huang | Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University |
| Peter Huwe | Associate Professor, Belmont University |
| Farouc Jaffer | Associate Professor, Harvard University |
| Mei-Fen Jeng | Professor, National Taiwan Normal University |
| Joseph Jez | Spencer T. Olin Professor/Chair, Washington University in St. Louis |
| Vignesh Kasinath | Assistant Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder |
| Megan King | Associate Professor, Yale University |
| Daryl Klein | Associate Professor, Yale University School of Medicine |
| Farhad Kosari | Associate Professor, Mayo Clinic, Cancer Center |
| Enrique Lin Shiao | Principal/Head of Search and Evaluation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation |
| Chia-Shang (Jason) Liu | Assistant Professor, Keck School of Medicine |
| Glennis Logsdon | Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine |
| Robert Magin | Associate Scientific Director, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research |
| Tomoyasu Mani | Associate Professor, University of Connecticut |
| Renee Martin | Director, AMGEN |
| Nicole Martinez-Gonzalez | Assistant Professor, Stanford University |
| Eric Mellon | Associate Professor, University of Miami |
| Charlie Mo | Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin Madison |
| Mohita Mohan | Senior Director, Pfizer |
| David Moore | Associate Professor, Yale University of Medicine |
| Veronica Moorman | Associate Professor, Elmira College |
| Stephanie Murphy | Director, National Institutes of Health |
| Jeffrey Myers | Professor, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| Nathaniel Nucci | Associate Professor, Rowan University |
| Evan O'Brien | Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University |
| Karyn O'Neil | Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Aro Biotherapeutics |
| Nisha Palackal | Senior Director, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. |
| Denis Patrick | Vice President, Pfizer |
| George (Scott) Pesiridis | Scientific Director & GSK Fellow, GlaxoSmithKline |
| Heather Pinkett | Associate Professor, Northwestern University |
| Fraydoon Rastinejad | Professor, University of Oxford |
| Kevan Salimian | Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Vijay Sankaran | Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School |
| Kathryn Sarachan | Associate Professor, Wilson College |
| Michael Sauder | Executive Director, Eli Lilly |
| Karl Schmitz | Assistant Professor, University of Delaware |
| Harry Schroeder | Assistant Professor, Emory University |
| Zuhang Sheng | Principal Investigator and Chief, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) |
| Julia Shifman | Principal Investigator, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Carol Shultz | Director, Merck & Co. |
| Carrie Sims | Chief of Trauma, Critical Care and Burn; Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center |
| Christopher Skipwith | Chief Science Officer, Astek Diagnostics |
| Joanna Slusky | Associate Professor, University of Kansas Main Campus |
| Evan Smoak | Vice President, Creative Director; Digitas Health LifeBrands |
| Lee Solomon | Assistant Professor, George Mason University |
| Richard Steinman | Associate Dean, University of Pittsburgh |
| Christopher Summa | Associate Professor, University of New Orleans |
| Elizabeth Sweeny | Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin |
| Lawrence Szewczuk | Scientific Director, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. |
| Change Tan | Associate Professor, University of Missouri Columbia |
| Raymond Trievel | Associate Professor, University of Michigan |
| Francesco Vanzi | Associate Professor, University of Florence |
| Glenn Walter | Professor, University of Florida |
| Kurt Warncke | Professor, Emory University |
| Carl Weitzmann | Deputy Director, Sanofi Pasteur |
| John Welsh | Chief Executive Officer, OsciFlex LLC |
| Walter Witschey | Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania |
| Jeongsik Yong | Associate Professor, University of Minnesota |
| Peng Yuan | Associate Professor, Washington University in St. Louis |
| Hui Zhang | Professor, Johns Hopkins University |
| Jinsong Zhang | Associate Professor, Saint Louis University |
Currently In Training
| Trainee | Faculty Member | Topic of Research | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Bailer | Rahul Kohli | Combine the principles of the PAGE system with structural knowledge of the DNA-binding proteins to develop the first reported fully-protein-based HDR gene editing system | In Training |
| Alan Boka | Mustafa Mir | Biophysical modeling of transcription factor diffusion and the spatiotemporal regulation of transcriptional kinetics during eukaryotic embryogensis | In Training |
| Mark Bray | Gregory Bowman | Developing peptide inhibitors to treat Ebola by combining computational protein design and experimental biophysical methods | In Training |
| Raymond Carter | Gerd Blobel & Mustafa Mir | Provide a quantitative understanding of transcription factor specificity using a combination of single-molecule tracking, genomics, and genetic perturbations | In Training |
| Joseph Flores | Dirk Trauner | Developing photoswitchable PROTACS designed to selectively engage POIs fused with a unique degron tag | In Training |
| Samuel Garfinkle | Daniel Kulp | Novel methods for structure and machine-learning driven antigen design and vaccine development, applicable to HIV, EBV, and other viral pathogens | In Training |
| Polina Holubovska | Elizabeth Rhoades | To identify the interactome of tau and determine how individual binding partners impact tau function | In Training |
| Adam Jabak | Yale Goldman | Protein synthesis dynamics by ensemble and single molecule experiments | In Training |
| Devin Kelly | Gregory Bowman | Capturing co-crystal structures of small molecules that bind to cryptic pocket in Ebola VP35 | In Training |
| Hannah Kim | Melike Lakadamyali | Examining chromatin organization and transcriptional activity in chondrocyte dedifferentiation | In Training |
| Grace Liu | Lukasz Bugaj | Developing a heat-induced protein secretion module that enables the controlled release of a wide range of therapeutic proteins with spatiotemporal precision | In Training |
| Elie Mer | Ben Black | Temporal and spatial architecture of the human centromere | In Training |
| Paola Miranda Castrodad | Elizabeth Rhoades | Elucidating the effects of site-specific phosphorylation on the native function of alpha-synuclein (αS) | In Training |
| Lucas Morley | Yi-Wei Chang | Determining the structure and mechanism of the Rhoptry Secretory Apparatus (RSA) | In Training |
| Andy Nguyen | Kenji Murakami | Dissecting the Molecular Basis of Nucleosome Stabilization to Yeast Rpd3L | In Training |
| Linh Pham | Kenji Murakami | Molecular mechanisms underlying nucleotide excision repair (NER) | In Training |
| Andy Saks | Roberto Dominguez | Characterizing and understanding the molecular mechanism of assembly and disassembly of Arp2/3 complex actin branch junctions by N-WASP and coronin family proteins | In Training |
| Ibrahim Saleh | Elizabeth Rhoades | In Training | |
| Niharika Shukla | Yi-Wei Chang & Joseph St. Geme | The structural and functional characterization of the Kingella kingae type IV pilus-associated PilC adhesins | In Training |
| Yolanda Simpson | Ronen Marmorstein & George Burslem | Characterizing novel small molecule inhibitors and the allosteric basis of the metabolic enzyme ATP-Citrate Lyase (ACLY) | In Training |
| Shahlo Solieva | Daniel Kulp | Combining bioinformatics, deep learning structure prediction, and molecular dynamics simulations to accelerate HIV vaccine design by identifying potential bnAb precursors within the human antibody | In Training |