NIH/NIGMS Chemistry-biology interface predoctoral training program at the university of florida

Emma Ellis received her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Oklahoma Baptist University in Oklahoma during the spring of 2022. She joined Dr. Luesch’s lab at UF’s Medicinal Chemistry Department the following fall to conduct research on drug discovery of specialized metabolites from marine natural products. Her efforts will then include synthesis and biological characterization of the discovered novel compounds to potentially form new pharmaceutics to aid in disease prevention and treatment.

Sebastian Guerra is a Ph.D. student in the Genetics and Genomics Program at the University of Florida Genetics Institute (UFGI). Sebastian earned his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Cell Science with a minor in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Florida in 2022. He joined Dr. Marc Chevrette’s lab in early 2023, where he has focused his research efforts in developing modular, scalable biosensors to better understand what regulates biosynthetic gene cluster expression for streamlined natural product discovery in bacteria.

Elijah received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Florida in the spring of 2021. He joined Dr. Rebecca Butcher’s lab in the following fall, where he primarily focuses on characterizing the biosynthesis of the nemamides
— hybrid polyketide-nonribosomal peptides that promote nematode survival in starvation conditions. In parallel, he is investigating the bioactivity of the euglenatides — nemamide-like natural products recently discovered in the unicellular flagellate algae Euglena gracilis. The most abundant euglenatide, known as euglenatide B, exhibits antiproliferative activity in some cancer cell lines. He is interested in characterizing the mechanism of action of the euglenatides and, by proxy, the nemamides.

Larissa Oriana Silva received her bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Economics from Williams College in 2020.  During this time, Larissa was a Gates Millennium Scholar and trained in several chemistry and biology research labs. She joined Dr. Matthew Eddy’s group in the UF Department of Chemistry in the Fall of 2021.  Currently, she is investigating the dynamic process of GPCR-G protein complex formation, a key step in many cell signaling processes, by leveraging biophysical experiments including NMR spectroscopy.  These experiments will allow Larissa to visualize G protein-receptor recognition and further our understanding of how drugs influence this process. In parallel, she will be studying how small molecules act as allosteric modulators of GPCRs, including with potential Alzheimer’s targets such as purinergic receptor proteins.

Alexis Smith received her bachelor’s degree in Medicinal-Pharmaceutical Chemistry with a minor in Biology from the University of Dayton in 2020. She then joined the Ph.D. program in the medicinal chemistry department at the University of Florida under the mentorship of Dr. Guangrong Zheng.  Her research in the Zheng lab centers on the design and synthesis of novel anticancer drugs through the application of PROTAC technology, expanding current therapies through exploration of new protein targets and optimizing the structure of active compounds for potent degradation.

David Blanco received his Bachelors of Science in Chemistry (2019) and his Masters of Science in Biomedical Sciences (2021) from Florida Atlantic University. After his masters, he entered the UF College of Pharmacy’s Ph.D. program in the Medicinal Chemistry department and began working under Dr. Robert Huigens. His research is primarily focused on the synthesis and development of novel halogenated phenazine analogues for the eradication of bacterial biofilms which current antibiotics are incapable of targeting. Additionally, he is using transcript profiling in combination with select biofilm eradicating small molecule probes to define molecular targets and cellular pathways critical to biofilm viability.

Alsup is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida. In 2019, he earned his B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology, while focusing on marine natural products research. His research in the Rudolf lab is aimed at the discovery of novel bacterial terpenoids and characterization of key biosynthetic machinery responsible for the impressive chemical diversity of the bacterial terpenome.
ADVISOR: Jeffrey Rudolf

Burke graduated in 2020 from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY with a degree in Biological Sciences, concentrating in molecular and cell biology. He joined the Zheng Lab in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry the following fall, exploring chemical synthesis and modifications for anticancer drug candidates and PROTAC technology. His interests lie in application of novel synthetic approaches to medicinal chemistry in a more effective and greener way than traditional chemistry approaches. Matthew was appointed this fall as a new T32 pre-doctoral fellow, and will continue to explore the interface of chemistry and biology during the next few years as a PhD student.
ADVISOR: Guangrong Zheng

Jessica Mamallapalli received her bachelor’s in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry in 2018 from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She joined the Ph.D. program in the medicinal chemistry department at the University of Florida under Dr. Chengguo Xing’s mentoring. She has a great passion for utilizing the Eastern philosophy of medicine—using remedies given to us by nature to be in homeostasis from the inside out — to treat various health conditions. Dr. Xing’s lab studies the effects of kava (Piper methysticum) on various phenotypes in relation to smoking and lung cancer. Her research involves studying kava’s effects on stress and lung cancer and how the two may be intertwined. This entails a multiple-perspective approach including cellular mechanistic studies and bioanalytical applications in clinical studies. The hope is that this will lead to the development of a kava-based psychotropic and chemotherapeutic treatment, a natural alternative addressing both mental and physical health.
ADVISOR: Chengguo Xing

Emma Mulry received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Clemson University in 2019. She joined the Ph.D. program at the University of Florida in chemical biology under Dr. Matthew Eddy’s mentoring the following summer. Her research in the lab focuses on forming protein-polymer conjugates and studying the effects on thermodynamics and protein unfolding pathways. She also studies human G protein-coupled receptors, including histamine receptors.  She is highly motivated and driven by the potential use of stable protein-polymer conjugates and small molecules as therapeutics in anticancer treatments. ADVISOR: Matthew Eddy

Lobna Elsadek received her bachelor’s in pharmacy (2017) from Cairo University in Egypt. In 2018, she joined the Ph.D. program in the medicinal chemistry department at the University of Florida under Dr. Hendrik Luesch’s mentoring. She is highly motivated and fueled by her goal to discover new anticancer and antifungal agents and to understand their mechanism of action at the molecular level.  Her research employs a wide array of mechanistic studies to enable unbiased assessment of cellular targets, which is necessary to mine for novel biology/targets. 
ADVISOR: Hendrik Luesch

Michael Goertzen II received his bachelor’s in Chemistry in 2019 from Wingate University. He joined the Ph.D. program in the medicinal chemistry department at the University of Florida under Dr. Robert Huigens’ mentoring. His research in the Huigens’ lab focuses on developing new ring cleavage and ring fusion methodologies for indole alkaloid natural products to discover novel biologically active hit compounds relevant to human diseases. Since being appointed as a T32 predoctoral fellow, one paper has been published in ACS Omega entitled “Ring Distortion of Vincamine Leads to the Identification of Re-Engineered Antiplasmodial Agents” (ACS Omega 2021, 6 (31), 20455-20470).
ADVISOR: Robert Huigens