 |
| Principal
Investigator |
| nbsp; |
| |
| Brian K . Kay,
Ph.D. |
| Professor
& Head |
| bkay@uic.edu |
| |
| ....Brian
is currently Professor and Head of the Department
of Biological Sciences at UIC. He received
his undergraduate and graduate training
at the University of Chicago and Yale University,
respectively, and then did post-doctoral
training at NIH. Prior to arriving at UIC
in 2007, he was an Assistant and Associate
Professor at UNC-CH, Professor at University
of Wisconsin-Madison, and Staff Scientist
at Argonne National Laboratory. His hobbies
are running, crossword puzzles, desktop
publishing, digital photography, and pestering
his lab group. |
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| Lab
Members (in
alphabetical order by last
name) |
|
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| Zengping
Hao |
| Visiting
Research Specialist |
| zphao@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....Zengping
joined the lab in
spring 2006. Her
research focuses
on isolating high-affinity
and selective reagents
by phage-display
and expressing the
soluble forms of
the affinity reagents.
Currently, she is
isolating the antibodies
of zebrafish proteins
and expressing them
in E.Coli and yeast
vectors for use
by the broader research
community. Previously,
she has worked to
construct the genome
libraries at Integrated
Genomics Inc. She
has also constructed
recombinant Adenovirus
vectors at several
laboratories including:
Dr. Primal de Lanerolle's
lab at the University
of Illinois at Chicago,
Dr. Hazel Lum's
lab at the Rush-Presbyterian-St.
Luke's Medical Center
and Dr. Jeffrey
M. Leiden's lab
at the University
of Chicago. |
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| Renhua
Huang, Ph.D Student |
| renhuahuang@yahoo.com |
| |
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|
.....Renhua
studied biochemistry
and molecular genetics
during his undergraduate
years in Guangxi
University, China.
Then he went to
Loyola University
Chicago to study
developmental neurobiology
as a M.S. student.
He is interested
in how molecules
interact and how
principles of physics
and chemistry can
be applied to this
interaction to elucidate
the complexity of
cellular signaling
networks. Currently
he is working to
build molecular
biosensors that
monitor the activation
of protein kinases
in living cells.
|
|
|
|
|
| Nanthanit
Jaruseranee, Ph.D
Student |
| mnanth@hotmail.com |
| |
|
|
.....Nanthanit,
better known as
“M”, is
a Ph.D student in
the biotechnology
program at Suranaree
University of Technology
in Thailand. She
has received a scholarship
from the Development
and Promotion of
Science and Technology
Talent Project which
is supported by
the Ministry of
Science and Technology.
This scholarship
gave her the opportunity
to come to UIC and
work in the Kay
lab for a year.
She joined the lab
on July 2008. She
is studying the
role of various
molecules on the
surface of bile
duct cancer cells
using phage display
technology. |
|
|
 |
| Michael
Kierny, Ph.D Student |
|
mkiern2@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....Mike
graduated from Iowa
State University
in 2006 with a B.A.
in Biology and came
to UIC in the fall
of 2007 to start
a PhD program in
the Laboratory for
Molecular Biology.
As an undergraduate
he conducted research
in the lab of Dr.
Marit Nilsen-Hamilton
where he worked
to characterize
a Bovine acute phase
protein called Uterocalin.
He also was an employee
of the Department
of Energy’s
Ames Research Laboratory
where he worked
on the sub-cloning
of malachite green
DNA Aptamers. After
graduation, he stayed
in Ames and worked
for the laboratory-affiliated
biotech company,
where he set-up
assays to detect
Uterocalin in Bovine
milk. |
|
|
 |
| Adnan
Memic, Ph.D. |
| Postdoctoral
Research Associate |
|
memic@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Adnan started his graduate work at University of Sarajevo, School of Pharmacy before transferring to St. Mary’s College in Michigan where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Chemistry and minor in Biology. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry with emphasis in biochemistry from Wayne State University in Detroit, in the lab of Mark Spaller (currently at Dartmouth). His thesis focused on bioactive molecule discovery, including the design and development of chemical and peptide analog libraries and their application to biochemical and biological problems. Adnan is currently a postdoctoral research associate working on generating novel affinity reagents by means of phage display libraries to be used for construction of neuromodulating nanopartricle platforms (NNPs). These NNPs are meant to interact with ion channels in the retina of the eye, with the goal of modulating channel activity in order to rescue their function, therefore allowing the recovery of vision in individuals affected by macular degeneration. His work is funded by NIH and the National Eye Institute.
|
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|
 |
| John
Pavlovic |
| Visiting
Research Specialist |
|
pavlovic@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
John
completed his B.S. at the
University of Missouri-Columbia
and his M.S. at Drexel University
in Biomedical Engineering.
He spent some time working
in the biotechnology industry
before joining Dr. Kay's
lab in the winter of 2007,
where he utilizes phage
display as a medium for
his research. Among other
things, one of John's research
focuses is the interaction
between antibodies and a
mutated form of the protein
called superoxide dismutase-1
(MTSOD1). MTSOD1 is toxic
to motor neurons and research
indicates MTSOD1 aggregation
may be the cause of amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS),
or Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Another of John's projects
is to discover an antibody
that binds to RhoA, which
is a GTPase involved in
tumorigenesis. John was
a Visiting Researcher for
three months at the University
of Cambridge (Cambridge,
England), where he investigated
protein-protein interactions
using phage display technology.
|
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| Kritika Pershad,
Ph.D. student |
|
kpersh2@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Kritika
got her Masters in Biochemistry from Osmania
University, India. She worked for six
months in Dr. Usha Rani's lab at Indian
Institute of Chemical technology, on "Plant
allelochemicals as botanical pesticides".
After her Masters Kritika worked for a
year as a research associate in the chemistry
division at Hindustan Lever Research center.
Her research focused on sunscreen stabilization
in formulations. She joined the Molecular,
Cellular and Developmental Biology program
in fall 2006.
|
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| Natasha Saiyed,
Undergraduate student |
|
nsaiyed2@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Natasha is a premed student completing her BS in Biological Sciences. She will be attending medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Fall of 2009. As an undergraduate in the Kay Lab, she has been working on expressing and purifying various antibodies into E. coli. Aside from her heavy class load, when she is not bickering with Alex in the lab, Natasha is also a contributing writer for Current magazine.
|
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| Jack Shen, Undergraduate Student |
|
jshen6@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Jack is an undergraduate in Biological Sciences and intends to go to medical school after graduation.
He is working to subclone the anti-His scFv into an alkaline phosphatase fusion vector for general lab use in Western blots and ELISAs.
He is also generating a soluble form of the vector to pull down polyHis-tagged proteins.
|
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| Alex
Smetana, Undergraduate student |
|
asmeta2@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Alex
is completing his B.S. in neuroscience
at the University of Illinois at
Chicago. After graduation, he will
attend the University of Illinois
at Chicago College of Medicine.
As an undergraduate in the Kay Lab,
he works on cloning affinity reagents
for zebrafish proteins into alkaline
phosphatase fusions. He also runs
Enzyme-Linked Binding Assays and
Western blots to verify the specificity
and affinity to their respective
zebrafish target proteins. When
he is not incessantly chatting in
lab, Alex can be found on his bike
training because he thinks he looks
good in spandex.
|
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| Daniel Staren, Undergraduate Student |
|
dstare2@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Daniel is a forth year undergraduate student completing a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Biological Sciences.
Prior to joining the Kay lab, Daniel did clinical research at the Medical University of Ohio Cancer Institute and at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Following graduation, he plans on continuing his graduate studies in Biological Sciences.
Daniel recently started at the Kay lab and is looking forward to beginning his research.
|
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| Sang
Thai |
| Visiting
Research Specialist & Lab Manager |
|
sang@uic.edu |
| |
|
|
.....
Sang graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2003 with a double major in Biological Sciences and Psychology, with a minor in Chemistry. She has returned to academia after spending a few years working in the biotech industry. After graduation, Sang joined Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. working on an assay intended for detection of cervical precancerous and cancerous cells using fluorescent biomarkers. Just before joining the Kay lab in December 2006, she worked at Nanosphere, Inc, a nanotechnology-based company. Sang worked in assay development using gold nanoparticle probes to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms to identify individuals at risk of having or inheriting thrombophilia and took the assay all the way to clinical trials. Because she has become an aunt rather recently, she spends all her free time taking pictures, videotaping, and swooning over her adorable nephews.
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| Veronica
Volgina, Ph.D. |
| Visting
Research Professor |
|
vvolgin2002@yahoo.com |
| |
|
|
.....
Veronica graduated from Russian State Medical University (Moscow, Russia)
and completed her Ph.D. at Institute of BioMedical Chemistry (Moscow,
Russia). For her dissertation she studied DNA-enzymes and hybridoma
technology and had obtained multiple novel monoclonal antibodies. She was
a leader of Hybridoma technology group at Moscow Center for Medical
Genetics in Russia. Veronica continued her research in USA studying
immunoglobulin genes and B cell development in Dr. K. Knight’s lab (Loyola
University Chicago) and in Dr. U. Storb’s lab (University of Chicago).
Main focus of her research is B-cell immunology, immunoglobulin genes and
antibody technology. She joined the lab to pursue her interest in phage
display and antibody engineering.
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