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Seth is an elected member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology and National Academy of Sciences, in addition to being a recipient of the 2022 Aminoff prize in crystallography. He obtained a B.S. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, both in Chemical Engineering. After nine years of postgraduate education in Chemical Engineering, he finally realized he didn't want to be an engineer when he grows up, so he joined the laboratory of Roger Kornberg and tried to learn about transcription. After 35 years, he still hasn't figured it out. Fun fact: he's quite the distinguished classical pianist! |
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Liz obtained her B.A. at Swarthmore College and Ph.D. from the Laboratory of Molecular Pathogenesis at Rockefeller University. She is also an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and dedicates her research efforts towards transcriptional regulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and visualizing SARS-CoV-2 replication-transcription complexes. In addition, she is the recipient of the 2023 Emil von Behring Prize for her work on the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase in complex with the helicase. She is also an avid advocate for social justice, diversity & inclusion, and mentorship. |
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Mira graduated from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology-Molecular Biology and Physiology, Serbia. Her interests lie in antibiotic resistance and transcriptional regulation in Mycobacteria. |
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Wamiah was born and raised in Bangladesh before moving to the US to attend Mount Holyoke College where she majored in Biochemistry. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied an iron-sulfur cluster containing transcription factor in E.coli in the lab of Dr. Tricia Kiley. She is excited to be moving back to the East Coast for her postdoc! During her free time, she enjoys experimenting with cooking and reading thriller/suspense books. |
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Andreas conducted his undergraduate studies at the University of Stuttgart in Germany a concentration in biochemistry. He then moved to the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, for his PhD research on genes of unknown function associated with the bacterial proteasome, where he discovered the major transcriptional regulator of the DNA damage response in mycobacteria - a crucial stage during the early phase of tuberculosis infection. His interest in transcription piqued, leading to his current study in the dynamics and structural mechanisms of bacterial RNA polymerase. |
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Yukti was born and raised in New Delhi, India. She earned her bachelor's degree in biotechnology from Delhi in 2018. She did her PhD in the Sashital Lab at Iowa State University. Her thesis work focused on understanding mechanisms of memory formation in CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems. She used cryo-EM and biochemistry to demonstrate how Cas4-Cas1-Cas2 complex achieves processing and integration of short DNA sequences into a CRISPR array. She is excited to integrate her interest in transcription from her undergraduate days with cryo-EM from graduate school for her postdoc in the Darst-Campbell lab. |
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Barbara was born in the Netherlands and obtained her M.D. at the KU Leuven in Belgium. After 2 years of residency in pediatrics and completing a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences, she moved to the US to do a Ph.D. in microbiology working with Jeremy Rock at the Rockefeller University. She is now an instructor in clinical investigation and is interested in mycobacterial pathogenesis and drug discovery. In addition to unraveling the inner workings of M. tuberculosis, she is passionate about mentoring, catamaran sailing and playing the piano. |
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Josh attained his B.A. in Political Science from the Claremont Colleges, CA, before pursuing a career in the Washington D.C. beltway. After developing his interest in research science, he began training in biochemistry at Columbia University, NY, where he also began working in the protein crystallography lab of Dr. Lawrence Shapiro; studying cell adhesion molecules in Drosophila melanogaster. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the Rockefeller University, NY, in the lab of Dr. Seth Darst and Dr. Elizabeth Campbell. His research focuses on the structural mechanisms of Bacterial RNA-Polymerase promoter escape and the various functional and structural features of the transcription factor DNA-translocase MFD. |
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Born and raised in NYC, Ruby is thrilled to be working close to home as a graduate student in the labs of Elizabeth Campbell/Seth Darst and Jeremy Rock. She majored in Biology and Music at Williams College, where she studied plant-pathogen interactions and ethnomusicology, and also worked with Cori Bargmann at Rockefeller University on worm-pathogen interactions. These days, when she’s not in lab investigating essential transcription factors in M. tuberculosis, you can find her making/seeing music or finding ways to hike and camp outside of the concrete jungle. |
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Maddie attended the University of Richmond for undergraduate studies, where she majored in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and minored in Leadership Studies. Her current research focus is on transcriptional regulation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. |
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Gabe graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020 with a degree in biochemistry and began his graduate studies at Rockefeller in 2020. He is interested in the structural biology of SARS-CoV-2 replicase machinery, especially the NiRAN domain on nsp12. |
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Joshua graduated from University College London (UCL) in 2021 with an integrated Master's degree in Biochemistry, and began his graduate studies at Rockefeller in the fall of 2021. He is working on the structural and biochemical mechanisms behind how foreign factors manipulate and exploit bacterial transcription machinery, with T4 phage and pRK2 (IncP-1 plasmids) as case studies in E. coli. |
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Anoosha graduated from Barnard College in 2020 with a degree in biochemistry. After working for two years as a research assistant, she decided to pursue her PhD and is a graduate student in the Tri-Institutional Chemical Biology Program. During her time in the Darst-Campbell lab, Anoosha hopes to learn about the structural biology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase and gain mechanistic insight on its role in viral replication. In her free time, Anoosha loves to cook, go for long walks, and cuddle her two menacing cat children. |
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Born and raised in Colombia (not Columbia). She got a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and an M.Sc. in medical engineering from the Technical University of Munich. After working closely with biologists during her studies, she decided to take a job in biology to see what all the fuss is about. In her free time, she’s trying to make the best out of living in New York! |
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Originally from Belarus, Hanna earned her degree in molecular and cell biology with an emphasis on biochemistry from UC Berkeley. During her studies, she focused on the mechanisms that control the degradation of proteasomal substrates. Currently, she is working on investigating the replication process of SARS-CoV-2 and studying transcriptional regulation Mycobacteria. In her free time, she enjoys reading and exploring what NYC has to offer. |
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Leah hails from New York and earned her B.A. in Molecular Biology from Colorado College. During her studies, she focused on researching the natural transformation efficiency of the bacteria Acinetobacter baylyi. Now, her enthusiasm lies in delving into the transcriptional regulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, listening to music, and cooking a variety of international cuisines. |
Lab Fun!
Anoosha's first day as lab intern- She got Wamiah's order right ! (narrated by Joshua C.)