People
Post-Doc & Graduate Students
Dr. Shalini Iyer, Ph.D.
Postdoc
Ph.D. University of Bath
iyer59@purdue.edu
Shalini Iyer is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Das Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Bath, UK. Her area of expertise is macromolecular crystallography as well as molecular and cell biology. She also has a strong background in biochemical, biophysical, and cell culture techniques. Since joining our lab in Jun 2018, she has been investigating the structure-function aspects of effector pairs with opposing activities from Legionella pneumophila.
Shalini uses a combination of molecular, biochemical and structural techniques to gain insights into how these bacterial effectors are able to trick the host ubiquitin signaling system and establish a safe, replicative intracellular environment for survival within the host.
Kristos Negrón-Terón
Graduate Student
B.S. University of Puerto Rico
negronk@purdue.edu
Kristos Negrón Terón is a fourth year PhD student in the Das Lab. He did his B.S. in Biology in his hometown at the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla. He did some brief research on yogurt probiotics under the tutelage of Dr. José Carde.
He is currently working on utilizing disulfide chemistry for enzymatic and structural characterization of enzymes. He is also working on designing ubiquitin based probes for proteomics to see if they can pulldown new ubiquitin binding proteins from different types of organisms.
Sebastian Kenny
Graduate Student
B.S. Purdue University
skenny@purdue.edu
Sebastian Kenny is a third-year PhD student in the Das Lab. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Purdue University. Kenny received training in organic synthesis during his undergraduate research.
In his PhD education, Kenny has been trained in various biophysical techniques such as Biolayer Interferometry and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry - techniques which shed light on protein-protein interaction, allowing for better mechanistic understanding. His goal is to understand the mechanism of p53 ubiquitination by Human Papillomavirus (HPV).
Zhengrui Zhang
Graduate Student
B.S. Sun Yat-Sen University
zhan3248@purdue.edu
Zhengrui Zhang is a third-year PhD student in the Das Lab. He got his bachelor degree in Chemical Biology at Sun Yat-sen University, China. His research focuses on the characterization of bacterial effectors using various techniques, including activity-based proteomics, biochemical assays and X-ray crystallography.
The overall goal of his research is to obtain a better scope regarding how pathogenic bacteria hijack host ubiquitin system. At present, he is working on identifying ubiquitin-interacting proteins in bacteria using activity-based ubiquitin probes. Besides, he has also been working on the crystallization of several uncharacterized bacterial effectors.
Rishi Patel
Graduate Student
B.S. Saint Louis University
patel559@purdue.edu
Rishi Patel is a second-year graduate student in the Das Lab. He studied chemistry and mathematics at Saint Louis University where he investigated myoglobin’s capacity to act as a peroxidase and its potential roles in oxidative stress. His research interest lie in bioorganic chemistry and chemical biology.
Currently, Rishi works on utilizing chemically orthogonal means to reveal aspects of ubiquitin biology
Das Lab Alumni
Post-Doc & Graduate Students
- Michelle Permaul (M.S.), Roche, Ltd.
- Tushar Maiti (Post-Doc), Associate Professor, UNESCO Regional Center for Biotechnology
- Myung-Il Kim (Post-Doc), Bioneer Corporation, South Korea
- David Boudreaux (Ph.D.), Deputy Division Chief, U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory
- Christopher Davies (Ph.D.), Senior Scientific Researcher, Genentech
- Judith Ronau (Ph.D.), Senior Scientist, AbbVie
- Marie Morrow (Ph.D.), Senior Scientist, Becton-Dickinson
- Joseph Chaney (Ph.D.), Assistant Professor, Xavier University of Louisiana
- Amy Bueno (M.S.), Tech Manager/R&D, Aginnovation
- Aditya "Raj" Babar (M.S.), MBA Student, Krannert-Purdue University
- Cameron Wade (M.S.), Technical Services, Epic
- Michael Sheedlo (Ph.D.), Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
- Rashmi Shrestha (Ph.D.), Assistant Professor, Berea College
- Kwame Brown (M.S.), Protein Chemist 2, NextCure
- Kedar Puvar (Ph.D.), Sr Scientist, AbbVie
- Aya Saleh (Ph.D.), Post-Doc, Abbott
Undergraduate and High School Students
- Trent Arbough (B.S.), M.D. student, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
- Ashley Zeese (B.S.), D.O. student, Marian University
- Rachel Hohe (B.S.), Ph.D. student, Case Western University
- Isabella Prislusky (B.S.), Ph.D. student, The Ohio State University
- Ashley Holahan (B.S.), Ph.D. student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Hannah Rondon (B.S.), M.D/Ph.D. student, Indiana University School of Medicine