graduate students

Melissa King, a PhD student in chemistry, and Michelle Personick, assistant professor of chemistry, are the coauthors of a study titled "Iodide-induced differential control of metal ion reduction rates: synthesis of terraced palladium–copper nanoparticles with dilute bimetallic surfaces," published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A, August 2018. In this paper, King and Personick report the use of low concentrations of iodide ions as a means of differentially controlling the reduction rates of a noble metal (palladium) and a non-noble metal (copper). The iodide in this system increases the rate of reduction of palladium ions while concurrently slowing the rate of…

Molecular biology and biochemistry graduate student Brandon Case and Manju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, are coauthors on a study published in Nucleic Acids Research in October 2018. The paper, titled “Coordinated protein and DNA conformational changes govern mismatch repair initiation by MutS,” reports new findings on how the Mutator S (MutS) protein repairs mistakes in the DNA sequence, which is essential for maintaining the accuracy of the genetic code. The collaborative effort from researchers at Wesleyan, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University employed single molecule and ensemble kinetic methods to…

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Two Wesleyan graduate students and two faculty members presented posters at the GSA Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting held at Stanford University on Aug. 22–26. This meeting, which is held once every two years, is organized by the Genetics Society of America (GSA). The meeting brings together hundreds of scientists making groundbreaking discoveries in the field of genetics and gene regulation using the innovative power of yeast genetics. Both students received a travel grant through Wesleyan’s Melnick Fund to support travel to the conference. Lorencia Chigweshe presented a poster titled “Interactions between histone variant H2A.Z and linker histone H1…

Three Wesleyan music graduate students and two faculty were accepted to present at the Society for Ethnomusicology's 2018 Annual Meeting Nov. 15–18 in Albuquerque, N.M. Bianca Iannitti will present a case study on the queer Indian-American DJ, Bianca Maieli, in order to explore the queer female identity within Desi music and virtual spaces. Gene Lai, MA '16, will present a study titled "Disdained at Home Embraced by Motherland: The Revitalized Tamil Folk Drumming Ensemble in Singapore." And Douglas Kiman will present a study titled "Mapping Klezmer Music in Contemporary Europe: A Case Study of the Jazz’n Klezmer Festival." He will also be presenting at the Society…

Sonia Sultan, professor of biology and professor, environmental studies, and her former students Brennan Baker BA/MA '18 and Lars Berg '16 are the coauthors of a paper published in the August 2018 issue of Frontiers in Plant Science. The study, "Context-Dependent Developmental Effects of Parental Shade Versus Sun Are Mediated by DNA Methylation," presents work that Baker completed as a BA/MA student in 2017–18. The article is part of a special Frontiers theme on the emerging area of ecological epigenetics. In this study, the coauthors compared the development of individual plants when their parents were grown in shade or in full…

This summer, three Wesleyan students and one faculty member attended a field workshop in Basilicata, Italy, where they presented research, collected data, and visited an extinct volcano containing two bubbling crater lakes. The International Summer Meeting on Volcanic Lakes, hosted by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior, took place June 25–29 and focused on the theme “Different perspectives and approaches to studying a volcanic lake." Basilicata is home to the 3,350-foot-high Mount Vulture (pronounced "Vool-tor-eh"), which last erupted 40,000 years ago. The Wesleyan attendees included Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (E&ES) graduate students Christina…

(by Christine Foster) James Ricci PhD '14 was awarded a 2018-2019 Congressional Fellowship. The program is administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in conjunction with The American Mathematical Society. During this year-long fellowship, Ricci will be paired with either a member of Congress or a congressional committee. Fellows work as special legislative assistants learning about policy creation and contributing their own technical and academic expertise. “They are looking for people who are able to speak clearly and be advocates for STEM education,” says Ricci, who spoke by phone from a salmon fishing boat in Ketchikan, Alaska, where…

This summer, students seeking a master's degree in performance curation from Wesleyan's Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) are working on six performing artist case studies funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. On July 16, the ICPP Entrepreneurial Strategies class discussed their first artist — Becca Blackwell, an award-winning trans actor, performer and writer based in New York City. Blackwell is working with consultants and mentors at ICPP to develop a strategic framework for the next two to five years of their career. Blackwell will also be presenting their work at Wesleyan on October 5. Photos of the class are below: (Photos by…

Seven Wesleyan students recently were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Honor Society, and many of them presented research posters at the ASBMB annual meeting in San Diego, April 21–25. The ASBMB Honor Society recognizes exceptional undergraduate juniors and seniors who are pursuing a degree in the molecular life sciences for their scholarly achievement, research accomplishments, and outreach activities. The Wesleyan students inducted were Will Barr '18, Alexa Strauss '19, Emily Kessler '18, Christine Little '18, Julie McDonald '18, Rubye Peyser '18, and Alexander Shames '18. The following students attended the annual meeting: • Kessler, whose poster was…

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Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Professor Manju Hingorani and graduate student Bo Song are coauthors of two studies published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry and Nucleic Acids Research in February 2018. The papers are titled "Positioning the 5'-flap junction in the active site controls the rate of flap endonuclease-1-catalyzed DNA cleavage" and "Missed cleavage opportunities by FEN1 lead to Okazaki fragment maturation via the long-flap pathway." The research is related to Song’s PhD dissertation, which he plans to defend in April 2018. Song examined the mechanism of action of human FEN1, an enzyme that cleaves extra single-stranded segments of DNA before they can…

King Coauthors Paper and Is Elected to Chair Research Seminar on Noble Metal Nanoparticles

Case, Hingorani Coauthor Study on DNA Repair

19th Annual Biophysics Retreat Includes Speakers, Poster Sessions

Graduate Students, Faculty Attend Yeast Genetics Meeting

Graduate Students, Faculty to Present Studies at Society for Ethnomusicology’s Annual Meeting

Sultan, Baker ’18, Berg ’16 Coauthor Paper on Plant Development

Wesleyan Group Attends Field Workshop, Gathers Volcano Samples in Italy

Ricci PhD ’14 Awarded Congressional Fellowship

Doris Duke Foundation Supports ICPP’s Performing Artist Case Studies

Students Inducted into Honor Society, Present Research at American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Meeting

PhD Candidate Case Speaks on DNA Repair

Song, Hingorani Coauthors of 2 Papers in The Journal of Biological Chemistry