People
Current Lab Members
Lab Alumni
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Kareem El-HoushyUndergraduate Researcher |
Ava WidenerUndergraduate Work-Study Student |
Casey FryeUndergraduate Work-Study Student |
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Kathryn GunnPostdoctoral Researcher |
Nikea PittmanPostdoctoral Researcher |
Alexis CampbellUndergraduate Researcher |
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Kathryn received her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Northwestern University where she worked in Alfonso Mondragon’s lab creating a single-molecule technique to study topoisomerases. She joined the Neher lab in 2017 and solved multiple structures of oligomeric LPL using cryo-electron microscopy and tomography. She also did extensive work characterizing LPL inhibitors using both kinetics and small-angle X-ray scattering. Kathryn was an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellow, and received the UNC award for Postdoctoral Research Excellence as well as a K99/R00 fellowship award from the NIH. She is now faculty in the Biochemistry and Cell Biology department at Stony Brook University. | Nikea received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the University of Florida and joined the Neher lab in 2019, where she investigated E. coli resistance to reactive chlorine species. As an NIH K12 IRACDA Fellow, she also led undergraduate courses in Biology at North Carolina A&T State University. Other pet projects/passions during her time as a postdoc included Black In Microbiology Week (BiM) and Scientists Promoting Anti-Racist Conversations and Equity (SPACE). After her postdoc, Nikea started as a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UNC. |
Alexis graduated from UNC in Spring 2022 with a degree in Chemistry. In the Neher lab, she worked on a pilot project to investigate the effects of a gene therapy for LPL deficiency. She started a biomedical graduate program at Vanderbilt in fall of 2022 with a focus in pharmacology. |
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Najla Ward-ConyersUndergraduate Researcher |
Ben RobertsGraduate Student |
Chelsea YangTechnician |
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Najla graduated with a degree in Biology from UNC and was a member of the Neher lab from spring 2020 to spring 2022. Her project was researching the role of the Rcl genes in E. coli and if they have a role in metronidazole resistance. She is now a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and will be employed within the Atrium Health Network. | Ben completed his Ph.D. in the Neher lab studying LPL trafficking and LPL’s partner Lmf1 in May 2021. He continued his training at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD and is now a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the NIH. | Chelsea investigated the physiological regulation of LPL, specializing in microscopy and image analysis. She started on a Ph.D. in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program at UNC in fall 2021. | ||
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Jake WrobelTechnician |
Jacob GoodmanUndergraduate Researcher |
Aspen GutgsellGraduate Student |
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Jake completed his undergraduate degree in Biology in December 2020 and started medical school here at UNC in July 2021. In the Neher lab, he studied the structure and function of RclB and its role in redox reactions in E. coli. |
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Jacob completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry in May 2021. While in the Neher lab, Jacob worked to create an expression system for nanobodies targeting ANGPTL4. |
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Aspen completed her Ph.D. in the Neher Lab studying ANGPTL4 in March 2020. She went on to a post-doctoral research position with Astra-Zeneca in Sweden and then accepted a permanent Senior Research Scientist position in their Biophysics division. |
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Colyn Anne MartinUndergraduate Work-Study Student |
Nate CampbellUndergraduate Researcher |
Cari KoernerGraduate Student |
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Nate worked with Aspen to study the mechanisms of LPL inhibition by ANGPTL4. | Cari completed her M.S. in 2019 and began a degree in genetic counseling at UNC Greensboro. | |||
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Ellie PearsonUndergraduate Researcher |
Lin CaoUndergraduate Researcher |
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Lindsey BroadwellUndergraduate Researcher |
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Ellie completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering in May 2018. She moved on to a career in engineering in the Triangle after graduation. |
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Lin completed her undergraduate degree in May 2018. In September 2018, she began medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. |
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Lindsey completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at UNC in May 2016. In August 2016 she started graduate school in Biochemistry at UC Boulder. |
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Cassandra HayneGraduate Student |
Mike LaffertyTechnician |
Brian EglingerUndergraduate Researcher |
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Cassandra earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Iowa in 2011 before coming to UNC. She studied the ways in which LPL structure regulates its function. She moved on to a post-doctoral position at NIEHS in October 2017, was named an ASBMB MOSAIC Scholar in 2021, and is now faculty in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department at the University of Chicago. | Mike worked extensively on purifying and characterizing LPL variants and LPL inhibitors. In August 2016 he started graduate school in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program at UNC and now has a Ph.D. in bioinformatics and computational biology. | Brian worked on methods of purifying truncated LPL and ANGPTL4. | ||
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Daniel GehleUndergraduate Researcher |
Kristen Brantley
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Melissa Babilonia-RosaGraduate Student |
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Daniel studied LPL inhibitors for two semesters of undergraduate research. After completing his bachelor’s degree, he started medical school at Medical University of South Carolina. | Kristen joined when the lab first started and worked here for three years. After graduating, she went on to start a Ph.D. in Epidemiology at Harvard University. | Melissa completed her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics in May 2016 studying the role of lipase maturation factor 1 in the maturation of lipoprotein lipase. She now has a teaching post-doctoral position at North Carolina State University. | ||