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People

Saskia Neher

Principal Investigator

  

I attended college at the University of Oregon where I worked in Dr. Diane Hawley’s lab. During graduate school I worked in Tania Baker’s lab at MIT using proteomic methods to study substrate selection by the ClpXP protease. During my postdoc in Peter Walter’s lab at UCSF, I studied SRP-dependent protein targeting. While there, I started a new project aimed at understanding how interacting factors affect the folding and activity of a group of mammalian lipases.

My lab continues these studies at UNC Chapel Hill. I am an associate professor in Biochemistry and Biophysics. I am a member of the McAllister Heart Institute, the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, and the graduate program in Cell Biology.
 

Current Lab Members

 

   

Ming Jing Wu

Lab Manager

    

Rebecca Stowe

Postdoctoral Researcher
Ming earned her undergraduate degree from National Chung Shing University. She has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University. Ming has extensive experience working in Biochemistry labs. In her spare time she performs with a dance troupe.

Certified in Adult Mental Health First Aid

 

 

 

 Rebecca earned her PhD in chemistry from Gary Lorigan’s lab at Miami University in June 2023. She has worked with a variety of membrane protein systems including KCNQ1 and TRPV1, with a focus on side chain dynamics and conformational changes using EPR spectroscopy. She has also worked on the development and application of novel membrane mimetic systems using styrene-maleic anhydride copolymers. She joined the Neher lab in July 2023 and is studying LPL inhibition and the structure of LMF1.

Anna Wheless

Graduate Student

Uriel Luccene Jean-Baptiste

Graduate Student

Christina So

Graduate Student
Anna earned her B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Houston – Downtown in May 2019. She joined the lab in April 2020 and is studying the regulation of lipoprotein lipase by endogenous factors. Anna is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and in the past has been the managing editor of the NC DNA Day Blog and a JEDI Leadership Fellow. Uriel earned his B.S in Biochemistry from the Florida State University in May 2018. He participated in an NIH funded PREP program (STAR-PREP) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore where he studied in the lab of Alex Poulopoulos. In the Neher lab, Uriel is studying the mechanisms and  kinetics of endothelial lipase (EL) inhibition by ANGPTL3. In his free time, Uriel enjoys exercising, especially playing soccer. Christina earned her B.S. in Chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill in May 2019. She then worked as a Research Technician in Sarah Cohen’s Lab for two years using confocal microscopy to study lipid trafficking. She joined the Neher Lab in April 2022 and is studying how SDC1 regulates LPL trafficking and how ANGPTL3/8 affect LPL inhibition. In her free time she enjoys playing badminton all over the Triangle area.

 

Lab Alumni

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Emma Taleb

Technician

Alexander Grdzelishvili

Post-bacc Researcher
Emma graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2021 with a B.S. in Biology. She joined the Neher Lab in May 2023 and has been pursuing her interests in the field of Biochemistry. In lab, Emma investigated the role of Lmf1 and Sel1L in LPL folding and secretion from the endoplasmic reticulum. Emma was accepted to a doctoral program at Florida State University after her tenure with the lab. Alex graduated with a BS in Biology from UNC in May 2023. Alex joined the Neher lab in 2021 and worked with Uriel to study the inhibition of ANGPTL3 by heparin and chondroitin sulfate polyanions. Alex went on to medical school at Wake Forest University in 2024.

 

Kareem El-Houshy

Undergraduate Researcher

Ava Widener

Undergraduate Work-Study Student

Casey Frye

Undergraduate Work-Study Student
 

 

Kathryn Gunn

Postdoctoral Researcher

Nikea Pittman

Postdoctoral Researcher

Alexis Campbell

Undergraduate Researcher
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.

Najla Ward-Conyers

Undergraduate Researcher

Ben Roberts

Graduate Student

Chelsea Yang

Technician
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.

Jake Wrobel

Technician

Jacob Goodman

Undergraduate Researcher

Aspen Gutgsell

Graduate Student

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.

 

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.

 

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.

Colyn Anne Martin

Undergraduate Work-Study Student

Nate Campbell

Undergraduate Researcher

Cari Koerner

Graduate Student
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.

Ellie Pearson

Undergraduate Researcher

Lin Cao

Undergraduate Researcher

Lindsey Broadwell

Undergraduate Researcher

Ellie completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering in May 2018. She moved on to a career in engineering in the Triangle after graduation.

 

Lin completed her undergraduate degree in May 2018. In September 2018, she began medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

 

 Lindsey completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at UNC in May 2016. In August 2016 she started graduate school in Biochemistry at UC Boulder.

Cassandra Hayne

Graduate Student

Mike Lafferty

Technician

Brian Eglinger

Undergraduate Researcher
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.
   
   

Daniel Gehle

Undergraduate Researcher

  

Kristen Brantley

Undergraduate Researcher

  

Melissa Babilonia-Rosa

Graduate Student
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.