Congratulations to our newest graduate, Dr. Chris Boughter who just successfully defended his thesis.  Chris was a graduate student in the Biophysics Program, dually mentored by Erin Adams and Benoit Roux. Chris’  thesis work focused on polyreactive antibodies and unraveling the molecular mechanisms of Vγ9Vδ2 T cell regulation.  Chris is our go-to computational expert in the lab and will be sorely missed once he starts his postdoc at the NIH in the Meier-Schellersheim group.

Marta Borowska, graduate student in the Biochem and Molecular Biophysics program, successfully defended her thesis today, congratulations Marta!  Marta’s research focused on both polyreactive antibodies and characterizing a newly identified commensal protein that exhibits superantigen-like behavior.  This protein, called Ibp, can bind to certain subfamilies of antibody heavy chain variable regions.  Marta will soon start her postdoc in the Garcia Lab at Stanford University.  Congrats Dr. Borowska!