2021 Stupka Symposium

Tony is a 2006 graduate of Iowa State University from the department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology. His initial research experience involved utilizing metabolic engineering approaches to produce complex diterpenoid molecules in a bacterial host. He subsequently pursued a combined MD/PhD degree at the University of Iowa, in the laboratories of Dr. Rick Domann and Dr. Ron Weigel.

Tyler is a fourth year PhD candidate in Dr. Shannon Buckley’s laboratory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The focus of his lab is on how dysregulation of the ubiquitin proteasome system, one of the cell’s main protein recycling systems, can lead to leukemias or lymphomas. In his study on the E3 ubiquitin ligase UBR5, he has proven a novel role of UBR5 involvement within mRNA splicing and is trying to figure out this role in the context of lymphoma.

Jennifer is from Cedar Rapids, IA and in 2016 obtained her B.S. in biochemistry from Iowa State University with minors in genetics and microbiology. She joined the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (IGP) at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN in 2016 and in 2017 joined the lab of Dr. Mark Denison in the Ph.D. program of Microbe-Host Interactions.

Luke graduated from Iowa State University in 2009 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. During his time at ISU, he performed undergraduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Gaya Amarasinghe, where he helped to determine the structure of an Ebola protein domain using x-ray crystallography. Luke was active with the BBMB Undergraduate Club during his 4 years at ISU including: serving as President, running and organizing multiple Stupka Undergraduate Research Symposia, as well as flipping countless pancakes for the monthly Breakfast Club

Mariah received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Iowa State University in 2012. While at Iowa State, Mariah worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ravindra Singh, which studies the alternative splicing mechanism of the Survival Motor Neuron 2 pre-mRNA and its association with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Mariah completed her Ph.D. at Washington University in Saint Louis, under the direction of Timothy Miller, MD, Ph.D.

Jackie is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky under Dr. Subbarao Bondada. As an undergraduate she worked with Dr. Amy Andreotti (2009-2012) researching interactions between proteins downstream of the T cell receptor. During this time Jackie participated in multiple SURS, and was the chair in 2011-2012.

Denis graduated in 2016 with a degree in biochemistry from the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University. During his undergraduate years, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Hargrove studying anaerobic nitrogen metabolism in E. coli.