Hana J
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at Rice University
Expertise
Computational/Theoretical Biological Physics
Bio
I am a computational biophysicist with a background in protein engineering. During my PhD at Rice University, I evaluated the evolutionary fitness and physical stability of novel protein-coding elements. I decided to shift gears as a postdoctoral associate, and am now studying higher-order protein assemblies in bimolecular condensates. I work alongside experimentalists to improve imaging techniques to better capture physical changes in these condensates. I am always excited to teach and learn something new alongside my students/mentees. In my free time, I like to bake, read, and spend time with my family and pets.Project ideas
Evaluate The Evolutionary Fitness of Protein Variants
There are many computational tools currently available that allow us to evaluate the potential function or stability a protein variant has, without expensive experimental assays. Essentially, we can try to answer questions like: "What residues are likely involved in the catalytic activity of protein X?" and "Does a mutation in residue A in protein X increase its binding affinity with protein Y?" Learning to use these computational tools will increase your coding skills, familiarity with protein engineering concepts, and familiarity with commonly used protein databases/datasets. In this project, we will perform a literature search to find a system of interest, formulate a focused question, and try to answer the question using a computational tool. We can publish our results in a blog, an essay, or a scientific manuscript.