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- McKenna Lab
Group photo taken outside of the University of Florida Brain Institute 2008.
Click photo to enlarge
Group pictures from past years
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Email: all Lab members
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PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
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- Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna
Received her Ph.D. in Biophysics at the University of London under the direction of Dr. Stephen Neidle.
Current research includes study of ssDNA Geminiviridae, Microviridae,
Parvoviridae, and Circoviridae.
Email: mckenna@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Dr. Robert McKenna
Received his Ph.D. in Crystallography at the University of London under the direction of Dr. Stephen Neidle. Current research includes structure function studies on carbonic anhydrases, Mn Superoxide Dismutase, and HIV proteases.
Email: rmckenna@ufl.edu
Biography
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Assistant Scientists
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- Dr. Hyun-Joo Nam
Received her Ph. D. in Cellular and Developmental Biology
from Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Christin Frederick. Current
research includes virus and protein crystallography.
Email: hnam@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Dr. Lakshmanan Govindasamy
Received his MSc., M.Phil., Ph.D., in Biophysics from the University of Madras,
under the direction of Dr. Devadasan Velmurugan. Current research includes virus and protein
crystallography.
Email: govinda@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Dr. Arthur Robbins
Received his Ph. D. in Crystallography at the University of Pittsburgh, under the direction of Dr. G. A. Jeffrey. Art's duties include maintaining the X-ray facility. His current research interests include carbonic anhydrase and HIV protease.
Email: arobbns@ufl.edu
Biography
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Graduate Students
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- Antonette Bennett
Antonette graduated with her BSc in Chemistry from the University of the West Indies. She is currently working on her Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Mavis McKenna on structure/function studies on the assembly pathways of ssDNA virus.
Email: dendena@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Brittney Gurda
Brittney graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida. She is currently working on her Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Mavis
McKenna on structure/function studies on AAV.
Email: bgurda@ufl.edu
Biography
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- John Domsic
John graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Allegheny College (Pennsylvania) in 2005 where he worked on the structure of bacteriophage HK97 under the guidance of Dr. Brandi Baros. He is currently working on his Ph.D. under the direction of Drs. Robert McKenna and David Silverman on structure/function studies of Mn Superoxide Dismutase.
Email: domsicj@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Katherine Sippel
Katherine Sippel received her B.S. in Chemistry from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. She is currently working on the kinetic and pharmacological studies of carbonic anhydrase, and the structures of various mosquito carbonic anhydrases, the mycoplasma hyorhinis protein, p37, and human dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 (DDAH).
Email: ksippel@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Balendu Sankara Avvaru
Balu earned his Masters in Biotechnology in 2005 from PSG College of Arts and Science, India. He is currently working towards a Ph.D under the direction of Drs. Robert McKenna and David Silverman on the macromolecular structure and enzyme kinetics of human carbonic anhydrase II and human mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase.
Email: balu@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Sujata Halder (Tina)
Tina received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of New Delhi. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Mavis McKenna understanding how the capsid structure of minute virus of mice plays a role in controlling the tropism and pathogenicity of this family of viruses.
Email: halder@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Rose Mikulski
Rose received her B.S. in Microbiology at the University of
Florida. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. under the direction of Drs. David Silverman and Robert McKenna studying proton transfer in carbonic anhydrase.
Email: rosielm2@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Balasubramanian Venkatakrishnan (Bala)
Bala graduated with a B.S. in Industrial Biotechnology from Anna University. He is currently working on his Ph.D. under the direction of Drs. Robert and Mavis McKenna on structural aspects of HIV Protease, MSV, and AAV5.
Email: balavenkat@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Robert Ng
Robert graduated with a B.S. in Agricultural Chemistry, from the National Taiwan University, Taiwan, China. He is currently working on his Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Mavis McKenna on structural aspects of AAVs.
Email: ubi@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Lawrence J. Tartaglia
Lawrence received his B.S. and M.S. in biology from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He is currently working on his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna. His research is focused on the characterization of the interaction of adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (AAV2) and its primary receptor heparin sulfate as well as the co-receptors required for cellular internalization.
Email: ltartaglia@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Lauren M. Drouin
Lauren received her B.S. in Microbiology and Cell Science from the
University of Florida in 2006. She is currently working on her Ph.D. under the direction of both Drs.
Mavis Agbandje-McKenna and Nicholas Muzyczka. Her research focuses on the development and characterization of hybrid Adeno-Associated Viruses as vectors for use in gene therapy.
Email: laurenmd@ufl.edu
Biography
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Masters Student
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- Jeanne Quirit
Jeanne graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Moleular Biology from the University of Florida, Spring 2008. She is currently working on her M.Sc. under the direction of Dr. Robert on carbonic anhydrase inhibitor design.
Email: lazyjese@ufl.edu
Biography
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Technical Support Staff
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- Michelle Zak
Michelle began her role as lab tech in June 2008. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology from the Univ. of Wisconsin - La Crosse and has previously worked in research labs at the Univ. of WI - Madison and Univ. of Alabama - Huntsville.
Email: michelle.zak@mbi.ufl.edu
Biography
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Undergraduate Students
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- Edward Miller
Edward is currently working towards a B.S. in Chemistry as an
undergraduate at the University of Florida. He is a Beckman Scholar working
under the direction of Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna. His undergraduate research involves isolation, characterization, crystallization, and structure determination of Adeno-Associated Virus serotype 1 (AAV1).
Email: guard@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Miorel Palii
Miorel is currently working towards a B.S. in physics as an
undergraduate at the University of Florida. He is involved in
several projects under the direction of Dr. Robert McKenna. His
research includes developing algorithms to data mine the Protein
Data Bank, solving drug-bound structures of HIV protease, and
investigating the synergy of anti-cancer treatments.
Email: mlpalii@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Chelsea Rence
Chelsea is currently working towards a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as an undergraduate at the University of Florida. She is a Beckman Scholar working under the direction of Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna. Her undergraduate research involves determining the location of Viral Protein 1 (VP1) within the Adeno-Associated Virus
(AAV) capsid.
Email: rence@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Kyle Mikals
Kyle is currently working towards a B.S. in Biochemistry as an
undergraduate at the University of Florida. He is a University
Scholar working under the direction of Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna.
His undergraduate research involves isolation, characterization,
crystallization, and structure determination of Adeno-Associated
Virus serotype 4 (AAV4).
Email: kmikals@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Omar Shakeel
Omar is currently working towards an interdisciplinary B.S. in
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as an undergraduate at the
University of Florida. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Scholar
working under the direction of Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna. His
undergraduate research involves purification, characterization,
crystallization, and structure determination of Minute Virus of
Mice strain p (MVMp).
Email: oshak@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Becky Carmody
Becky is currently working towards a B.S. in Biology as an undergraduate at the University of Florida. She is a University Research Scholar working under the direction of Dr. Robert McKenna. Her undergraduate research involves isolation and crystallization of the ligand binding domains of largemouth bass estrogen receptors.
Email:carmody3@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Jay Jackson
Jay is currently working towards a B.S. in Microbiology and Cell Science as an undergraduate at the University of Florida. He is a National Merit Scholar working under the direction of Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna. His undergraduate research involves purification, crystallization and structure determination of the immuno-suppressive strain of Minute Virus of Mice (MVMi)
Email: jayjaciv@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Bishoy Hanna
Bishoy is currently working towards a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IDS) as an undergraduate at the University of Florida. He is currently working under the direction of Dr. Robert McKenna studying the promiscuous esterase activity of human carbonic anhydrase II
Email:bishoy@ufl.edu
Biography
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- Rosa Ajoy
Rosa is currently working towards a B.S. in Biochemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Florida. She is currently working on the kinetic studies of human carbonic anhydrase mutant E106T under the supervision of Katherine Sippel and Dr. Robert McKenna.
Email: ajoyr@ufl.edu
Biography
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- George Ling
George is currently working towards a B.S. in ..........
Email: rosestorm2788@gmail.com
Biography
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- Jason Wagner
Jason is currently working towards a B.S. in ..........
Email: mursndem@gmail.com
Biography
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- Grace Tidwell
Grace is currently working towards a B.S. in ..........
Email: gracet@ufl.edu
Biography
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