Projects

Individual Final Project
ABSTRACT The project explores how diatoms adapt to rapidly changing salinity in transitional environments such as river plumes, where freshwater mixes with seawater. These zones are increasingly important under climate change, as shifting salinity patterns affect microbial survival and ecosystem stability. Understanding how diatoms respond at molecular and structural levels is critical, as they play a key role in global oxygen production and biogeochemical cycles.
Group Final Project
Proposal: Increasing Stability of the MS2 L Protein Objective The goal of this project is to identify and engineer mutations in the L protein of the ssRNA phage MS2 bacteriophage that increase its structural stability while preserving its lytic function in Escherichia coli. Improving protein stability may enhance its functional lifetime and overall efficiency during infection.