Oscar Vargas-Rodriguez, UConn Health
Dr. Vargas-Rodriguez’s lab studies the interaction between bacterial pathogens and their infected host, particularly by investigating the role of translation factors, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS), during infection as putative targets for therapeutics.
Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn, UMass Lowell
Dr. Gignoux-Wolfsohn’s lab focuses on the persistence of biodiversity in the midst of environmental disturbances caused by climate change, studying oysters as sentinel biofilters for human pathogens as well as resistance to stony coral tissue loss disease.
Begüm D. Topçuoğlu, Bristol Myers Squibb
Dr. Topçuoğlu is a UMass Amherst alum who studied in Jim Holden’s lab where she studied the physiology of thermophiles in hydrothermal vents. She is currently a senior scientist and computational biologist at Bristol Myers Squibb helping with the evaluation of potential new medicines and therapeutic approaches by using state-of-the-art computational tools and predictive analytics.
