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What research are you doing in the van der Donk lab? I focus on the identification and characterization of class II lanthipeptides. Class II lanthipeptides are a group of RiPPs natural products that are characterized by the presence of lanthionine and methyllanthionine rings. These natural products provide a pathway to new potential antimicrobials, and their biosynthetic enzymes enable the discovery of new chemical reactions. This project is part of a pipeline called FASTRiPPs (Fully Automated, Scalable, high-Throughput) in collaboration with the Huimin Zhao and Doug Mitchell labs.
What did you look for in a graduate school and research group?
- Graduate school: I previously had an undergraduate research experience at UIUC in 2019 as a St. Elmo Brady Scholar, and I had an amazing experience that summer which helped me to choose here for graduate school.
- Research group: Professionally, I wanted to learn new alternatives to the traditional way of discovering new natural products. In addition to that, at the time, my group was more diverse which provided a community of people with different backgrounds. Personally, I have strong moral values especially when it comes to my family and Prof. van der Donk also sees family as a strong value which motivates me more toward his group.
What do you enjoy about your research group? The community, the independence of my project, mentorship programs, and the willingness to share knowledge.
Undergraduate education: I graduated with a BS in Chemistry with an emphasis in Mathematics from Tougaloo College and was the Top Chemistry Leadership and Excellence Awardee in the Class of 2021 and the 2021 Presidential Medallion Awardee for the Natural Science Division.
Hometown: I grew up in Portland, Jamaica, before I moved to Tougaloo, Mississippi, for college in 2017.
Influential mentors? Professor George Armstrong was my advisor at Tougaloo College who was the first person to talk to me about a PhD in Chemistry and his journey which helped guide me to where I am today.
How did you discover your passion for chemistry? From a young age I enjoyed doing Mathematics and that is where my interest in science came into being. I could go hours trying to solve mathematics problems until later in high school one day in chemistry class we were doing an acid-base experiment by determining the pH and I saw these color changes just by adding two colorless liquids which piqued my interest in chemistry. Who doesn’t like to see pretty colors? I see chemistry as cooking which I love to do. You can take different ingredients to make something completely new. My interests in synthesis chemistry, analyzing compounds, and the work of developing drugs that could be used for therapeutic opportunities in the medicinal industry only grew from there because I knew I would be helping people in some way in the long run. These little pebbles drive where I am today.
Organizations you are involved in at UIUC: NOBCChE and WCC. I am the vice president in the NOBCChE student chapter and webmaster for WCC. NOBCChE is a very important community for me. It is an environment where I get to be among people who share similar passions as well as the conferences are really great for minority groups to find professional networks, internships, and jobs.
Plans after your PhD? Work in industry
Highlight of grad school so far? Being part of impactful life-changing research and being able to present my findings to a variety of individuals.
Favorite way to take a break? A road trip just randomly drives somewhere.
Any hobbies or activities you enjoy? Photography, cooking, hiking, web design, and video editing
Any advice for other students? Times will get tough when you want to quit and there will be times when you feel hopeless but remember your “why”.