Redox reaction play a key role of regulating homeostasis and apoptosis in signaling pathways. Redox reactions regulate the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and higher ROS levels are present in many cancer cells. Higher ROS levels place cancerous cells closer to a lethal ROS level than non cancerous cells. Research into controlling these levels is being done to develop new approaches to cancer treatment. My research concerns the oxidant, hydrogen peroxide, and peroxiredoxin-2, a scavenger of hydrogen peroxide. The goal of the project is to develop a high throughput screen for inhibitors of peroxiredoxin-2 using previously developed fluorescent sensor for peroxiredoxin-2.

I am a chemical and biological engineering senior working in the Sikes and Kulik labs. I work on computational modeling with the Kulik group and redox chemistry in biological processes the Sikes Lab. I am eager to tackle an assay development problem because I believe it will really utilize my problem-solving engineering skills in the context of the material I enjoy studying.