Cameron Glasscock, Ph.D.

PI

I create new approaches for designing nucleic acid binding proteins and test them out for various applications in synthetic biology and therapeutics.

I did my postdoc training at University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design in the lab of David Baker designing DNA binding proteins, and I earned my PhD from Cornell University where I was jointly advised by Julius Lucks and Matthew DeLisa. I spent the later years of my PhD as a visiting scholar in the Lucks lab at Northwestern University’s Center for Synthetic Biology. I earned my BS in Biological Engineering at Oregon State University.

Outside of lab, you’ll find me walking my Husky, cycling, marathon training, and finding good food.

Precious Castillo

PhD Student

I am a PhD student in the Biochemistry and Cell Biology (BCB) graduate program. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Texas Christian University. My undergraduate research project focused on investigating the effects of cancer-linked variants on protein-protein interactions.

Outside of lab, I enjoy reading books, watching TV shows, playing board games with friends, and spending time with my dogs.

Makenzi Thomas

PhD Student

Hi! I’m a PhD n the Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology (SSPB) program. I had a pretty diverse undergraduate research experience leading me to the current pursuit of my PhD. My current research  focus is designing binders to non-B form DNA structures. If you’re interested in learning more about the lab or need general advice, I’m more than happy to connect with you at mt158 at rice dot edu.

PhD Student

Hi, I’m Nanjia! I’m a PhD student in the SSPB program at Rice University
with an interest in computational biology and a master’s degree from
Northwestern University. My research focuses on using deep learning to
predict the structure of DNA-binding proteins and fine-tune design models
for improved accuracy.

Outside the lab, I love traveling, music, and relaxing with my very cuddly
orange cat, Mocha.