PEOPLE
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Jessica MJ Swanson
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Henry Eyring Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Biological Chemistry Program, & Center for Cell and Genome Science
University of Utah
4613 Thatcher Building for Biological and Biophysical Chemistry (TBBC)
CV
POST DOCS
Gabriel Costa Da Hora
Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
gabriel.hora [at] utah.edu
Gabriel joined the Swanson Group in the Fall of 2019 with a B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD in Chemistry (2016) from the Department of Fundamental Chemistry of the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil). Gabriel has experience in the fields of quantum chemistry, molecular-based biochemistry and computational biochemistry, development of coarse-grained force fields and modeling of biomaterials such as cell membranes, peptides, polymers. His current research interests are focused on multi-scale approaches to characterize biophysical processes, like membrane permeation and the mechanism of action proteins. The goal is to apply enhanced sampling methods (metadynamics, umbrella sampling, simulated annealing) to explore the rough energy landscapes to understand the behavior of biological processes.
Hishara (Keshani) K Gallage Dona
Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
hishara.gallage [at] utah.edu
Keshani joined the Swanson Group in the spring of 2024 with a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (2017), and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Louisiana State University (2023). Keshani has experience in the field of computational chemistry, to understand the structure, dynamics, and phase behavior of soft matter systems such as peptoids and polymers. She specializes in integrating machine learning and molecular dynamics for the design of electrically-driven separation systems. She is currently interested in using simulations and machine learning to conduct research in the area of computational biophysics, focusing on the properties and characteristics of lipid droplets and how proteins interact with them.
Ryan Carlsen
Ph. D Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Ryan joined the Swanson Group in the Fall of 2023 with a B.S. in Chemistry and Physics from Utah State University (2015) and a Ph. D. in Chemistry from Brigham Young University (2021). Ryan has experience in the fields of quantum computational chemistry and ab initio molecular dynamics to understand kinetic deviations from predicted reaction mechanisms of organometallic complexes such as CH-activation. His current research interests focus on developing effective software representations of biological kinetic models and integrating time-resolved data into multiscale kinetic models.
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GRADUATE STUDENTS
John Nguyen
Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
John joined the Swanson Group in the Spring of 2020. He received his B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Utah and is currently working towards a PhD in Chemistry. His research interests include the use of multiscale methods to study biological systems. Currently, he is studying membrane permeation to understand the interactions between membranes and molecules such as toxins, amphiphilic molecules, and membrane proteins.
Jay Braun
Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Jay got his B.S. in Chemistry from Northern Arizona University, where his main research focus was on materials/bio-inspired materials, with a heavy emphasis on materials characterization. He is currently interested in using simulations to investigate biophysical phenomena such as the properties and characteristics of lipid droplets, and how proteins interact with them. He is interested in incorporating machine learning techniques into his research.
Hannah Burton
Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry Program & Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Hannah joined the Swanson Group in the Spring of 2021 with a B.Sc in Biochemistry and minor in Physics from The Pennsylvania State University, where the focus of her research revolved around theoretical atomic and molecular physics as well as understanding the molecular and genetic events involved in the initiation of sporulation in the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Her current research interests focus on multi-scale approaches to characterize biophysical processes, such as combining atomistic free energy simulation with microkinetic analysis to understand the equilibrium dynamics of ion channels with an applied membrane potential.
Tyler Southam
Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Tyler received his B.S. in Chemistry from Brigham Young University – Idaho. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry. His research interests include using computational methods to investigate biochemical systems and processes. His current work focuses on ATP hydrolysis by YME1.
Pooja Rao
Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry Program & Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Pooja joined the Swanson group in the Summer of 2022. Pooja received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from SRIHER, India and BITS Pilani, India respectively. Her research project was in the molecular pharmacology domain with a focus on understanding the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in diabetes mellitus. She is currently interested in utilizing all atom molecular dynamic simulations and enhanced sampling techniques to investigate the mechanism by which physiologically relevant proteins target lipid droplets.
Josh Peterson
Josh received his B.S. in Chemistry from Brigham Young University – Idaho. There he studied polymer synthesis and characterization techniques as well as method development in organic extractions from natural materials. During a summer research experience at BYU in Provo, he also utilized spectroscopic and computational techniques to map unit cell dimensions of crystal structures. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemistry. His research focuses on the copper active site of pMMO, a methane oxidizing enzyme, and using computational techniques to understand the catalytic cycle and mechanism of the oxidation of methane to methanol in this system.
Alex Daum
Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Alex joined the Swanson Group in Spring of 2024. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Brigham Young University, where his research focus was on supramolecular chemistry and its applications in water purification systems. His current research focuses on multi-scale kinetic modeling of glutamate receptor-like channels to determine how they function as ion antiporters.
UNDERGRADUATES
Maya Rabbitt
Maya is an undergraduate at the University of Utah working toward her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. She plans to switch to research in industry after graduation. She is interested in applying molecular dynamics to material sciences for the exploration of bioactive and environmentally sustainable medical solutions.
Orion Harmon
Orion is an undergraduate student at the University of Utah studying biochemistry with an emphasis on computer science. His current research interests focus on computational modeling and implementation of AI into research models.
Jonah Pratt
Jonah is an undergraduate student at Grinnell College in Iowa pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Math. His current research interests focus on using mathematical and multiscale kinetic modeling to investigate biologically relevant systems.
ALUMNI
Scott Wayne Springer
Former Undergraduate
Austen Bernardi
Former Postdoc
Currently postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Myong In Oh
Former Postdoc
Currently a principal investigator at Koniag government services funded by the FDA & visiting scientist at the University of Maryland School of pharmacy
Andrew Ralph
Former Undergraduate, Department of Chemistry, University of Utah
Currently a graduate student at BYU