Gerdt Laboratory

Jack Egnatz was born in Chicago and grew up in northwest Indiana. He is a senior studying Biochemistry and plans on applying to medical school in the spring. He joined the Gerdt lab group in the summer of 2022 and will continue working there until he graduates in the spring of 2023. He is currently working towards identifying inhibitors of a bacteria-bacteriophage defense system that could be a promising alternative solution to the rise of antibiotic resistance. His hobbies revolve around living a healthy and active lifestyle, including weightlifting, running, fishing, skiing, and soccer.

Julia was raised in Oberlin, Ohio and graduated with a BA in chemistry from Hamilton College. Throughout college she worked in an organic chemistry lab, developing photocatalyzed two- and three-component coupling reactions, but now enjoys the challenge of understanding the calcium-signaling pathways of Capsaspora owczarzaki. In her free time, she loves doing crafts, particularly needle felting and embroidery, and listening to music. Her favorite artists include Tortoise, Pharoah Sanders, and Beach House.

Kyoung Jin studied isolation and identification of secondary metabolites from medicinal plants and earned his Ph.D. at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea. He joined the Gerdt group as a postdoctoral associate in March 2020. He focuses on purifying and identifying natural products produced by symbiotic microorganisms.

He likes to watch sports and drama, listen to music in his free time. He is interested in running, scuba diving, and travel and he loves nature.

Henry is from Indianapolis, IN, and graduated from North Central High School. He is majoring in biochemistry and is minoring in french and physics. His project entails small molecule inhibitor screening to elucidate the cellular mechanism by which Capsaspora aggregates. His hobbies include rock climbing, playing tennis, watching movies and cooking.

Bryan was born in Indianapolis, IN, graduated from Zionsville high school, and earned a bachelor's degree at Indiana State University. As an undergraduate, he performed research on metal-carbene complexes using computational methods such as Natural Bond Orbitals (N.B.O.) and Natural Resonance Theory (N.R.T.). In the Gerdt lab, his research focus is on chemical signaling and chemotaxis in microorganisms. He is also interested in green chemistry and is passionate about bringing more diversity to the S.T.E.M. fields by being a role model to other black people considering S.T.E.M. endeavors. In his spare time, he loves to be around people and is a huge basketball fan.