Jessica L Thomaston
UCSF, USA
Biography
Jessica Thomaston is a PhD candidate in the lab of Professor William DeGrado at the University of California, San Francisco. She studies the structure of the influenza M2 proton using lipidic cubic phase crystallization techniques and x-ray diffraction at synchrotron and XFEL sources. The M2 protein is among the smallest proton channels found in nature and is also a drug target against the flu. Her work focuses on the proton conduction mechanism of the M2 channel, particularly the involvement of water in proton transport and the structural characterization of how drugs and novel inhibitors bind to the channel and block proton conduction.