What brought you to the Coon lab?

Towards the end of my PhD I looked at mass spectrometry (MS) as a tool for answering various complex questions. I began thinking that a deeper knowledge of MS would be a valuable skill to have – it would help me access areas of biology and chemistry that I hadn’t explored before. Professor Coon encourages students to develop MS techniques that examine complex biological phenomenon. During my site visit and interview, I was impressed by his ability to foster curiosity within his research group and the general conviviality the group displayed.

In what direction do you see your work going?

Currently my main task involves advancing this technology to study proteins in their folded conformations (native MS). This is a new area for the Coon group, which is well-known for pursuing other MS methods such as electron transfer dissociation (ETD). The group has a natural inclination for branching out into diverse research projects and continues to explore new areas. I can’t speculate down which interesting avenues where this project may lead.

In the meantime, I’m working with other students, learning from their projects, and getting my hands dirty with ETD, since the lab is a great place to gain that expertise. I’m happy as long as I’m in a research environment with a lot of curiosity and freedom to go where that curiosity leads. As long as I can be an environment like this, I’ll be fulfilling my professional goals.