Qualifications and Experience

Scientific interests: Nucleic acid chemistry; aptamer design and probe development for live cell imaging; computational chemistry; small molecule therapeutics targeting RNA and/or RNA-protein interactions; enzyme mechanisms; physical-organic chemistry. Advanced imaging techniques: Confocal and Super-resolution Microscopy; RNA transport and localization; drug delivery. Education: Ph.D., Biophysical-Organic Chemistry, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 2001. Dissertation Title: "Phosphorothioates as Models for studying Phosphoryl Transfer Reactions" Advisor: Professor Alvan C. Hengge. ACS Short Courses: Computational Chemistry and Computer Assisted Drug Design: Theory and Applications, Austin, TX, 1998. B.Eng., University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Romania, 1993, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry of Macromolecular Compounds. Diploma Paper University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Romania, 1995, Thesis Titled: "The Copolymerization Reaction of Acrylonitrile and Vinyl Acetate". Advisor: Professor Nicolae Cobianu