Franklin & Marshall College

WELCOME CHRISTINE!

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Christine Phillips-Piro to the Chemistry Department.  Christine will join the faculty as our Biochemist beginning July 1, 2012 and will begin teaching Introductory Biochemistry (with lab) in the Fall 2012. She will also be teaching Advanced Biochemistry and General Chemistry in the Spring Semester.

Christine describes her research below:

Work in my lab will utilize a variety of biochemical techniques and will focus on understanding protein function through structure using X-ray crystallography. An overarching theme of the projects I am interested in is how cells sense and respond to their environment. One project uses in vitro techniques to study how the pathogenic bacteria Vibrio cholerae utilizes exogenous heme as an iron source for the cell while preventing the toxic side effects that heme could cause. Another project begins to investigate the protein interactions involved in a new nitric oxide (NO) signaling pathway in eukaryotes involving S-nitrosothiols. The third project aims to study the mechanism by which a bacterium involved in bioremediation of the environment, Dehalococcoides ethenogenes, senses and degrades the pollutant tetrachloroethene which is produced by dry cleaners and chemical industries.