Laura E. Timmerman

Graduate Student

Bio

A born and raised Texan, I earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rice University in 2009. As an undergrad, I explored my fascination with nanotechnology through several research projects, including the development of a microfluidic device for gene therapy delivery (with Dr. S. L. Biswal) and the purification carbon nanotubes by length and chirality (with Drs. Matteo Pasquali and Jeffrey Fagan).

At Northwestern, I joined the lab of Dr. Michael Jewett, where I was able to combine my interests in nanotechnology and iochemistry in the form of synthetic biology. I contributed to ongoing efforts to engineer the cellular translation machinery to incorporate non-natural amino acids into growing peptide chains.

After joining the Amaral lab in February 2012, I am currently pursuing projects related to evolutionary biology and metabolic networks.

Education

• B. Sc. Chemical Engineering, Rice University (2009)

Awards and Honors

• Graduate Research Fellow, National Science Foundation (2010)