معرفی
Krystle J. McLaughlin is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Vassar College, where she has been since 2017. She earned a B.A. in Physics from Colgate University (2006) and a PhD in Biophysics from the University of Rochester (2011), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in pedagogical training and research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s SPIRE program. Her research focuses on biochemical and biophysical studies of microbial proteins, particularly antibiotic resistance mechanisms in pathogens like Staphylococcus and Salmonella, using protein x-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. She is an elected member of the US National Committee for Crystallography.
Teaching responsibilities include Biochemistry (Chem 272), Biophysical Chemistry (Chem 326), and Protein Crystallography (Chem 295). McLaughlin’s lab emphasizes undergraduate research, with recent grants including a 2022 Cottrell Scholar Award ($100,000) supporting research and teaching development. She has balanced her career with motherhood, leveraging tenure-clock extensions and childcare arrangements during the pandemic. Her pandemic-era innovations include recorded lectures and iPad-based teaching tools to enhance accessibility.
Her research articles span structural biology of bacterial enzymes, conjugative proteins, and gut microbiome enzymes. McLaughlin collaborates on initiatives to improve STEM education equity, including developing course-based research experiences (CUREs) and placement tests for incoming chemistry students.
