Fiedler Group

Dorothea grew up in the most beautiful city in Germany: Hamburg. She went to college at the University of Wuerzburg and did her Diploma work at UC Berkeley. She decided she liked the United States for many reasons that include Thanksgiving (and also German beers are overrated), so she stayed at Berkeley for her Ph.D. She worked in the Raymond and Bergman labs, studying host-guest systems and their application to catalysis. She then moved across the Bay to UCSF, where she joined the Shokat lab to investigate signal transduction pathways. She is now attempting to be a chemical biologist at Princeton and is hoping to elucidate the specific signaling functions of a number of fascinating cellular metabolic messengers.

Barbara was born and bred in New Jersey, where she “loves 2 countries with her 1 heart.” Wanting to see the world, she ventured far from home and attended the University of Scranton in PA for her BS in Bio/Math. Deciding that PA was too far away from NJ for her, she came home and pursued her Ph.D. at UMDNJ-Rutgers, where she studied chromatin regulation in response to DNA damage in the laboratory of Nancy Walworth. She continued her studies in the laboratory of Jim Broach at Princeton as an ACS fellow. Barbara has come over to the dark (Chem) side; she uses budding yeast to explicate the role of inositol phosphates in the cell. In her spare (little) time, she likes listening to live music, especially classic rock, but is an avid fan of Blue October’s music.

To many, Florrie may seem to be a rather inconsistent individual. She doesn’t seem to be able to commit to being on either coast. She grew up as a California girl in Pasadena. Then she got her B. S. from New York University, working in the laboratory of Marc Walters. Florrie continued to University of California Irvine and received her Ph.D. working for Elizabeth Jarvo. Now she’s back on the east coast to work with Dorothea to develop cell permeable molecular phosphate sensors. She’s gone from blonde hair, to bright blue hair, to somber brown. She loves the Steelers, and can’t seem to be a fan of any one hockey team for more than one season. Presumably the most consistent element to Florrie is that she has always had a driving curiosity in chemical research.

Jeff grew up in Springfield PA, went to Springfield High School, and then studied Biochemistry at Lafayette College in Easton PA. He is a Phillies fan for life, but also has a passion for country music. After Nashville refused to play his original songs “Room Full of Solvents” and “Heartbreak HPLC,” Jeff decided to pursue a career in chemistry instead of country music. In lab, Jeff is studying the metabolic kinases involved in inositol polyphosphate synthesis. Although his days are filled with chemistry, Jeff hasn’t forgotten his line dancing roots, and he is willing to teach anyone joining the lab.  

Mingxuan was born and brought up in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, receiving a B.S. in biotechnology and M.S. in microbiology. At SJTU, he worked in Huchen Zhou's group where he designed and synthesized chemical probes to study biological mechanisms. He enjoys talking about his girlfriend and visiting her in Maryland. He thinks German cars go too fast, but Dorothea finds that unreasonable.

Jack (which is short for John) spent his entire childhood in the sleepy back woods of Falmouth, Maine being chased by bears and riding moose. Jack attended Boston College and majored in chemistry. During his undergraduate career he worked in laboratory of Amir Hoveyda where he synthesized Sporochnol A. He also spent much of his free time playing trumpet in the Marching and Pep Bands. When his career in the bands fell through (meaning he was kicked out out of the Marching Band), he decided to pursue a graduate degree in chemistry. Jack is an avid alpine skier (despite the trees that attack him), and his hobbies also include watching football, spending time in the summer with his extended family, and talking way too much about Maine.

Lisa was born and raised in Hillsborough, NJ as an avid Yankees fan. A lover of New England, she obtained her B.S. at Boston College (yes, with Jack...unfortunately), double majoring in Chemistry and Accounting, while conducting research in Marc Snapper’s group synthesizing unnatural amino acid-based catalysts. Deciding that she had her fill of Red Sox fans, she left them behind and returned to the Great Garden State, only to be surrounded by Phillies fans. After a year of using her business degree at Johnson & Johnson, she ventured back into the chemical world to study inorganic polyphosphates in the Fiedler lab.

Nick hails from Cold Spring Harbor in Long Island (Lawnguylind). After finishing High School on the north shore of Long Island, he transitioned to studying yeast DNA repair at Cornell. He braved the barren, sparse, and desolate tundra of Cornell University and emerged a man (with a BS in Biology). He joined the Molecular Biology department at Princeton and joined the Fiedler lab to work on polyphosphoinositol signaling in  C. elegans . He spends his days at Princeton on GTL (gym, tan, lab). His life’s goal is to cure aging in pseudocoelomates.

Alan had a very scattered upbringing. Born in Concord, Massachusetts, the air force moved his family six times before finally settling in Stroudsburg, PA. In rebellion to his father’s push towards computer science, Alan developed a love of chemistry and even had his own basement laboratory. Sadly, Alan had to leave his basement to attend college, and so he got B.S. in Chemistry from Penn State’s Schreyer Honors College. While at PSU, Alan worked as an organic chemistry TA, studied total synthesis under Dr. Kenneth Feldman, interned at Merck, and became president of the Professional Chemistry Fraternity. Because of his extensive travels, Alan is able to say definitively that the most beautiful city in Germany is Munich.

Nevena hails from the great country of Texas (originally Serbia), where she enjoys riding buffalo on the freeway, spending her days on the couch, and eating ever so delicious burritos. She decided to major in chemistry because, let’s face it, mixing strange chemicals and breaking her grad student’s beakers is entertaining, and because she didn’t learn quickly enough as a freshman that investment banking is apparently the way to go. Learning about inositol polyphosphates from group members is also pleasantly stimulating. Now if she could only get Lisa to divulge some dirt on Jack…

You know where Juan comes from...not Mexico! Born and raised in the Garden State, Juan loves to drown his fellow lab mates in obscure trivia (especially if it relates to Mexico). Despite this, many of them still haven't figured out how to pronounce his name (hint guys: it isn't "Jaywahn"). His other objects/activities of affection include: pandas, conures, folding paper, eating anything and everything sweet, and pandas. In lab, he is constantly tormented by his lab mates (and even their children). 

Nikhil is from a distant land called South Jersey where he attended Cherry Hill High School East. At Princeton, he was torn between studying chemistry and molecular biology, so this lab seemed to be the perfect fit. He has played on the JV tennis team here, and in his free time enjoys watching Philadelphia sports teams, especially the Sixers (he still relives the days of the '00-'01 dream team). When not in lab, he can be found in Whitman, Dillon or the Cap and Gown Club. In lab, he plans to investigate a specific kinase in inositol polyphosphate metabolism.