Ruffin Awarded Undergraduate Research Fellowship

June 17, 2019

Ms. Isabel Ruffin was awarded the Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Physics and Biophysics and the Dean’s Summer Research Fellowship. These competitive fellowships will support her research in the Rubinstein group, which aims to model the adsorption of proteins onto RNA using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. Protein adsorption onto RNA is thought to be an important process in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Isabel’s research, mentored by postdoctoral associate Christian Aponte-Rivera and Professor Michael Rubinstein, will provide new insights on the biophysical interactions that drive this phenomenon. She plans to continue her research during her senior year and graduate with distinction from Duke University’s physics department during the Spring of 2020.