Melissa Marquez

she/her/hers

Postdoctoral Fellow

Melissa grew up in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from Mount Saint Mary's University with a B.S. in Biochemistry and minor in Mathematics. As an undergraduate, she conducted research in Professor Eric Stemp's group focusing on DNA-protein cross-linking resulting from oxidative damage to DNA. She was introduced to Boston by participating in Tufts University's NSF REU program and worked in Professor Mitch McVey's lab where she focused on determining the lethality stages in Drosophila melanogaster Werner Syndrome exonuclease variants. Melissa completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Boston University in Professor Deborah Perlstein's group where she worked on deciphering a recognition mechanism for iron sulfur cluster incorporation by the CIA pathway.

As a postdoctoral fellow in the Kahne Lab, Melissa is interested in investigating how Gram-negative bacteria combat infections by utilizing the Bam complex to assemble outer membrane proteins.

Outside the lab, Melissa loves being outdoors by going on a run or spending time at the beach. She also enjoys live music, visiting New England's lighthouses, volunteering for STEM outreach events, and spending time with family and friends.

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