Home of the Robert Kirchdoerfer lab
Biography Phoenix graduated with his Ph.D. in 2026. He worked with collaborators at the UW–Madison Veterinary School to survey the prevalence of feline coronaviruses in infected cats. Phoenix is the recipient of a Biochemistry Research Fellowship and has won a poster prize at the IPiB Retreat in 2023 and an award for his flash talk …
Nadim began his time in lab working as an hourly before transitioning to working as an undergraduate researcher. Nadim’s project was to introduce protocols for autoinducing media for bacterial protein expression to the lab. Nadim graduated in 2023. He is currently a UW–Madison medical student.
Caroline was a visiting summer student from California State University – San Bernardino and worked to clone and express protein receptors for feline coronaviruses. She gained experience in DNA manipulation, cell culture, protein expression and purification. Caroline was supported by the Cellular and Molecular Biology of Stress program during the summer of 2024.
Ziyang’s project sought to discover pan-betacoronavirus antiviral candidates. Ziyang is the recipient of a poster prize at the 2024 Palmenberg Symposium for Molecular Virology. Ziyang left the lab in 2026.
Biography Zoe is an undergraduate researcher in the lab. She is a junior majoring in Neurobiology and Human Development and Family Studies, with an expected graduation date of May 2022. She enjoys snowboarding and any flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
Ashley studied how coronavirus endonucleases demonstrate specificity for their RNA substrates. She worked in the Kirchdoerfer lab from August to December 2023.