Dr. Joseph Wedekind, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Honors
Dean’s List, Binghamton University (Fall 2021 – Spring 2025)
Graduated summa cum laude, Binghamton University (Spring 2025)
Member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society
Research Experience
March 2026 – May 2026 Dr. Gaëlle Talross: Exploring the conservation and expression of aging-linked lncRNAs in Drosophila
January 2026 – March 2026 Dr. Joseph Wedekind: Analysis of the interaction between a spermidine-sensing riboswitch and k-turn binding protein YbxF
October 2025 – December 2025 Dr. Clara Kielkopf: Investigating the structure and function of TatSF1 in transcription and splicing
May 2024 – May 2025 Dr. Eriks Rozners: Synthesis and cellular uptake of peptide-nucleic-acid monomers (PNA) for non-coding RNA recognition
June 2023 – August 2023 Dr. Aviv Paz (BioXFEL Summer Internship): Reconstitution of OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 in systems for cryo-EM studies
Current Research
My current research seeks to understand the gene-regulatory functions of riboswitches that sense Na+ and Li +. During my doctoral research, I plan to probe the structure of these RNA aptamers using x-ray crystallography, analyze their ligand-binding capabilities with isothermal titration calorimetry, and adapt assays to test their gene regulatory function in live bacterial cells.
