Boise State University Biomolecular Sciences Programs

05/04/2026

Congratulations to all of our 2026 Graduate Showcase Winners!!

05/04/2026

🎓 Congratulations to Dr. Leslie Kendrick! 🎓

We are excited to celebrate Dr. Kendrick on the successful defense of her Ph.D., “Biomarker-Based Evaluation of Concussion Recovery in Youth Athletes.”

Her research explores how blood-based biomarkers can improve the detection and monitoring of concussions in young athletes. Focusing on key proteins like UCH-L1 and pTau, her work highlights their potential to track recovery and support more personalized care. She also demonstrates the promise of KinExA, a highly sensitive method that may provide more precise and reliable biomarker detection than traditional approaches.

Dr. Kendrick’s work represents an important step toward better understanding and managing concussions in youth. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

👏 Please join us in Congratulating Dr. Leslie Kendrick on this outstanding achievement!

🎉Congratulations, Doctor!🎉

04/30/2026

🎓Congratulations to Dr. Krystal Sosa! 🎓

We are excited to celebrate Dr. Krystal Sosa on the successful defense of “Inactivation of Viral Pathogens Via Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma: A Molecular Study.”

Dr. Sosa's research explores Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma (CAP) as a promising antiviral approach, showing its ability to reduce viral activity through Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species (RONS). The work demonstrates CAP’s effectiveness against both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, including HSV-1, and highlights its potential to reduce infection in corneal tissue models.

👏 Please join us in Congratulating Dr. Krytal Sosa on this outstanding achievement!

🎉Congratulations, Doctor!🎉

04/29/2026

🎉 Celebrating an Incredible Achievement! 🎉

Congratulations to Jasmine Baclig, a first-year doctoral student in Biomolecular Sciences and Boise State alum (B.S. Chemistry, 2025), on earning the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP)!

A first-generation student born in the Philippines and part of the Boise community since 2016, Jasmine conducts research in Professor Konrad Meister’s lab, where she studies bioactive proteins with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Her work explores the fundamental chemical principles that govern protein stability—an essential step toward advancing therapeutic, food science, and environmental applications.

Using biophysical tools like spectroscopy, Jasmine investigates how these proteins behave under different conditions, bringing together chemistry, biology, and physics in an interdisciplinary approach.

👏 We are proud to celebrate Jasmine’s achievement and excited to see the impact of her research!

Read more about Jasmine's work please visit: https://www.boisestate.edu/biomolecularsciences/blog/2026/04/30/bmol-student-awarded-nsf-graduate-research-fellowship/

03/12/2026

👏Congratulations to BMOL doctoral students Rosemary Eufemio and Kaden Shaw on contributing to an international research study published in Science Advances!

☁️The team identified fungal proteins that can trigger ice formation at relatively warm subzero temperatures—an exciting discovery with potential applications in cloud seeding, food science, and cryopreservation. We are proud of their contributions to this impactful research.🧊

Discovery of potent soluble fungal ice nucleators uncovers a conserved molecular approach to promoting ice formation.

03/02/2026

🎓Congratulations to Dr. Jake Doyle! 🎉

We are excited to celebrate Dr. Doyle on the successful defense of his Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences. His dissertation, “A Gut Feeling: The Relationship Between the Gut Microbiome and Multiple Sclerosis,” explores how altering the gut microbiome affects neuroinflammation and disease severity in Multiple Sclerosis using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. It highlights the important immunoregulatory role of the gut–brain axis in central nervous system autoimmunity.

Dr. Doyle’s research demonstrates that treatment with farnesol reduced disease severity, reshaped gut microbial communities, and decreased inflammatory and stress-related pathways in the brain. By analyzing both colon tissue and microbiome changes throughout disease progression, his work underscores the powerful connection between the gut and the brain and points toward new possibilities for therapeutic intervention.

Please help us celebrate Dr. Doyle on this remarkable accomplishment and the meaningful contributions his research will continue to bring. Congratulations, Dr. Doyle! 👏

03/02/2026

🎓Congratulations to Dr. Rosemary Eufemio! 🎉

We are excited to celebrate Dr. Eufemio on the successful defense of her Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences. Her dissertation, “The Biomolecular Origin of Lichen Ice Nucleation,” explores how lichen-associated fungi produce specialized proteins that trigger ice formation at warm subzero temperatures and the structural features that make this activity stable and effective.

Dr. Eufemio’s research demonstrates that these ice-nucleating proteins are widespread across temperate, boreal, and Arctic lichens and remain highly active even at extremely low concentrations and after repeated freeze–thaw cycles. By uncovering their unique structure and stability mechanisms, her work reveals a previously unknown pathway for biological ice nucleation and establishes lichenized fungi as important and distinct contributors to freezing processes in nature.

Please help us celebrate Dr. Eufemio on this remarkable accomplishment and the meaningful contributions her research will continue to bring. Congratulations, Dr. Eufemio!🎉

03/02/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. Preston Hazen! 🎓
We are excited to celebrate Dr. Hazen on the successful defense of his Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences. His dissertation, “Analyzing the Interactions of α- and β-Crystallin With the Eye Lens–Lipid Membrane and the Modulatory Elements of These Interactions to Elucidate the Mechanism Underlying Cataract Development,” explores how crystallin modifications and changes in lens lipids and cholesterol influence membrane properties and protein binding in age-related cataracts.

Dr. Hazen’s research demonstrates that post-translational modifications of α- and β-crystallin, along with age-related shifts in lens membrane lipids and cholesterol, significantly affect how these proteins interact with and bind to lens membranes. His findings further reveal that the natural increase in cholesterol within the aging lens serves a protective role by limiting disruptive protein–membrane interactions—helping to preserve membrane integrity and reduce the risk of cataract formation.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Preston Hazen on this outstanding achievement and the meaningful impact his research will continue to make.

Congratulations, Doctor! 👏

02/03/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Ryan! 🎓
We are excited to celebrate Dr. Ryan on the successful defense of her Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences. Her dissertation, “Effect of Pulsed Electric Field Technology on Dairy Solutions,” investigates how pulsed electric field (PEF) processing can improve the efficiency, quality, and sustainability of dairy protein powder production.

In her work, Dr. Ryan used a commercial, continuous PEF system with industry-scalable parameters to study whey protein concentrates, whey protein isolates, and evaporated skim milk. Her research demonstrated that PEF treatment can enhance key functional properties—such as reducing viscosity and increasing solubility—while causing only minimal changes to protein structure. These findings support the real-world integration of PEF technology into modern dairy processing and offer promising pathways to reduce energy use and improve product performance.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Elizabeth Ryan on this outstanding achievement and the lasting impact her research will continue to make. Congratulations, Doctor! 🌟

02/03/2026

🎉 Big Congratulations to Noah Souza! 🎉

Boise State University student Noah Souza earned third place in the Lynn Joens Award competition at CRWAD 2026, an international research conference held in Chicago!

Out of nearly 190 posters, only 11 received awards—and Noah’s research stood out in the highly competitive NC1202 Enteric Diseases of Food Animals category.

His poster, “Multi-omics analysis of Salmonella ArtAB toxin to determine its role in host-pathogen interactions,” showcases exciting, high-impact research in animal health and infectious disease.

Way to go, Noah! 👏

Read more on our website:
https://www.boisestate.edu/biomolecularsciences/blog/2026/02/03/boise-state-student-noah-souza-earns-third-place-poster-award-at-international-research-conference/