MBB Student Christian Jones Does Summer Research in Juárez Lab

Christian Jones is a fourth-year student in the co-terminal molecular biochemistry and biophysics (MBB) program from Oswego, Illinois. She has been passionate about drug design for as long as she can remember, and enrolled in the MBB co-terminal program, which allows her to obtain a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just five years, to put her on the fast track to pursuing her Ph.D. degree. “I believe there are better ways to go about treating diseases without killing healthy cells, and I would like to help find the answers to complex diseases,” she said.

This summer, Jones was picked as one of eight recipients of the College of Science Undergraduate Summer Research Stipend, which allowed her to earn $5,000 for 10 weeks of research with Oscar Juárez, assistant professor of biology. Their project aims at developing a new generation of drugs against pathogenic bacteria, targeting unique and essential metabolic pathways.