Staff

Directors

Gloria Borgstahl

Dr. Gloria Borgstahl is a Professor in the Eppley Institute in Cancer Research and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1992 at the University of Iowa. Dr. Borgstahl was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Getzoff and Dr. Tainer at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA from 1992-94 and with Dr. Terwilliger at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, NM from 1994-96. In 1996 she joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Toledo as an Assistant Professor. In 2002 she was tenured and joined the Eppley Institute where she established an outstanding X-ray crystallography facility. She is an expert in macromolecular crystallography and knowledgeable in all aspects of protein expression, purification, crystallization, X-ray diffraction, and structure determination.


Amar Natarajan

Dr. Natarajan is a Professor in the Institute in Cancer Research and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (University of Vermont) and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Natarajan has > 15 years of experience in the design, synthesis/optimization of target and mechanism-specific inhibitors against disease-relevant targets. Dr. Natarajan is an expert in small molecule NMR particularly in how they interact with proteins involved in cancer. Dr. Natarajan has extensive experience in using biophysical techniques such as ITC, SPR, and fluorescence polarization to study protein-protein and protein-small molecule interactions.


Managers

Ed Ezell

Ezell is a Research Coordinator in the Eppley Institute at the UNMC, and is the NMR laboratory manager. He started his NMR training in 1978 at Jackson State University where his thesis work was on carbon-fluorine residual dipolar coupling in nematic solvent as a structural tool. After graduation, he became the NMR manager at the University of Houston, where, in addition to spectrometer maintenance and the installation of their first superconducting magnet, he was also able to focus on the application of newly developed 2D heteronuclear techniques to spectral assignment of natural products. He then spent twenty years at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where he became a Senior Spectroscopist of the Sealy Center for Structural Biology, assisting with installation, maintenance, and operation of the center’s shared NMR resources (Gulf Coast Consortium) that included Varian 400, 600, 750, and 800 MHz spectrometers. He moved to the Eppley Institute in 2006 to provide user support and general maintenance of the instruments.


Jeff Lovelace

Mr. Lovelace is a Research Associate, and is the X-ray manager. He is a bioengineer with expertise in computer science and automation, as well as experience in single crystal X-ray diffraction and SAXS. He has received training in maintaining X-ray equipment and in data collection from Rigaku, and performed research at several national synchrotron facilities. He is responsible for training new users, aiding in data collection and processing, keeping the X-ray system, crystallization robots and the lab information systems running smoothly.


Lucas Struble

Dr. Struble received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).  He co-manages the PrEP and CSG labs. He has extensive experience in protein purification, protein crystallization, SAXS, DLS, and has received training in SEC-MALS maintenance and data collection from Wyatt Technology.  Dr. Struble has assisted multiple laboratories with growing crystals for their home lab projects, optimization of protein purification protocols, and was a member of the team that developed an insect cell-based expression and purification system for various SARS-CoV-2 proteins alongside Mr. Lutz and Dr. Borgstahl.