Student Profiles

Jude attended the University of Washington to obtain a B.S. in biochemistry. He first undertook research after his freshman year when he was part of a study to develop in vivo treatments to bacterial biofilms on implanted surgical equipment. He really saw the benefit that early research exposure had on his future scientific ventures and wanted to give similar experiences to other underrepresented students. So, he helped develop and implement a summer Teaching Lab which offers underrepresented students’ early exposure to scientific research and has been helping to run this program over the last 8 years.

He continued his undergraduate research career in Dr. Jim Pfaendtner’s lab in the NIH NIDDK STEP-UP program. He was using molecular dynamics and simulations to build computational models which can lead to longer-lasting insulin. During undergrad, he also spent a summer doing research in the Center for Aerosols Impact on Climate and the Environment (CAICE) program. He worked with Dr. Francesco Paesani on studying the effect that aerosols have on the climate by making molecular models using the ion-Thole-type (iTTM) model and quantum mechanical simulations.

After graduating in 2017 with Honors in Research, he sought out more research at the NIH so he became an NHLBI IRTA fellow working in the labs of Dr. Richard Pastor and Dr. Alan Remaley. In a mix of computational and bench side studies, he researched high density lipoproteins and APOA1 protein mimetics in hopes of building proteins that increase cholesterol efflux and decrease atherosclerotic effects in blood vessels. He took a gap year to pursue a master’s degree in biotechnology specializing in bioinformatics as part of the Fulbright Program at Tampere University in Finland. He continued his involvement in the Fulbright program by becoming a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador. His work at the NIH opened his eyes to the physician-scientist career and he began his MD/PhD studies at The Ohio State College of Medicine.

As an NIH-Oxford student, Jude plans on studying the neural circuitry that underlies reinforcement learning pathways in the using neuroimaging and computational models.