People

Principle Investigator

Mark Walker
markcwalker [at] unm.edu

Mark received a B.A. in Biochemistry from Oberlin College. Following a brief stint in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries he obtained a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley and then was an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He began his independent career at the University of New Mexico in 2018.

Graduate Students

Jeffrey Bierman
jeffreybierman [at] unm.edu

Jeffrey received a B.S. in Advanced Chemistry from Oregon State University.

Jack Boynton
jboynton [at] unm.edu

Jack received a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology and a B.A. in Writing and Rhetoric from the University of Rhode Island.

Philip Deenik
deenikp [at] unm.edu

Philip received a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Biology from Eastern Oregon University.

Eric Eke
eeke829 [at] unm.edu

Eric graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a BS in Biochemistry. From where he proceeded for his MSc in Biochemistry at the University of Ghana, Legon. Where he worked under the guidance of Dr Nana Asare Yeboah. His research work was on bromelain proteolytic activity analysis and characterization. He is currently pursuing his PhD degree in Prof Mark Walker’s lab, where is working on developing a platform for directed evolution of RiPP biosynthetic enzymes.

Catriona Gordon
cgordon2 [at] unm.edu

Catriona received a B.S. in Chemistry/Biochemistry from U.C. San Diego

Bala Mohamme
bmohammed [at] unm.edu

Bala received BTech and MTech degrees in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria. He worked under Professor A. Y Kabiru during his undergraduate studies on “Kinetic studies of Polyphenol oxidase” and his master’s work was under Professor A. A Jigam on a project “Antiulcerogenic effects of Agelanthus dodoneifolius leaf”. After graduation, he moved to the University of New Mexico to pursue a Ph.D. in Mark Walker’s lab. He is currently working on investigating the substrate specificity of RiPP biosynthetic enzymes.

Md Rafiqul Islam Rupam
rupam [at] unm.edu

Rupam joined M.C. Walker Lab in 2021 as a PhD Student and currently working on developing a new cell surface display platform for RiPPs. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of Dhaka. Previously he worked on isolation of phytochemicals with potential medicinal value and received Government-sponsored National Science and Technology (NST) fellowship for his work. He also has industrial experience at Incepta Pharmaceutical Limited and teaching experience from Northern University Bangladesh.

Jillian Stafford
jstafford [at] unm.edu

Jillian received a B.S. in Health Care Administration from SUNY Bridgeport and a B.S. in Chemistry from Ohio Dominican University.

Undergraduate Students

  • Chris Armstrong
  • Misha Lockamy
  • Nisali Piyasena
  • Omar Rachidi
  • Veronica Montoya

Lab Alumni

  • Samantha Archuleta, Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-2020
  • Diego Trujillo, Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-2020
  • Sean Castillo, Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-2020
  • Cielo Gonzales Kirkpatrick, Undergraduate researcher, 2019-2020