Emily Dykhuizen, PI
​edykhui@purdue.edu

Emily graduated from Reed College in 2001 with a BA in biochemistry and molecular biology. She moved to the midwest in 2002 to pursue a PhD in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with Laura L. Kiessling. There she worked on developing inhibitors to UDP-galactopyranose mutase, an essential enzyme in the synthesis of the arabinogalactan portion of mycobacterial cell wall, verifying it as a therapeutic target to treat tuberculosis. After graduation in 2008, she switched fields and began an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship with Gerald Crabtree at Stanford University, where she worked to develop inhibitors of the BAF (SWI/SNF-like) chromatin remodeling complex. In addition, she started defining the mechanisms of BAF-mediated tumor suppression, and uncovered a novel role for BAF complexes in decatenation of DNA by topoisomerase IIa. She started her independent career at Purdue University in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in 2013, where her lab continues to unravel roles for chromatin regulation in cancer, as well as develop therapies to target epigenetic processes. 

Shelley Woloshuk, Lab Manager
​swoloshu@purdue.edu

Shelley Woloshuk is the Lab Manager for the Dykhuizen research group. She is responsible for organizing and maintaining supplies, overseeing regulatory and safety requirements along with other research duties.

Dr. Alisha Dhiman, Postdoctoral Researcher
dhimana@purdue.edu 

Alisha is from New Delhi, India. She got her Bachelor’s degree (2004) in Biochemistry from the University of Delhi, India and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Biotechnology (2007) from the University of Hyderabad, India. For her Master’s dissertation, she worked towards development of a chimeric recombinant chitinase enzyme so as to broaden its substrate specificity. Alisha pursued her PhD with Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar (2015) at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Her doctoral work focused on understanding the role of two-component signal transduction systems in bacterial pathogenesis and adaptation, and exploring them as scaffolds for antimicrobial development. For her postdoctoral venture, she moved to US and forayed into cancer research. She joined the Dykhuizen lab in August 2017 where she is working towards decoding the role of a commonly mutated gene PBRM1 in renal cancer, in order to understand its tumor suppressive function, clinical significance and potential therapeutic application.​

Dr. Chad Maschinot, Postdoctoral Researcher
cmaschin@purdue.edu

​Chad obtained his BS in chemistry from Northern Kentucky University in 2013 where he did organometallic synthesis with Keith A. Walters. He then moved to New England to pursue a PhD at the University of Connecticut with Kyle Hadden in Pharmaceutical Science with a concentration in Medicinal and Natural Product Chemistry. His doctoral work focused on the design and synthesis of sterol-like small molecules targeting the Hedgehog signaling pathway. These small molecules were evaluated in cellular assays for anti-cancer potential and to identify and characterize their novel cellular targets. With an interest in epigenetics and cancer, Chad joined the Dykhuizen lab in February 2018 to begin his postdoctoral career. 

Sandra Ordonez, PhD Student MCMP
​sordone@purdue.edu

Libby Porter, PhD Student PULSe
​porter6@purdue.edu

Elizabeth (Libby) Porter grew up in the Detroit area. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan. She is currently a graduate student in the PULSe program. Libby joined Professor Dykhuizen’s lab in May of 2014. Her project focuses on elucidating the mechanism by which Polybromo targets the P-BAF complex to specific regions of DNA, to identify new drug targets for cancer treatments.

Aktan Alpsoy, PhD Student PULSe
aalpsoy@purdue.edu

Aktan was born and grew up in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. He graduated from Middle East Technical University (METU) with a BSc degree from Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2011 and an MSc degree from the Biology Program in 2014. In August 2014, he started at Purdue University as a PhD student in the PULSe program. He joined the Dykhuizen Lab in August 2015 and is currently working on potential targeting mechanisms of polycomb repressor complex 1 (PRC1).

Sijie Wang, PhD Student MCMP
wang3289@purdue.edu

Sijie is from Shanghai, China. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical engineering from East China University of Science and Technology in 2014, and a Master degree in chemical engineering from University of Southern California in May 2016. He joined Dykhuizen lab in December 2016. He is currently focusing on the targeting mechanism of Cbx7/8 proteins, as well as screening for potential ligands of Cbx7/8 via DNA encoded chemical library.

Previous Members


Rob Wilson                                       Undergraduate                                        2014-2015                                MIT - Graduate Student with Dr. Angela Koehler
Christine Marian                           Postdoctoral Researcher                  2013-2014                                 Science Exchange - Data Specialist
Basudev Chowdhury                  Postdoctoral Researcher                  2015-2017                                 Dana Farber - Postdoc with Dr. Massimo Loda
Ben Carter                                        Postdoctoral Researcher                  2017-2018                                 NIH - Postdoc with Dr. Keji Zhao
Katelyn Connelly                          Graduate Student                                  2013-2018                                 NIH - Postdoc with Laufey ​Amundadottir
Jane Stewart                                    Lab Manager                                            2013-2018                                 Retired