Maggie (Margaret) Gustafson, Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor , Chemistry
As an undergrad at the University of Richmond, a liberal arts college a lot like , I had an “aha!” moment when I took biochemistry: I wanted to ask biology questions through the lens of chemistry. I carried out undergraduate research in Michelle Hamm’s lab, where we studied the replication of oxidatively damaged DNA. After Richmond, I worked for two years as a technician and lab manager in Joel Meyer’s toxicology lab at Duke University, studying the impacts of environmental mutagenesis on mitochondrial DNA. During my time at Duke, I discovered a passion for teaching and training undergraduate students in the lab, which led me to a graduate program at Cornell University. There, I shifted gears to the study of Golgi membrane trafficking in Chris Fromme’s lab, where I learned to tackle complex problems with an array of approaches, including protein biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, and structural biology. I then returned to mtDNA questions during my postdoc in Bill Copeland’s lab at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, before coming to in 2023 with my own plans for an exciting research program focused on the regulatory mechanisms of mtDNA replication. I am passionate about teaching and mentoring, as well as training students in the lab. I value the curious and expansive mindset cultivated by a liberal arts education, and I look forward to helping students find their passions and grow into lifelong learners and leaders.
The Gustafson Lab is focused on understanding the molecular decision-making involved in high fidelity mitochondrial DNA replication in the fission yeast model Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We use approaches in protein biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, genetics, microscopy, and structural biology to identify and characterize molecular- and atomic-level interactions that help maintain mtDNA integrity.
Biochemistry I
Biochemistry Lab