Chemistry Doctoral Student Successfully Defends Dissertation

Courtesy of Matt McKay

Matt McKay

Matthew McKay, a graduate student in chemistry and biochemistry, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled "Rotational Tuning of Transmembrane Helix Properties Based on the Precise Placements of Aromatic and Charged Residues."

Under the guidance of his adviser, professor Roger Koeppe, McKay used solid-state deuterium magnetic resonance and other biophysical experiments to characterize the interactions between peptides and lipids that govern the biological functions of diverse sets of membrane proteins, including cell signaling proteins, transport proteins and others. McKay has published portions of his work in the Biophysical Journal, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Biomembranes, and the Journal of Physical Chemistry. 

McKay came to the University of Arkansas from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. He will continue his research with a postdoctoral appointment in chemistry and biophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.