Awards

Goldwater Scholarship - 2007

About Aaron DeLoughery

Aaron DeLoughery grew up in New Castle, Indiana. As a child, he was interested in science, and wanted to be a marine biologist when he grew up. During high school, in an AP biology class, he became interested in molecular biology.

He attended Indiana University, majoring in biology during his undergraduate years. He participated in research the summer before through the Integrated Freshmen Learning Experience, and studied stalk development in the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus with Dr. Yves Brun. This experience truly solidified his desire to pursue a career in research, and he continued to do research using both genetic and biochemical approaches to understand the polar organelle development protein PodJ. Funded through participation in the Science and Technology Research Scholars Program (STARS) at Indiana University as well as the Beckman Scholars Program and a Goldwater Scholarship, he carried out some genetic screens to understand PodJ processing and purified the protein for biochemical analysis including far western blotting to detect protein-protein interactions. These opportunities also gave Aaron an opportunity to present his work to other undergraduate students.

Excited about the research going on in this department compared to other institutes, as well as their collaborative environment, Aaron chose to pursue a PhD at Harvard University through the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department. Aaron is working on delivering proteins and nucleic acids into mammalian cells using a supercharged GFP variant. His broad research interests include gene regulation, RNA, cell signaling, and microbial diversity.