IPST Biophysics Student Selected as Graduate Student Speaker for College’s May Commencement Ceremony




Simona Patange, a biophysics doctoral degree candidate and member of the NCI-UMD Partnership program, will be the graduate student speaker for the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences’ May Commencement Celebration.




For her dissertation, Patange used optogenetic engineering to control the MYC cancer gene with light. She combined this tool with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy methods to obtain the first real-time observations of how MYC affects gene expression events in living human cells.

Patange’s advisors were Michelle Girvan (IPST/Physics/Biophysics), Daniel Larson and David Levens from the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI).




Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the celebration will be pre-recorded and available for viewing after 2 p.m. on May 22, 2020 at commencement.umd.edu.

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