Justin was born and raised in Hays, KS. He attended Murray State University (Murray, KY), where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 2000. While at Murray, he worked in the lab of Professor Harry Fannin using inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy to study bio-accumulation of metals in a fresh water protozoan, p. magnifica.

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Justin performed his PhD work in Physical Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) under the supervision of Dr. Tomasz Kowalewski. There, he studied the physicochemical properties of the self-assembly of the β-amyloid peptide and other relevant biological macromolecules (i.e. lipoproteins, lipid bilayers, anti-Aβ antibodies) associated with Alzheimer’s disease. He was also involved in instrument/technique development of AFM operation in both air and fluids, especially the use of higher harmonic in processing signals and the use of tip acceleration to study local mechanical/chemical properties at the nanoscale, such as modulus and local adhesion. These studies led to the development of scanning probe acceleration microscopy (SPAM).

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Justin then spent three years at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease at the University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Paul Muchowski. There, his main focus was the structural analysis of aggregates formed by mutant huntingtin fragments with expanded polyglutamine domains implicated in Huntington’s disease. His studies included the characterization of the aggregation of mutant huntingtin (htt) fragments with various polyQ lengths on chemically varied surfaces utilizing both ex situ and in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). He also worked to understand the potential of molecular chaperones, such as Hsp70 and Hsp40, and anti-htt antibodies to modulate the formation and stability of assemblies formed by mutant htt fragments.

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In August of 2008, Justin moved to West Virginia University as an assistant professor in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry. He was promoted to Associate professor in 2014, served as the Director of Graduate Studies from 2015 to 2019,  the Associate Chair of Chemistry from 2019 to 2020, was promoted to Professor in 2020, and served as the Coordinator for the Intercollegiate Biochemistry Program at WVU.

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In 2024, Justin relocated his lab to  the University of Nevada in Reno where he serves as the chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

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Professional Profile

Murray State University
B.S. (ACS certified) in Chemistry
Murray State University, Murray, KY
Advisor: Dr. Harry B. Fannin

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Carnegie Mellon University
Ph.D. in Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Advisor: Dr. Tomasz Kowalewski

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Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease
The J. David Gladstone Institutes
Postdoctoral Fellow
Advisor: Dr. Paul Muchowski

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West Virginia University

The C. Eugene Bennett Dept. of Chemistry

Assistant Professor - Professor

2008-2024