February 2018:  Maryssa Beasley joined the research group.

​

December 2017: Max, Xiang, and Pranav's paper, "Sphingomyelin and GM1 influence huntingtin binding to, disruption of, and aggregation on lipid membranes," was accepted for publications in ACS Omega.

​

September 2017: Kumar's paper, "Periplasmic Flagella in Borrelia burgdoferi Function to Maintain Cellular Integrity upon External Stress," was accepted for publication in PLoS One.

 

July 2017: Morgan, Caleb, and John presented their research at the WVU Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium. Morgan won best poster in the Physical Sciences division. John won best poster in the Biological Sciences division..

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 2017: Justin presented the lab's research at Concord University.

​

August 2016: Justin and Albert presented the lab's research at the National American Chemical Society Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

August 2016: Justin  presented the lab's research at the Hereditary Disease Foundation Meeting in Boston, MA. 

 

June 2016: The lab received a WVU PSCoR grant to investigate small molecule inhibitors of htt/lipid interactions.

​

June 2016: Max’s paper, “Acetylation within the first 17 amino acids of huntingtin exon 1 alters aggregation and binding to lipid membranes,” was accepted for publication by the Biophysical Journal.

​

May 2016: Nicole’s paper, “Microtubule modification influences cellular response to amyloid-β exposure,” was published in AIMS Biophysics.

​

May 2016: Congratulations to Dr. Maxmore Chaibva on successfully defending his dissertation.

​

March 2016: Ashley’s poster, “Seeding huntingtin aggregation with distinct huntingtin fragments,” won first place at the WVU ACS Poster Symposium.

​

March 2016: Justin presented the lab’s research on huntingtin aggregation on lipid bilayers at the Biophysical Society Meeting in Los Angeles, CA.

​

January 2016: Xiang’s paper, “Cholesterol Modifies Huntingtin Binding to, Disruption of, and Aggregation on Lipid Membranes,” was published in Biochemistry.

December 2015: Congratulations to Xiang Gao as he successfully defended his Master’s thesis.

​

October 2015: Pranav contributed to a paper, “Identification of novel polyglutamine-expanded aggregation species in spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy,” that was published in Brain Research.

​

June 2015: Jim’s paper, “Huntingtin N-terminal monomeric and multimeric structures destabilized by covalent modification of heteroatomic residues,” was published in Biochemistry.

​

March 2015: Justin gave a seminar in the Chemistry Department at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA.

​

March 2015: Justin gave a seminar in the Structural and Molecular Biology Department at the University of Pittsburgh.

​

March 2015: Jim and Max’s review, “The emerging role of the first 17 amino acids of huntingtin in Huntington’s disease,” was published in Biomolecular Concepts.

​

March 2015: Congratulations to Dr. James Arndt as he successfully defended his dissertation.

​

February 2015: Justin gave a seminar in the Chemistry Department at Marshall University in Huntington, WV.

​

February 2015: Max, Jim, and Justin presented research at the Annual Biophysical Society Meeting in Baltimore, MD.

​

December 2014: Jim’s paper, “Lysine Residues in the N-Terminal Huntingtin Amphipathic α-Helix Play a Key Role in Peptide Aggregation” was accepted by the Journal of Mass Spectromtery.

​

December 2014: Nicole’s paper, ”. Investigation of temperature induced mechanical changes in supported bilayers by variants of tapping mode atomic force microscopy” was accepted by Scanning.

​

December 2014: Congratulations to Dr. Nicole Shamitko-Klingensmith as she successfully defended her dissertation.

​

December 2014: Justin gave a talk on the lab’s research at the Annual Holiday Meeting and Dinner, American Chemical Society Upper Ohio Valley Section, Marietta, OH.

​

December 2014: Justin gave a talk on the lab’s research the University of California, Pennsylvania.

​

October 2014: Elizabeth’s paper, “Preparation protocols of Aβ(1-40) promote the formation of polymorphic aggregates and altered interactions with lipid bilayers,” has been accepted for publication in Biochemistry.

​

October 2014: Nicole’s paper, “Investigation of temperature induced mechanical changes in supported bilayers by variants of tapping mode atomic force microscopy,” has been accepted for publication in Scanning.

​

October 2014: Justin presented the lab’s research at SERMACS in Nashville, TN.

​

October 2014: The lab received a grant from NIH to study the interaction of huntingtin with lipid bilayers.

​

September 2014: Jim’s paper, “Lysine Residues in the N-Terminal Huntingtin Amphipathic α-Helix Play a Key Role in Peptide Aggregation,” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Mass Spectrometry.

​

August 2014: Nicole and Max’s review chapter, “Recovering Time-Resolved Imaging Forces in solution by Scanning Probe Acceleration Microscopy: Theory and Application,” has been accepted for publication in Surface Science Characterization Techniques for Nanomaterials.

​

August 2014: Justin presented the lab’s research at the HDF meeting in Boston, MA.

​

March 2014: Max’s paper, “Curvature enhances binding and aggregation of huntingtin at lipid membranes,” has been accepted for publication in Biochemistry.

​

March 2014: Nicole’s poster, “Investigating the relationship between cellular mechanics and beta amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease,” won best poster graduate student division at the 2014 WVU Chemistry Symposium.

​

February 2014: Nicole presented her research at the Biophysical Society Meeting in San Francisco.

​

October 2013: Justin presented the lab’s research at ComBio2013 in Perth, Australia.

​

October 2013: Justin presented the lab’s research at University of Melbourne.

​

May2013: Congratulations to Nicole for receiving West Virginia University’s Women in Science and Engineering Award.

​

May2013: Kathleen’s paper, “Huntingtin disrupts lipid bilayers in a polyQ-length dependent manner” was accepted for publication in BBA-Biomembranes.

​

May2013: Justin presented the group’s research at the Northern WV ACS section awards banquet in Fairmont, WV.

​

April 2013: Justin presented the group’s research as part of the WVU Eberly Ideas Series in Charleston, WV.

The presentation was co-sponsored by the WV chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

​

April 2013: Kathleen’s paper, “The Interaction of Polyglutamine Peptides With Lipid Membranes is Regulated by Flanking Sequences Associated with Huntingtin,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

​

April 2013: Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Yates as she successfully defended her dissertation.

​

April 2013: Congratulations to Dr. Kathleen Burke as she successfully defended her dissertation.

​

March 2013: Justin’s paper, “The role of amyloidogenic protein oligomerization in neurodegenerative disease,” was accepted in Journal of Molecular Medicine.

​

March 2013: Elizabeth’s paper, “Specific domains of Aβ facilitate aggregation on and association with lipid bilayers,” was accepted in Journal of Molecular Biology.

​

February 2013: Kathleen and Elizabeth’s paper, “Biophysical insights into how surfaces, including lipid membranes, modulate protein aggregation related to neurodegeneration,” was accepted in Frontiers in Neurology.

​

February 2013: Max, Kathleen, Nicole, Elizabeth, and Justin all presented research at the Biophysical Society Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

​

January 2013: Kathleen and Elizabeth’s paper, “Amyloid-forming proteins alter the local mechanical properties of lipid membranes,” was accepted in Biochemistry.

​

November 2012: Justin spoke at an Alzheimer’s Association event in Charleston, WV.

​

October 2012: Nicole’s paper, “Mapping the Mechanical Properties of Cholesterol-Containing Supported Lipid Bilayers with Nanoscale Spatial Resolution,” was accepted in Langmuir.

​

August 2012: Nicole received a NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship.

​

August 2012: Elizabeth and Kathleen presented posters at the 244th ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

August 2012: Justin and Kathleen presented posters at the Hereditary Disease Foundation Conference in Boston.

​

August 2012: Justin and Nicole presented papers at the ASME 2012 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) in Chicago. Justin’s paper was titled, ” Investigation of protein/lipid interactions via scanning probe acceleration microscopy: theory and experiment.” Nicole’s paper was titled, “Correlation of atomic force microscopy tapping forces to mechanical properties of lipid membranes.”

​

July 2012: Sherry presented her poster entitled: “The FLIPPED Classroom and Differentiated Instruction in High School Science: STEM Research as an Educational Tool” at WVU’s Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

July 2012: Justin presented the lab’s research at the 2012 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) in Boston.

​

July 2012: Justin presented the lab’s research at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver.

​

July 2012: Elizabeth served as a laboratory teaching assistant for the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Engineering Challenge, and appeared on the front page of the local newspaper.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

March 2012: Elizabeth presented her poster entitled:The effect of surfaces on mutant Ab aggregation” at WVU ACS Student Affiliates Chemistry Symposium.

​

November 2011: Nicole’s poster was awarded the prize for the best poster in her category at the 22nd National NSF EPSCoR Conference, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

October 2011: Sam’s presentation on his research at the KY-WV LSAMP Conference was named 3rd best.

​

September 2011: Justin was awarded a new investigator research grant from the Alzheimer’s association: 

​

September 2011: Justin was interviewed on West Virginia Public Radio.

​

September 2011: Justin was featured at halftime of the radio broadcast of the WVUvs Maryland football game.

​

August 2011: Congratulations to Kathleen for receiving the West Virginia University’s Women in Science and Engineering Award. 

​

July 2011: Michael, Sam, and Kelley presented their research at WVU’s Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

  

July 2011: Justin’s paper, “The modulating effect of mechanical changes in lipid bilayers caused by apoE-containing lipoproteins on Aβ induced membrane disruption,” was accepted by ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

​

MAY 2011: Justin received an NSF CAREER award to continue the group’s studies on the role of biological surfaces in Alzheimer’s disease. 

​

APRIL 2011: Congratulations to Elizabeth for winning the Forrest Ferrell Award.

​

APRIL 2011: Congratulations to Elizabeth for winning the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant in Chemistry award.

​

APRIL 2011: Congratulations to Kathleen for being named an Outstanding Advanced Graduate Teaching Assistant.

​

APRIL 2011: Elizabeth’s paper, “Point Mutations in Aβ Induce Polymorphic Aggregates at Liquid/Solid Interfaces,” was accepted by ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

​

MARCH 2011: Congratulations to Kathleen for being receiving the John Conard Fellowship.

​

MARCH 2011: Congratulations to Elizabeth for being receiving a C. Eugene Bennett Fellowship.

​

JANUARY 2011: Kathleen and Jordan’s paper, “Assessing mutant huntingtin fragment and polyglutamine aggregation by atomic force microscopy,” was accepted by Methods.

​

DECEMBER 2010: Phil’s paper, “Point mutations in Aβ result in the formation of distinct polymorphic aggregates in the presence of lipid bilayers,” was accepted by PLoS ONE.

 

AUGUST 2010: Kathleen presented her research at the Hereditary Disease Foundation’s HD2010: “The Milton Wexler Celebration of Life” in Boston, MA.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

MAY 2010: Congratulations to Kathleen and Elizabeth for being named the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistants in the Chemistry Department.

 

MAY 2010: Congratulations to Phil for being named the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Graduating Chemistry Student.

 

APRIL 2010: Congratulations to Elizabeth for receiving the C. Eugene Bennett Fellowship for another year.

 

APRIL 2010: Congratulations to Kathleen for receiving the John Conrad Fellowship for another year.

 

APRIL 2010: Congratulations to Phil for being named the outstanding senior Chemistry student.

 

APRIL 2010: Elizabeth presented her research at the Eberly College Advisory Board Dinner and Poster Presentation.

 

APRIL 2010: Elizabeth, Kathleen, and Kumar presented their research at the WVnano Initiative Resarch Symposium and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Research Horizons Day.

 

March 2010: Elizabeth’s poster, “Surface Effects of Mutant Aβ Aggregation”, was named second best poster in the graduate student division at the 2010 WVUChemistry Symposium.

 

MARCH 2010: Justin’s paper titled “Mutant Huntingtin Fragments Form Oligomers in a Polyglutamine Length-dependent Manner In Vitro and In Vivo ” has been accepted by the Journal of Biological Chemistry. This work was performed during his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Muchowski at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.

 

FEBRUARY 2010: Elizabeth and Phil present their research at the 54th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting in San Francisco.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

FEBRUARY 2010: Kumar’s paper titled “The Effect of Set Point Ratio and Surface Young’s modulus on Maximum Tapping forces in Fluid tapping mode Atomic Force Microscopy” in the Journal of Applied Physics is now available on line.

 

 

JANUARY 2010: Kumar’s paper titled “The Effect of Set Point Ratio and Surface Young’s modulus on Maximum Tapping forces in Fluid tapping mode Atomic Force Microscopy” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Physics.

 

NOVEMBER 2009: The Legleiter lab joins the WVU Center for Neuroscience.

 

SEPTEMBER 2009: The Legleiter lab joins WVnano.

 

AUGUST 2009: Justin’s paper titled “Monoclonal antibodies recognize distinct conformational epitopes formed by polyglutamine in a mutant huntingtin fragment” has been published by the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and featured on the cover. This work was performed during his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Muchowski at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease.

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

MAY 2009: Justin’s paper titled “The effect of drive frequency and set-point amplitude on tapping forces in atomic force microscopy: simulation and experiment” has been published in Nanotechnology.

 

MAY 2009: Phil’s poster, “Disruption of lipid bilayer by β-amyloid peptide”, won best poster (undergraduate division) at the 2009 WVNano Initiative Research Symposium.

 

APRIL 2009: Congratulations to Elizabeth for receiving the C. Eugene Bennett Fellowship.

​

APRIL 2009: Congratulations to Kathleen for receiving the John Conrad Fellowship.

​

APRIL 2009: Phil’s poster, “Disruption of lipid bilayer by β-amyloid peptide”, won best poster at the 2009 WVU Chemistry Symposium.