Benfeard successfully defended his dissertation and received his PhD on March 24, 2017.
Benfeard Williams, under the direction of , successfully defended his dissertation and received his Ph.D. on March 24, 2017. The title of his dissertation is鈥淭he Structure of Apolipoprotein E Isoforms and their Role in Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease.鈥�
Benfeard did his undergraduate work at Duke University, where he studied cell cycle oscillations in yeast and electron transfer properties in DNA in the labs of Nicolas Buchler and David Beratan. His research is focused on computationally exploring the conformations of a lipid binding protein, ApoE4, implicated in the development of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. He is also actively involved in developing software and novel methods for RNA structure prediction that utilize experimentally derived constraints.
During his predoctoral studies, Beanfeard has been involved in teaching 大象传媒 graduate students through the 鈥淗ow to Learn to Code鈥� summer course that he helped develop, and in addition, he led a monthly student-led science workshop for homeschooled students. He is currently interning at 大象传媒鈥檚 Office of Commercialization and Economic Development and plans to pursue a career in intellectual property with a focus on patents.