Directed Evolution of Stabilized Peptides with Bacterial Display Tejas A. Navaratna A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Chemical Engineering) in the University of Michigan 2020 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Greg Thurber, Chair Professor James Bardwell Professor Erdogan Gulari Associate Professor Xiaoxia Nina Lin Associate Professor Fei Wen Tejas Navaratna
[email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2976-0137 © Tejas Navaratna 2020 Acknowledgments I deeply thank Professor Greg Thurber for his guidance, trust, and support in me. I cannot count the number of times I came into his office unsure of future research paths and came away inspired and eager to probe new directions. He gave me the opportunity and freedom to explore my ideas, while also being an excellent mentor and advisor in this journey. I also thank my other committee members, Professors Jim Bardwell, Erdogan Gulari, Nina Lin, and Fei Wen for their support and productive discussions. I also would like to thank Professor Jim Van Deventer, Professor Cathy Fromen, Professor Kevin Solomon, and Dr. Marco Jost for helpful career advice. I would also like to acknowledge Andrew Min and Liz Goulston, two undergraduate students I have had the pleasure of mentoring. Working with them led me to realize my passion for mentorship. Other Thurber Lab members that I closely worked with are Lydia Atangcho, Liang Zhang, Marshall Case, and Mukesh Mahajan – I am deeply grateful for your advice and support. Finally, I would also like to thank Sumit Bhatnagar, Cornelius Cilliers, Bruna Menezes, Eshita Khera, Ian Nessler, Reggie Evans, Anna Kopp, Celia Dong, Haolong Huang, and Yinuo Chen for fostering a social, friendly, and wonderfully collaborative lab environment, even through the COVID-19 shutdown– I couldn’t have asked for better labmates.