Mary E. Peek
Contact Information
- mary.peek@chemistry.gatech.edu
- Phone
- (404) 894-4001
- Fax
- (404) 894-4066
- Location
- Boggs 2-90G
- Publication Links
- Google Scholar
Mary E. Peek
Principal Academic Professional
Awards
- 2024 – 2025: Transformative Teaching and Learning Innovation Incubator Grant for "Next Level Biochemical Education: Learning through Mini-CURE's" ($10,475 award)
- 2023: Geoffrey G. Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award
- 2017 Undergraduate Educator Award
- 2016 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Education Fellow
- 2008 ANAK Award (selected by Georgia Tech undergraduate students institute-wide)
Education
1995 Ph.D. Biochemistry Georgia Institute of Technology
1990 B.A., Chemistry Hollins College
Research
Mini-CURE's in Biochemistry Laboratory II is the 2024-2025 project to incorporate 7-week course-based undergraduate research experiences involving the research of colleagues within the School. The Environmental Biotechnology CURE sponsored by Dr. Raquel Lieberman, Gwendell Thomas, and Dr. Stephen Quirk (Kimberly-Clark) seeks to discover and characterize plastic-degrading enzymes. The Polynucleotide Kinase (PNK) CURE sponsored by Dr. Nick Hud and Gary Newnam, seeks to understand anomalous activity of PNK. The Biometals CURE sponsored by Dr. Amit Reddi, Dr. Ryan Allen, and Mauna Kareti seeks to understand the binding of metals to heme and characterize heme-metal-protein interactions. Mini-CURE’s in Biochemistry Laboratory II is an exciting opportunity to enhance student learning using a high-impact educational practice, to champion innovation in the Biochemistry Teaching Laboratory, and to ensure that all Biochemistry majors get the opportunity to engage in undergraduate research.
Biochemistry Teaching Laboratory (BTL) Simulations Project is a Teaching with Technology Partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning to produce simulations for conducting spectroscopic experiments in an online and/or virtual reality platform. The goal is to supplement our hands-on training with simulations that teach students the critical thinking skills need to make meaningful measurements in biochemical studies. BTL simulations also offer us the capability to help students get back on track after absences when make-up opportunities for experimentation are limited. The hallmark of the BTL Simulations Project is that the coding is done by Georgia Tech Computer Science majors. In Fall 2024, we have hired students with expertise in Blender, JavaScript, React.js, Node.js, THREE.js who are finalizing two apps for CHEM 4582 for Spring 2025.
Select Publications
- Austin, L.A., Ahmad, S., Kang, B., Rommel, K.R., Mahmoud, M., Peek, M.E., and El-Sayed, M.A. "Cytotoxic Effects of Cytoplasmic-Targeted and Nuclear-Targeted Gold and Silver Nanoparticles in HSC-3 Cells – A Mechanistic Study" Toxicology In Vitro 29, 694-705 (2014).
- Lieberman, R. L., Peek, M. E., Watkins, J. D. "Determination of Soluble and Membrane Protein Structures by X-ray Crystallography" Methods in Molecular Biology 955, 475-493 (2013).
- Peek, M. E., Bhatnagar, A., McCarty, N., and Zughaier, S. M. "Pyoverdine, the Major Siderophore in Pseudomonas aerogenosa, Evades NGAL Recognition" Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases, 2012, Article ID 843509, 10 pages (2012). DOI:10.1155/2012/843509