Kate DaPron

Kate earned her Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder under the mentorship of Dr. Marcelo Sousa, where she investigated how the biophysical properties of bacterial effector proteins enable their unfolding and thus secretion through the Type III Secretion System. Her research integrated single-molecule force spectroscopy, protein biochemistry, biophysical measurements, and computational approaches to understand how protein structure and stability influence biological function. In the Zyla Lab, she is interested in combining her expertise in biochemical and biophysical approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms of viral fusion and inform structure-based antigen design. In her free time, Kate enjoys seeing live music, playing video games, game nights involving everything from board games to TCGs and TTRPGs, thrifting, and reading fantasy and science fiction.