ACA Early Career Scientist Spotlight-24

Evan Billings Columbia University Irving Medical Campus Postdoctoral Research Scientist ACA Member Since 2019 The Noinaj Lab The Mancia Lab LinkedIn X: @VinylBillings I am from a small town in northern Indiana, where my family owns and operates both a funeral home and an antique mall. I graduated from Purdue University in 2018 with a BS in biochemistry and minors in philosophy and biology. I decided to stay at Purdue University for graduate school and in 2019 I joined the lab of Dr. Nicholas Noinaj where I have been studying how outer membrane proteins in Gram-negative bacteria are folded in the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae primarily using structural biology and biophysical techniques. I graduated with my PhD in May 2024 and I will be starting a position as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the lab of Dr. Filippo Mancia at the Columbia University Irving Medical Campus in September. In my spare time, I enjoy reading hiking, baking, and spending time with my dog.

Personal Statement 

The Noinaj lab studies outer membrane proteins in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, which almost exclusively exhibit a β barrel fold. These proteins are folded and inserted into the membrane by a five-component membrane protein complex, called the β- barrel assembly machinery (BAM) complex. Our lab primarily uses cryo- electron microscopy and in vivo and in vitro biophysical assays to study the BAM complex and other outer membrane proteins. I graduated in May 2024 and my research focused on studying the BAM complex from Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NgBAM) which has developed serious antibiotic resistance. I studied the complex using cryo-EM and worked with collaborators to perform molecule dynamics simulations and double electron electron spectroscopy. We are interested in developing BAM as a drug target and I also studied how NgBAM interacts with novel antibiotics, using structural biology. I am now excited to be starting a Postdoctoral Research Scientist position at the Columbia University Irving Medical Campus. I will be working under Dr. Filippo Mancia continuing to study membrane proteins involved in human disease and bacterial pathogenesis.

When I was an undergraduate, I worked on a research project to determine the structure of a surface lipoprotein from Neisseria gonorrhoeae. I managed to get several crystal hits from screening and one of those crystals diffracted to 2.8 Å! Unfortunately, we were unable to phase the data and I was not able to solve the structure. However, working in a lab as an undergraduate gave me invaluable experience learning how to express and purify a protein recombinantly from bacteria. It also cemented in me the goal of wanting to pursue research as a career and initially inspired me to apply to graduate school.

This past year has taught me a lot about myself and research. Now that I have graduated and went through the process of applying to jobs, I look back at my research accomplishments as a graduate student and often feel I have not done enough. I think this is a common feeling many graduate students have. Perhaps they have not met a research goal they set or were not able to troubleshoot a particular problem. I have experienced these “imposter syndrome” issues myself, and looking back, I need to remind myself that the primary focus of graduate school is to learn techniques and learn how to think critically about experiments.

My PhD lab currently has 10 graduate students! We all are studying various outer membrane proteins systems in different pathogenic bacteria. Our lab is very fun and we plan a lot of activities together outside of work. We always celebrate birthdays and have many holiday parties throughout the year. My favorite spot at Purdue is the Jules Janick Horticultural garden. Every year during the spring and summer the Horticulture Department plants over 1000 different flowers and plants in this 0.5 acre garden on campus. It is a great place to take a break from lab work and enjoy the scenery when the weather is nice.