Undergraduate Research Opportunities

University of Cincinnati undergraduate students may complete their capstone requirement through research in our laboratory.  Students should review the following guidelines before contacting Professor Limbach.

  1. The most successful capstone projects begin before the senior year. Thus, preference for undergraduate research is given to rising sophomores and juniors. Rising seniors are accepted into the lab on a space-available basis.
  2. Students are expected to commit to at least one-year of undergraduate research (CHEM 5030) with either Prof. Limbach or Prof. Addepalli at 3-credit hours per semester.
  3. Students will be assigned to a project under the guidance of a senior graduate student mentor. 
  4. Projects will require both informatics and bench chemistry, which is typical of modern research in Biochemistry. Projects are assigned in consultation with either Prof. Limbach or Prof. Addepalli.
  5. Undergraduates may work in teams on their capstone project. This approach has been found to be beneficial in increasing the research output for undergraduates getting a late start on their capstone project.
  6. Students are expected to present their capstone research at the University Undergraduate Research Conference in April.

On-going and Previous Undergraduate Research and Capstone Projects

  • In Vitro Transcription of Human tRNA Genes - Courtney Collins (on-going project)
  • Purification and characterization of the ribonuclease Cusativin from Cucumis sativus L. - Sarah Venus (on-going project)
  • Improving the yield of RNA recovered from human placenta using Proteinase K - Matthew Bergmann (Capstone 2014)
  • Incorporating Stable Isotopes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA by Labeled Uracil - Chelsea Burns (Capstone 2014) and Mathew Pflanz (on-going project; Mat received departmental summer fellowship for this project as well)
  • Incorporation of Isotopically Labeled Glycine in Escherichia coli - Chelsea Matthews and Karen Rahe (Capstone 2014; Karen received departmental summer fellowship for this project as well)
  • Developing mass spectrometry methods for analyzing aminoacylated-tRNA - Lucas Hendrixson (Capstone 2014)
  • Improving Elution Conditions to Increase Transfer RNA Purity Using Anion Exchange Chromatography - William Judd (Capstone 2014)    



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