Alliston Lab

Charlie Schurman

Education
Bachelor of Science, Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2016
Minor, Materials Science, Northwestern University, 2016

Biography
Charlie became interested in studying biologic materials and the interface between living systems and their control over their “non-living” components while completing his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering. During his undergrad, Charlie worked in the labs of Prof. Chad Mirkin and Prof. Michael Bedzyk in the Chemistry and Material Science departments at Northwestern University designing nanoparticle syntheses and classifying their resultant materials with X-Ray based scattering techniques. For this work, Charlie was awarded several undergraduate research grants to support his work through all summer and academic session from 2013 to 2016. Charlie was ultimately recognized in 2016 with Graduation Honors for a Senior Research Thesis on the same work, which relied heavily on Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) and X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) experiments completed at the Advanced Particle Source at Argonne National Laboratory. Charlie began pursuing his Ph.D. in the UC Berkeley - UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering in 2016 and joined the Alliston lab in 2017. Here, he hopes to use his materials and engineering background to answer elusive biologic questions pertaining to the role of material components on bone quality and health and the biologic processes responsible for their upkeep and deregulation in diseased states. Outside of lab, Charlie enjoys a range of hobbies including singing with the University of California Alumni Chorus, outdoor activities like skiing and hiking, and mentoring young scientific minds through the BASIS and Be A Scientist Programs through the University of California - Berkeley.

Research Interests
• Molecular mechanisms of bone remodeling and bone quality
• Control of material regulation by living systems

Favorite Synchrotron based X-ray technique
Small Angle X-Ray Scattering

Contact
charlie.schurman [at] ucsf.edu