Young Alumni Success Stories

Merissa Bruns (BS 2015) is part of a research team with an article titled “A Quantitative Live-Cell Superresolution Imaging Framework for Measuring the Mobility of Single Molecules at Sites of Virus Assembly,” published in the medical science journal, Pathogens.

Merissa, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of Denver, said her research traces how HIV-1, the virus known to cause AIDS, assembles itself inside a human host cell.

“I use two fluorescently labeled markers to label the assembly proteins,” Merissa said. “One marker is an antibody fragment, known as BG18. That is my pride and joy, as I was the first to microbially reproduce and purify the potent fragment proven successful in labeling HIV-1 during assembly.

“Having this paper published brought me joy, as we have now contributed information and a powerful tool in the fight against the AIDS pandemic.”

Cristian Pacheco (BS 17) is now a production supervisor at KFDA NewsChannel10 in Amarillo, Texas, and has co-created beknownposts.com, a website designed to get aspiring hip-hop artists discovered.

Cristian serves as the newscast director for Live at Five, News at Six, and News at Ten broadcasts at KFDA and assists with photography and editing for the newscasts. He hopes to eventually advance his career to larger markets.

He and business partner Alberto Solis created beknownposts.com in 2014.

“I help upcoming hip-hop artists get their music out to new listeners, writing about the song and promoting it through social media,” Pacheco said. “I’ve assisted many artists from across the United States. I enjoy helping them because I genuinely love music.”