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I would like to thank several people for their support, advice, and friendship. First, I would like to thank my graduate advisor, Celia Schiffer, for giving me the opportunity to work on a project that interested me, and also for her support and guidance throughout my graduate studies. I have learned a lot from her the past few years, especially to ask the right questions and to be confident as a scientist. Not only is she a good mentor but is also a wonderful person and I would also like to thank her for her friendship over the past years. She has also brought together a wonderful set of people that make the lab a great environment to do science. I would like to thank all of my lab mates for the lively discussions and their support. I am especially grateful to Ellen Nalivaika, not only for making sure everything in the lab is running smoothly and but also for helping me with an occasional PCR that always works when she does it!! I would like to thank Moses and Madhavi for patiently teaching me x-ray crystallography. I would like to express m