BY

First and foremost, I thank Dr. Sharon Murphy-- I am thankful and honored that you indulged me with your wisdom and guidance. You’ve shared your bountiful knowledge of enzymes, metabolism, and analytical approaches with me and have challenged me to think and communicate as a biochemist. From deciding on which scientific questions to pursue to the design and execution of specific experiments you’ve allowed me to make mistakes and have patiently helped me to learn from them, thus substantially developing my independence as a research scientist. Also, I have learned from how you lead your laboratory: you ask probing questions about the experiments being conducted, have reasonable expectations, and care about each person as an individual. In addition, I thank my PhD thesis committee members Dr. John Lipscomb (chair), Dr. Alex Lange, and Dr. Tim Tracy for their academic guidance, insightful scientific feedback, as well as time contributed to meeting with me, attending seminars, and reading this thesis. I thank present and former members of the Murphy lab for their unwaverin