Diversity in Life Sciences

Denise Okafor received her B.S. in biomedical chemistry from Oral Roberts University. She earned an M.S. in chemistry and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her dissertation research was focused on the metallobiochemistry of RNA, investigating RNA folding and function as mediated by divalent cations magnesium and iron. Her postdoctoral research in the Ortlund lab at Emory University was focused on nuclear receptors, a family of ligand-regulated transcription factors. She used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the mechanisms underlying ligand activation in nuclear receptors. As an NIH-IRACDA postdoctoral fellow, Denise also taught at Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Atlanta.