Qianqin is currently a junior majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Studio Art. She is from Shandong, China. In her free time, she enjoys drawing and exploring different genres of music.
Qianqin joined the lab in January 2022. Currently, she is constructing mutant arrestin-3-derived T16 peptides under the supervision of Drs. Vsevolod Gurevich and Sergey Vishnivetskiy. T16 facilitates JNK3 activation in cells by scaffolding the ASK1-MKK4/7-JNK3 cascade. Qianqin is testing whether this T16 function can be improved by conservative substitutions. JNK family kinases are involved in neuronal cell growth and apoptosis. JNK activation by T16 nearly doubles apoptotic death of neuroblastoma cells induced by anti-cancer drugs.