Thoughts on Theses: Ashwin Balaji

Ashwin Balaji is a biophysics-biochemistry major. For his thesis, he is researching loop formation during DNA folding in sperm cells. His adviser is Associate Professor of Physics Ashley Carter. Q: What does Ashley Carter’s lab study?A: The Carter lab looks at a few different things. Our main focus is understanding how DNA compacts into very small structures. In your cells DNA needs to fit into a very small space — it’s something on the order of a few microns, but DNA inside the human genome is