Rusty Denton

I am from North Carolina where I was born and raised.  I have four sisters, two older and two younger. I received a BS in biochemistry in 2015 from BYUI. I am currently pursuing a PhD from BYU in chemistry. My projects in the JC Price lab are related to measuring and quantitating in vivo lipid flux. Simply put, we use D­₂O to label biomolecules in vivo and we use mass spectrometry to assess how much of the molecules we measure are labeled with D₂O. This allows us to calculate how much of the populations are new or old. Since we are keeping track of experimental duration, we can calculate flux. We do two main experiments, shotgun mass spectrometry and in situ measurements of tissue using imaging mass spectrometry. We are interested in applying these techniques to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) models that can lead to understanding AD in humans.  I have interests in science, music, cooking, hiking, exercise and sports. I write and play guitar (that I built) music and I have built a bass guitar that I plan to learn too. I play disc golf regularly where I am involved with a club that hosts events, maintains courses, and is involved with helping and educating new comers of the game. I plan to use research to further our understanding of human disease by applying the skills I am now learning. I do not yet have a clear path in mind as to how I will accomplish this, but I am hopeful that as time continues, it will become more clear as I take advantage of new opportunities that present themselves.