Jessa Payusan

Jessa is a Chemistry graduate student at UIC. She is curious about studying how biomolecules of certain organisms adapt and thrive under extreme conditions. She is particularly interested in how enzymes fold, unfold, and change under extremely high pressure. She combines computational and experimental approaches by employing Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and high-pressure structural biology using Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering (HP-SAXS) to understand these questions fully.

When not investigating the extremophiles, Jessa is fascinated by music, culture, and the arts. She enjoys hobbies like watercolor painting, modern calligraphy, photography, and reading non-fiction books in her spare time.