People

Emily Blythe, PhD

Assistant Professor

Emily grew up in Michigan. After getting her B.A. in Biological Chemistry from Grinnell College, she briefly crossed the pond to get an M.Phil. at the University of Cambridge, where she studied the structure of growth factors with Marko Hyvönen. Emily earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Caltech in 2019. For her thesis work with Raymond Deshaies, she characterized protein unfolding by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Her postdoc work with Mark von Zastrow at UCSF focused on signal transduction mediated by G protein-coupled receptors, and this work forms the basis for the Blythe lab at UMN. Emily started as an assistant professor in March 2025 and is very excited to see where the science will take the team next! Outside of lab, Emily enjoys reading and sewing.

Eamon Cole

Researcher 1

Eamon was born and raised in Washington, DC and came to the Midwest to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Chemistry and German Studies at Grinnell College. After graduating, he joined the Blythe Lab in June of 2025 as a Researcher 1 appointee. While at Grinnell, he studied antibiotic resistance in the lab of Professor Shannon Hinsa-Leasure, and spent the summer of 2024 researching cancer immunology in the lab of Lucas Chang, Ph.D., at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. He is interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology. Outside of the lab he enjoys cooking and is an avid biker, slowly exploring the many bike trails around the Twin Cities.