Rate My Professor Crystal Young-Erdos

Crystal L. Young-Erdos is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry with a concentration in Chemical Biology from the University of Michigan in 2012, with a dissertation titled 'ROK1ng the Ribosome Assembly Boat: An Investigation of the DEAD-box Protein Rok1 and its Co-factor Rrp5.' She previously obtained an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 2008 and a B.A. in Chemistry and Spanish, summa cum laude, from Washington & Jefferson College in 2006. Young-Erdos began her academic career as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the College of Wooster from 2012 to 2014. She joined Eckerd College as Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry in 2014 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. In her roles, she has taught courses such as General Chemistry I and II, Biochemistry I and II, Organic Chemistry laboratories, Chemistry Seminar, and interdisciplinary general education classes including Human Experience and Winter Term courses on topics like the chemistry of candy and microbial meals.

Her primary research interests focus on RNA-protein interactions, specifically the mechanisms by which DEAD-box proteins—a conserved family of RNA-dependent ATPases—achieve substrate specificity during ribosome assembly. In her lab at Eckerd College, she and her undergraduate researchers investigate N- and C-terminal extensions and binding cofactors of yeast DEAD-box proteins orthologous to human proteins implicated in cancer, using biochemistry, molecular biology, and yeast genetics. An ongoing project examines physiological stress responses in dogs and their human companions living on campus through salivary cortisol measurements. Key publications include 'The DEAD-box Protein Rok1 Orchestrates 40S and 60S Ribosome Assembly by Promoting the Release of Rrp5 from Pre-40S Ribosomes to Allow for 60S Maturation' (PLoS Biol., 2016), 'Cofactor-dependent Specificity of a DEAD-box Protein' (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2013), 'A Translation-like Cycle is a Quality Control Checkpoint for Maturing 40S Ribosome Subunits' (Cell, 2012), 'Analysis of Co-factor Effects on RNA Helicases' (Methods Enzymol., 2012), and 'The Roles of S1 RNA-binding Domains in Rrp5’s Interactions with pre-rRNA' (RNA, 2011). She has presented research at meetings of the RNA Society, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Southeastern Regional Yeast Meeting.