Current Members

Celia A. Schiffer, PhD

LRB 828
Tel: 508-856-8008
 

Theme: Drug Resistance
Diseases: HIV; HCV; Cancer; Influenza; Dengue
Proteins: HIV-1 protease; HCV NS3/4A protease; APOBEC3's; Influenza neuraminindase; Influenza hemagglutinin; Dengue NS2B/NS3 protease
Research Technique: Everything

IDR Website

Akbar Ali, PhD

Associate Professor

Tel: 508-856-8873
 

Theme: Drug Resistance
Diseases: HIV; HCV; Dengue; Cancer
Proteins: HIV-1 protease; HCV NS3/4A protease; Dengue NS2B/NS3; APOBEC3's
Research Technique: Organic Chemistry

Mohan Somasundaran, PhD

Associate Professor, Virologist

Tel: 508-856-4408
 

Theme: Virus-Cell interactions, Antivirals, Drug Resistance
Diseases: HIV; Influenza; SARS-CoV2; Cancer
Proteins: Influenza hemagglutinin/neuraminidase; SARS-CoV2 Spike/Proteases; Ace2, TMPRSS2; APOBEC3's; HIV-1 protease
Research Technique: Molecular Virology; Cryo EM/ET; Virus lab

Nese Kurt Yilmaz, PhD

Associate Professor

Tel: 508-856-1867
 

Theme: Drug Resistance
Diseases: HIV; HCV; Cancer; Influenza; Dengue
Proteins: HIV-1 protease; HCV NS3/4A protease; APOBEC3's; Influenza neuraminidase; Dengue NS2B/NS3
Research Techniques: Enzyme Inhibition; Structural Analysis; Lab Managing

Ala M Shaqra, PhD, MBA

Senior Research Scientist and Laboratory Manager

Theme: Drug Resistance
Diseases: HIV; HCV; Cancer; Influenza; Dengue
Proteins: HIV-1 protease; HCV NS3/4A protease; Influenza neuraminidase; Dengue NS2B/NS3
Research Techniques: Lab Managing; Protein Expression; Protein Crystallization; Enzyme Inhibition

Research Interest - Using structural biology in conjunction with biochemistry and biophysics to design potent therapeutic candidates for human diseases. 

Dinesh Barak

Postdoctoral Associate

Phone: 508-856-4476

Research Interest: Synthesis of novel heterocycles as potential antiviral agents

Jagroop Kaur

Postdoctoral Associate

Arooma Maryam, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Jeong Min Lee, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Somayeh Pirhadi, PhD

Postdoctoral Associate

Vincent Azzolino

MD/PhD Student

Adam Hedger

PhD Student/Joint with Watts Lab

Research Interest - Combining nucleic acid chemistry with structure-based drug design - specifically to synthesize inhibitors for DNA-binding enzymes.

Judy Huang

PhD Student

Research Interest - Judy is interested in using quantitative cryo-electron tomography to analyze structure-function relationships of influenza viruses. Outside of lab, they are an active UMass Chan student leader. Judy is the current Diversity Pillar of the Student Government Alliance and the Diversity and Inclusion Co-chair of the Graduate Student Body Council.

Lauren Intravaia

PhD Student

Sarah Zvornicanin

Graduate Student

Research Interest - "My goal is to design and evaluate drug resistance-thwarting inhibitors against HTLV-1 protease and SARS-CoV-2 main protease. My work involves protein purification, enzyme inhibition assays, x-ray crystallography, molecular modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, structural analysis, and strategizing to avoid drug resistance"

Diego Suchenski Loustaunau

High School Intern

Joel Kosovrasti

Undergraduate Intern