Current Members
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Celia A. Schiffer, PhDProfessor & Chair of Biochemistry & Molecular BiotechnologyPrincipal InvestigatorArthur F. and Helen P. Koskinas Professorship in Biochemistry & Molecular BiotechnologyDirector Institute for Drug Resistance (IDR) Theme: Drug Resistance |
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Akbar Ali, PhDAssociate ProfessorTheme: Drug Resistance |
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Mohan Somasundaran, PhDAssociate Professor, VirologistTheme: Virus-Cell interactions, Antivirals, Drug Resistance |
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Nese Kurt Yilmaz, PhDAssociate ProfessorTheme: Drug Resistance |
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Ala M Shaqra, PhD, MBASenior Research Scientist and Laboratory ManagerTheme: Drug Resistance Research Interest - Using structural biology in conjunction with biochemistry and biophysics to design potent therapeutic candidates for human diseases. |
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Dinesh BarakPostdoctoral AssociateResearch Interest: Synthesis of novel heterocycles as potential antiviral agents |
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Jagroop KaurPostdoctoral Associate |
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Arooma Maryam, PhDPostdoctoral Associate |
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Jeong Min Lee, PhDPostdoctoral Associate |
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Somayeh Pirhadi, PhDPostdoctoral Associate |
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Vincent AzzolinoMD/PhD Student |
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Adam HedgerPhD Student/Joint with Watts LabResearch Interest - Combining nucleic acid chemistry with structure-based drug design - specifically to synthesize inhibitors for DNA-binding enzymes. |
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Judy HuangPhD StudentResearch 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. |
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Lauren IntravaiaPhD Student |
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Sarah ZvornicaninGraduate StudentResearch 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" |
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Diego Suchenski LoustaunauHigh School Intern |
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Joel KosovrastiUndergraduate Intern |