Current Members
Professor & Chair of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology
Principal Investigator
Arthur F. and Helen P. Koskinas Professorship in Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology
Director Institute for Drug Resistance (IDR)
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
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
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
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.
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Jeong Min Lee, PhD
Sr. Research Scientist
Theme: engineering cytosine base editor
Diseases: diverse genetic diseases
Proteins: APOBEC3's; Cas9; uracil glycosylase inhibitor; the components of CRISPR gene editing
Research Technique: protein engineering and biochemistry
Research Interests: engineering proteins, nucleic acids, or nanomaterials with novel structures, dynamics, and functions for basic biology/biomedical applications and effective therapeutic approaches.
Dinesh Barak, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Phone: 508-856-4476
Theme: Drug Resistance
Diseases: HIV; Cancer; SARS-CoV-2Proteins: HIV-1 protease; HTLV-1 protease; SARC-CoV-2 Main protease
Research Technique: Synthetic Organic and Medicinal Chemistry
Research Interests: Synthesis of novel heterocycles as potential antiviral agents
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Sabihur Rahman Farooqui, PhD
Theme: Cell-Virus interaction, Antivirals
Disease: Influenza Virus and HTLV-1
Proteins: Influenza HA and HTLV-1 Protease
Research Techniques: Molecular Biology and Cryo-ET
Research Interest: To investigate the cell entry mechanisms and neutralization of viruses using the Influenza virus as a model system.
Jagroop Kaur, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Theme: Drug Resistance
Disease: Diabetes, Viral Infections
Proteins: Renalase, HIV-1 Protease, SARS-CoV2 MPro
Research Techniques: Organic Chemistry Methodologies; Small Molecule Synthesis, Purification and Characterization; Enzyme Inhibition Assays
Research Interest: Design and synthesis of Small Molecule Viral Protease Inhibitors. Furthermore, evaluation of Enzyme Inhibition via Both Direct and Indirect Binding Assays, Employing Varied Approaches Such as ITC, UV-Vis, Fluorescence, and NMR Spectroscopy
Arooma Maryam, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Theme: Small molecule drug discovery against autoimmune disease
Diseases: Type 1 Diabetes, Cancer Proteins: Human Renalase, APOBEC3 isoforms
Research Techniques: Protein Expression and Purification, molecular modelling, and molecular dynamics simulation. Structural analysis, virtual small molecule drug screening.
Research Interest: Utilizing computational methodologies, including molecular modeling and conventional molecular dynamics simulations to understand the relationship between the three-dimensional structures, dynamics and the biological functions of DNA-binding enzymes and proteins central to Type I Diabetes.
Vincent Azzolino, MD/PhD Student
Theme: Drug Resistance
Disease: Enterovirus, specifically EV-D68Proteins: Enteroviral 3C protease and other 3C and 3C-like proteases
Research Techniques: Protein Expression and Purification, Computational Modeling, Molecular Dynamic Simulations, X-ray Crystallography, Enzyme Activity and Enzyme Inhibition Assays, Structure Aided Drug Design.
Research Interest: Understanding the complexity behind inhibitor design to mitigate formation of resistance in hyper-mutating viruses. My goal is to apply this understanding and skill set as a future physician-scientist through the lens of Dermatology as I study diseases with skin manifestations requiring novel therapeutic design.
Adam Hedger, PhD Student
Joint placement with Watts Lab
Theme: Medicinal, Nucleic Acid, and Oligonucleotide Chemistry
Proteins: APOBEC3 enzymes and SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease
Research Techniques: Synthetic Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Nucleic Acid Chemistry, Oligonucleotide Synthesis and Purification.
Research Interest: Combining Nucleic Acid chemistry with Structure-Based Drug Design – to synthesize chemically modified oligonucleotide inhibitors for DNA-binding enzymes. Additionally, the design, synthesis, and purification of peptidomimetic/macrocyclic compounds targeting viral proteases.
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
Theme: Drug Resistance
Disease: HIV
Proteins: HIV-1 protease Research Techniques: Machine learning, molecular dynamics, protein structure prediction
Research Interest: Using computational methods to enhance structure-based drug design and reveal molecular mechanisms underlying drug resistance.
Sarah Zvornicanin, PhD Student
Theme: Drug resistance
Diseases: HTLV-1, SARS-CoV-2
Proteins: HTLV-1 Protease, SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease
Research Technique: Protein Purification, Enzyme Inhibition Assays, X-ray Crystallography, Protein Structure Analysis, Structure-based Drug Design, Protein Modeling, Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Research Interests: For HTLV-1 Protease, I'm inspired to design and characterize novel, resistance-preventing, potent inhibitors against HTLV-1 protease using structural and biochemical techniques. For SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, I'm interested in characterizing cooperativity and/or dimerization of the enzyme as well as interpreting the drug resistance mutations which have arisen from current antiviral treatments.