OUR TEAM
Dr. Stefan Sarafianos
Nahmias-Schinazi Chair, Professor Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology Emory University
Education: Ph.D. 1993, Georgetown University
Fields of Interest: Viral Replication and Entry; Antivirals
E-mail: ssarafi [at] emory.edu
Office: (404) 727-9579
Links to publications: Google Scholar | MyNCBI | ResearchGate
Assistant Professors
Karen Kirby, Ph.D.
Education: B.S. Chemistry, University of Minnesota Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Missouri
Fields of Interest: Structural Biology, X-ray Crystallography, Structure-Based Drug Design, HIV, HBV, Enterovirus 71
Email: karen.kirby [at] emory.edu
Office: (404) 727-7619
Links: Google Scholar | PubMed
Ivo Melčák, Ph.D.
Education: Ph.D. Cell Biology, Charles University; Postdoctoral Training, HHMI, The Rockefeller University
Fields of Interest: Structural aspects of viral entry through the Nuclear Pore Complex
Email: ivo.melcak [at] emory.edu
Links: PubMed
Shuiyun Lan, Ph.D.
Education: B.A. in Medicinal Chemistry from Shanghai Medical University; Ph.D. in Pathogenic Biology from Fudan University
Fields of Interest: Molecular Biology; Virology | Virus replication and antivirals development.
Project(s): Development of HBV Reporter System; Discovery and Characterization of Novel Inhibitors against HBV and HIV.
Email: shuiyun.lan [at] emory.edu
Links: MyNCBI
Research Staff
Huanchun Zhang
Research Specialist, Lead
Education: B.S. in Public Health at West China University of Medical Sciences
Fields of Interest: Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Project(s): Investigating the function of different compounds on human virus disease such as HIV and HCV
Email: huanchun.zhang [at] emory.edu
Andres Emanuelli
Research Specialist
Fields of Interest: Microbiological research on Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases
Email: andres.emanuelli [at] emory.edu
Zach Lorson
Research Specialist
Fields of Interest: Microbiology
Email: zlorson [at] emory.edu
Jonathan (Nathan) Winkjer
Research Specialist
Education: BS in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Southern Polytechnic State University.
Fields of Interest: Biotechnology, human disease.
Project(s): HIV drug synergy.
Email: JWinkje [at] emory.edu
Links: PubMed
Niki Azadi
Research Specialist
Fields of Interest: Biology
Projects: RNA
Email: nazadi [at] emory.edu
Postdocs
Ryan Slack, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Education: PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology (University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine), BS in Biophysics (Centenary College)
Fields of Interest: Biophysics, Structural Biology, Biochemistry, Virology, Molecular Biology
Project(s): Interaction of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase with Host Restriction Factors, Screening and Characterization of Small Molecule Inhibitors to SARS-CoV2 Replication
Email: rslack [at] emory.edu
Links: PubMed
Jasper Lee, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Education: PhD, Microbiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center; BS, Microbiology, The Ohio State University
Fields of Interest: Virology, RNA viruses, drug resistance
Project(s): Interaction of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase with Host Restriction Factors, Screening and Characterization of Small Molecule Inhibitors to SARS-CoV2 Replication
Email: jasper.lee [at] emory.edu
Links: PubMed
Asha Maria Mathew, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Education: Ph.D. Biotechnology, National Institute of Virology, Pune, India
Fields of Interest: Virus entry and replication, Virus Like Particles ,Molecular Virology , Cell Biology
Project(s): TBD
Email: asha.maria.mathew [at] emory.edu
Links: LinkedIn
Graduate Students
Alexa Snyder
Education: B.A. in Biochemistry (ACS)
Fields of Interest: Structural biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry
Project(s): HIV Reverse Transcriptase and HIV Capsid
Email: alexa.snyder [at] emory.edu
Grace Neilsen
Education:
Fields of Interest:
Project(s): Drug resistance of SARS-CoV-2 nsp5 mutants
Email: grace.neilsen [at] emory.edu
Links:
Will McFadden
Education: B.S. in Molecular Biology & B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh
Fields of Interest: Biochemistry, Structural Biology, Virology, and Intrinsically Disordered Proteins
Project(s): HIV-1 capsid studies (TSA, assembly, biochem + EM); Purification of CA (spheres, R. Dick, nanobody); TSAR package
Email: will.mcfadden [at] emory.edu
Links: Research Gate
Xin (Kristy) Wen
Education: B.S. in Chemistry, University of Utah.
Fields of Interest: Drug discovery and development.
Project(s): SARS-CoV-2 small molecule inhibitors.
Email: Xin.Wen [at] emory.edu
Jose Castro
Education: M.S. in Biochemistry, University of Texas
Fields of Interest: Drug development, protein therapeutics, and structural biology
Project(s): Purification, structural determination, and drug discovery for SARS-CoV-2 nonstructural protein 13
Email: Jose.Castro [at] emory.edu
Rotation Students
Xinyong (Steven) Cai
Fields of Interest: Structural biology, molecular cell biology, biochemistry
Project(s):
Email: xinyong.cai [at] emory.edu
Office: (404) 727-9425
Undergraduate Students
Candy Gao
Fields of Interest: Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Genetics, Virology
Email: candy.gao [at] emory.edu
Dhanya Muppalla
Fields of Interest: Virology, Infectious Disease, Drug Resistance, Pediatrics
Email: dhanya.muppalla [at] emory.edu
Jessica Fahim
Fields of Interest: Structural Biology, Virology, Genetics
Email: Jessica.Fahim [at] emory.edu
Margaret Vogelpohl
Fields of Interest: Biology, Ethics, Pediatrics
Email: MVogelp [at] emory.edu
Isabella Kaufman
Fields of Interest: Infectious Disease, Virology, Epidemiology
Email: Bella.Kaufman [at] emory.edu
Rachel Lee
Fields of Interest: Cell culture, Microscopy, Anti-viral drug resistance
Email: Rachel.Lee [at] emory.edu
Kristin Edwards
Fields of Interest: Biochemistry, Immunology, Neuroscience
Email: kristin.edwards2 [at] emory.edu
Zhijiang Ye
Fields of Interest: Genetics, drug discovery, biostatistics, bioinfomatics
Email: zhijiang.ye [at] emory.edu
Riley Aiken
Fields of Interest: Neuroscience, Biology, Pediatrics, Virology
Email: riley.aiken [at] emory.edu
Aaron Wei
Fields of Interest: Chemistry, Infectious Disease, Virology
Email: aaron.wei [at] emory.edu
Administrative Staff
Sarah Prewoznik
Administrative Coordinator
Email: sprewoz@emory.edu
Office: (404) 727-1387
Lab VIP (Very Important Pets)
Alumni
Previous Research Faculty
Dr. William Cantara (Research Assistant Professor, 2020 – 2023)
Dr. Philip Tedbury (Research Assistant Professor, 2016-2023)
Dr. Tanya Ndongwe (Post-doctoral fellow 2015)
Dr. Eleftherios Michailidis (Post-doctoral fellow, 2012-2013)
Dr. Adeyemi Adedeji (Post-doctoral fellow, summer 2012)
Dr. Bruno Marchand (Post-doctoral fellow, 2007-2011)
Dr. Atsuko Hachiya (Post-doctoral fellow, AIDS Government Clinic, Tokyo, Japan, 2009-2011)
Dr. Kamal Singh (Research Assistant Professor, 2008-2018)
Dr. Devendra Kumar Rai (Post-doctoral fellow, 2010-2012)
Dr. Robert Ralston (Research Assistant Professor, 2012-2014)
Dr. Bechan Sharma (Sabbatical training 2011)
Previous Graduate Students
Darius Mahboubi PhD MSP, Emory U. (2018-2023)
Maria Cilento PhD BCDB, Emory U. (2018-2022)
Raven Shah PhD BCDB, Emory U. (2018-2021)
Seongmi Kim MS Pathobiology area, U. of MO (2016-2017)
Assi Vincent Yapo PhD MMI, U. of MO (2015-2020)
Mahmoud Farghali PhD MMI, U. of MO (2015-2019)
Mary Casey PhD MMI, U. of MO (2014-2019)
Andrew Huber PhD Vet Path, U. of MO (2013-2017)
Obiaara Ihenacho Ukah PhD MMI, U. of MO (2013-2017)
Maritza Puray Chavez PhD MMI-Fulbright scholar, U. of MO (2013-2018)
Jackie Flores MS MMI, U. of MO (2013-2017)
Anna Gres PhD Chemistry, U. of MO (2013-2017)
Ademola Kassim MSc University Illinois (2012)
Dandan Liu PhD MMI, U. of MO (2012-2017)
Zhe Li Salie PhD Biochem, U. of MO (2012-2016)
Eleftherios Michailidis PhD MMI, U. of MO (2006-2012)
Adeyemi Adedeji PhD MMI, U. of MO (2007-2012)
Yee Tsuey Ong PhD MMI, U. of MO (2008-2014)
Tanya Ndongwe PhD MMI, U. of MO (2009-2015)
Matt Schuckmann MSc MMI, U. of MO (2006-2010)
Ignacio de la Higuera PhD, U.A. de Madrid (2012)
Flore De Witt PhD KU Leuven (2017)
Previous Undergraduate Students
2022
- Cole Smith
- Gitika Chaudhry
- Jack MacQuillan
2021
- Pablo Morell Jr.
- Niki Azadi
- Research Specialist, Sarafianos Lab
- Debbie Kitzler
- Biomedical Engineering student, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Vishal Shankar
- Ansh Patel
2020
- Talia Sisroe
- MD student, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
- Jason Jiang (Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology high school intern)
- Undergraduate student, Yale University
- Nicole Lulkin
- Medical Assistant at Erie Family Health Center
2019
- Alex Welsh
- Claudia Wahoski
- PhD student, Vanderbilt Microbiology & Immunology
- Ciro Carrillo Marcano Jr.
- MD student, The Universidad Central del Caribe
- Ally Jin
- Andres Emanuelli
2018
- Melina Khorrami
- Clinical Research Associate at Syneos Health
- Madeline Lazar
- Research Associate, GreenLight Biosciences
- Olivia Blackman
- Kanwal Momin
- MD student, UTMB Galveston medical school
2017
- Adit Shah
2016
- Skyler Kramer
- PhD student, University of Missouri – Columbia Informatics Institute.
- Cortney Hutson
- Gilberto Perez
2015
- Rohit Rao
- Emily Coonrod
- Biological Sciences Discovery fellow, Human and Statistical Genetics PhD program, Washington University of St. Louis
- Blake Nourie
- MD student, Sidney Kimmel Medical College
- Seongmi Kim
2014
- Maria Boftsi (Visiting scholar, Greece)
- Hannah Brenton
- Leonard Rogers
- PhD student, Washington University of St. Louis Molecular Cell Biology
- Samuel Min
- VP, Functional Genomics and Host-Directed Therapy
- Alejandra Pinillos
- Robert Newman
- Olajumoke Akala
2013
- Dominique Stephens
- Post-doctoral fellow, Vanderbilt University Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
- Benjamin G. Langsten
- Sumidha Katti
- Senior Client Delivery, Cloudmed Healthcare Systems
- Ipsa Chaudhary
- Consultant, Cerner Corporation
- Arzoo Singh (Visiting scholar, India)
- Junior Researcher, Step Innovations Africa
- Aakansha Singh (Visiting scholar, India)
- Thomas Gerard Laughlin
- Structural Biologist at Altos Labs
- Nnamdi Ihenacho
- Medical Lab Manager, University of Missouri Health Care
- Amanda Pelletier, Biological Sciences HHMI fellow, LSUROP fellow
- Nicholas Wiegers, Biological Sciences HHMI fellow
- Kelsey Boschert, Nutritional Sciences Discovery Fellows Program HONORS college, University of Kansas Medical School
- Briana Bester
- Connor V. Abbott
- Senior Process Engineer, Nestlé Purina North America
- Paul K. Cho
- Jung Y. Nam
- Jeremy Clincy, Biochemistry McNair fellow
- Andrew Huber, Biological Sciences Trail to a Cure fellow
- Post-doctoral Fellow, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Chemical Biology and Therapeutics
- Dallas Pineda, Biochemistry EXPRESS fellow, LSUROP fellow
- Dentist, Creating Smiles Family and Cosmetic Dentistry
- Grahmm Funk
- PhD student, University of Kansas Pharmaceutical Chemistry
2011
Hilary A Schmidt, Biological Engineering HHMI fellow
Leslie Chiang, Biological Sciences HHMI fellow
Katherine Laddusaw, Biological Sciences
Kristin Ponzar, Biological Sciences
Yun Pan, Biological Sciences
Ariel Hagedorn HHMI fellow; McNair fellow
Achilles Meskos visiting scholar, Greece
2010
Nicholas E. Calcaterra, Biochemistry LSUROP fellow, Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley School of Law
Ceili A. Cornelison, Computer Science
Jackie Carrico, Biochemistry LSUROP, HHMI, Trail to a Cure fellow, U of Colorado School of Medicine
Kayla B. Matzek, Biol Sci, U of Missouri School of Medicine, Bryant Scholar
Maxwell D. Leslie, Biological Sciences and Psychology HHMI fellow, Veterinary Medicine program at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Christopher Dorst, Washington University of Saint Louis, Graduate School UNC Chapel Hill
Tracy L. Fetterly, Vanderbilt University, Neuroscience Graduate Program Vanderbilt U.
2009
Jacob C. Jackson, HONORS Biological Sciences LSUROP fellow, School of Medicine at Cornell, Weil, Anesthesiologist Resident, Cornell U, NYC
Ryan Durk, Biol Sci, LSUROP fellow, School of Medicine of Vanderbilt University; Physician resident at Barnes Jewish
Christie Pautler, HONORS Biological Sciences Conley Scholar, Pre-accepted at the School of Medicine of University of Missouri
Phuong Bich Do, HONORS Biological Sciences McNair fellow, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
Daniel Griffin, Biochemistry Discovery Fellows Program, Saint Louis University, School of Medicine
Alan C. Leslie, Biochem, Technician at ABC labs, Columbia MO) EXPRESS fellow
2008
Shannon D. Arnold, HONORS Biological Sciences McNair fellow
Christopher Brownsworth, Year 1, Medicine
Saeed J Kahn, HONORS Biological Sciences
Amelie Olga Mafotsing Fopoussi, Biological Sciences McNair fellow, accepted at the Graduate School of Public Health at Ann Arbor Michigan
Musetta Steinbach Carleton College, Minnesota, accepted at the University of Chicago
Emily M. Ryan, HONORS Biological Sciences LSUROP fellow, A.T. Still University Osteopathic Medical School
Ali M. Sawani, Biochemistry EXPRESS fellow, accepted at the MD/PhD program at Ann Arbor Michigan
Daniel Sietsema, Biol Sci, Technician at the University of Colorado, Denver
2006-07
Michael O. Boyd, Biological Sciences
Candace Clayborne-Harris, Biological Sciences.
Timothy J. Graven, Biological Sciences
Sandor F. Jones, Biological Sciences
Ryan M. Kelly, Biochemistry
Patrick Mulligan, Biological Sciences
Michael Owens, History
Heather M Uhles, Biological Engineering
Chi-Hin Wong, Mechanical Engineering, Work study