Our Team

Research Fellows

Aparna Anantharaman, Ph.D.

she/her
aparna.anantharaman@austin.utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2021
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pittsburgh (2020)
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center (2018)
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign (2016)
Ph.D. Bioscience, International Center of Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB),
New Delhi, India (2011)
M.S. Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi,
New Delhi, India (2004)
B.S. Zoology, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India (2002)

Research interests: Epitranscriptomics, global RNA modification profiling, oxidative stress, small RNA, extremophillic bacteria

Mia Mihailovic, Ph.D.

she/her
mihailom@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2015
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin (2020)
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University (2015)

Research interests: Synthetic biology, design of RNA-based in vivo tools, sRNA characterization, bioinformatics

Postdoctoral Researchers

Sungyeon Jang, Ph.D.

she/her
jsungyeon@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2022
Postdoctoral Associate Weill Cornell Medicine (2020-2022)
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea (2020)
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea (2014)

Research interests: RNA biology, Synthetic biology, Systems biology

Blanca Quinones Diaz, Ph.D.

she/her/ella
blanca.quinonesdiaz@austin.utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2021
Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Medical
Sciences (2020)
B.S. Industrial Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao (2015)

Research interests: Environmental stressors and disease, RNA regulation dynamics, epitranscriptomics

Graduate Students

Matthew Burroughs

he/him
mrburroughs@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University (2019)

Research interests: RNA modifications, air pollution stress, protein engineering, RNA modification detection methods

Ryan Buchser

he/him
buchser@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2021
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware (2021)

Research interests: RNA-protein interactions, post-transcriptional circuitry, global RNA regulatory networks

Antonio Cordova

he/him
acordova4144@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2021
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University (2020)

Research interests: High-throughput screening, RNA-based method and tool development, RNA structure and function, RNA drug discovery, RNA and protein-based regulation of stress responses

Alyssa Ekdahl

she/her
alyssa.ekdahl@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University (2015)

Research interests: RNA regulatory networks, RNA design, pathogenic sRNA characterization, bioinformatics

Sean Engels

he/him
smengels@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2018
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering,
North Carolina State University (2018)

Research interests: RNA modifications, air pollution stress, human lung cells, RNAseq analysis

Kobe Grismore

he/him
kobegrismore@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2022
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (2022)

Research interests: Post-transcriptional gene regulation, engineered RNA circuits, dynamic metabolic control, Csr network dynamics

Alexandra Lukasiewicz

she/her
ajlukasiewicz@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Environmental Resource Management- Ecology Focus,
The Pennsylvania State University- University Park (2013)

Research interests: Post-transcriptional regulation in pseudomonas aeruginosa, systems biology, bioinformatics

Lucas Miller

he/him
lgmiller@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2019)

Research interests: RNA modifications, protein-RNA interactions, protein engineering, bioinformatics, computational biophysics

Matsuri Rojano Nisimura

she/her/ella
matsuri.rojano@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since spring 2018
Fulbright-Garcia Robles Fellow
B.S. Biotechnology Engineering, Tecnológico de Monterrey,
Queretaro, Mexico (2015)

Research interests: post-transcriptional regulation, RNA folding, RNA-protein interactions, RNA binding proteins

Trevor Simmons

he/him
tsimmons@utexas.edu
CPE 5.406
Member since fall 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2019)

Research interests: Post-transcriptional gene regulation, engineered RNA circuits, dynamic metabolic control, Csr network dynamics