UT Shield

Lab Alumni

Doctoral Students

Hariprakash Bhaskaran (2003 – 2008)

  • Mechanistic studies of CYT-19 and related DExD/H-box proteins on folding of the Tetrahymena group I ribozyme
  • Currently Founder of Cisterna Biologics

Amanda Chadee  (2004 – 2009)

  • The roles of CYT-18 in folding, misfolding and structural specificity of the Tetrahymena group I ribozyme              

Yaqi Wan  (2005 – 2011)

  • Probing stability, specificity, and modular structure in group I intron RNAs

David Mitchell III  (2006 – 2013)

  • Characterization of folding and misfolding of the Tetrahymena thermophila group I ribozyme            

Jeffrey Potratz  (2008 – 2012)

  • Local and global investigations into DEAD-box protein function
  • Currently Associate Professor at Concordia University, WI

Cynthia Pan (2008 – 2014)

  • Investigations into the mechanism for RNA structural remodeling by dead-box helicase proteins

Inga Jarmoskaite  (2009 – 2014)

  • Mechanistic studies of the RNA chaperone activities of the DEAD-box RNA helicase CYT-19
  • Currently Associate Principal Scientist at AIRNA

Brant Gracia  (2012 – 2017)

  • Quantitative dissection of RNA structure formation reveals a cooperative and modular folding and assembly landscape
  • Currently Research Associate at University of Texas at Austin in the Cockrell School of Engineering

Ben Gilman  (2015 – 2019)

  • Mss116 function
  • Currently Scientist II at Pairwise

Travis Middleton  (2015 – 2021)

  • Exploring general RNA chaperones in vivo

Ian Hamilton  (2016 – 2022)

  • Electrostatics of nucleic acid compaction

Isabel Strohkendl (2016 – 2021)

  • DNA targeting by CRISPR-Cas12a

Postdoctoral fellows

Dr. Brian Cannon (2005 – 2014)

  • Currently Assistant Professor Loyola University at Chicago

Dr. Yingfeng Chen  (2006 – 2007)

Dr. Luke Ward  (2012 – 2015)

Dr. Philip Yangyuoru  (2014 – 2018)

  • Currently Assistant Professor Northern Michigan University

Visiting scholars

Dr. Selma Sinan  (2010 – 2011  &  2021 – 2024)

  • Visiting scholar from Balikesir University, Turkey

Dr. Züleyha Almaz  (2024 – 2025)

  • Visiting scholar from Turkey

Undergraduate students

Surbhi Raj Kumari  (Summer 2003 – Spring 2004)                 

Diana Jiang  (Summer 2003 – Spring 2004)

Nakul Narayan  (Summer 2003 – Spring 2004)

Travis Johnson  (Fall 2003 – Spring 2005)                              

  • Publication: Johnson, T. H., Tijerina, P., Chadee, A. B., Herschlag, D., & Russell, R. (2005). Structural specificity conferred by a group I RNA peripheral element. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(29), 10176–10181. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0501498102

Hemali Shah  (Fall 2003)

Jacob Grohman  (Fall 2004 – Spring 2006)                              

  • Publication: Grohman JK, Del Campo M, Bhaskaran H, Tijerina P, Lambowitz AM, Russell R. (2007). Probing the mechanisms of DEAD-box proteins as general RNA chaperones: the C-terminal domain of CYT-19 mediates general recognition of RNA. Biochemistry, 46(11):3013-22. doi: 10.1021/bi0619472

Gurpreet Singh  (Spring 2006 – Fall 2006)

David Kung  (Summer 2006 – Spring 2008) 

  • URF Recipient

Chen (Tony) Li  (Summer 2006 – Spring 2007)

Benjamin Lee  (Spring 2008)

Nikhil Seval  (Fall 2008 – Spring 2009)                              

  • URF Recipient
  • Publication: Mitchell D 3rd, Jarmoskaite I, Seval N, Seifert S, Russell R. (2013). The long-range P3 helix of the Tetrahymena ribozyme is disrupted during folding between the native and misfolded conformations. J Mol Biol. 425(15):2670-86. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2013.05.008.

Tiffany Wang  (Fall 2008)                                                                  

  • URF Recipient

Woongsoon Choi  (Fall 2009 – Spring 2010)            

Adrienne Fung  (Spring 2010)     

Alexis David  (Spring 2010 – Spring 2012)     

Ajitha Kommalapati  (Fall 2010 – Fall 2011) 

Kathryn Pendleton  (Spring 2011)     

Andrew Leal  (Summer 2012 – Summer 2013)

Vivian Nguyen  (Summer 2012 – Spring 2013)                 

  • URF Recipient

Philip Li  (Spring 2013 – Fall 2013)            

Megan Chavana  (Spring 2013)     

Keaton Ammons  (Summer 2013 – Fall 2013)      

Alex Becker  (Spring 2015 –Spring 2016)

Devin Bradburn  (Spring 2015 – Spring 2017)                       

  • URF Recipient
  • Publication: Yangyuoru, P. M., Bradburn, D. A., Liu, Z., Xiao, T. S., & Russell, R. (2018). The G-quadruplex (G4) resolvase DHX36 efficiently and specifically disrupts DNA G4s via a translocation-based helicase mechanism. The Journal of biological chemistry, 293(6), 1924–1932. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M117.815076
  • Publication: Chang-Gu, B., Bradburn, D., Yangyuoru, P. M., & Russell, R. (2020). The DHX36-specific-motif (DSM) enhances specificity by accelerating recruitment of DNA G-quadruplex structures. Biological chemistry, 402(5), 593–604. https://doi.org/10.1515/hsz-2020-0302

Veronica Busa (Spring 2015 – Spring 2017)                       

  • URF Recipient
  • Publication: Busa, V. F., Rector, M. J., & Russell, R. (2017). The DEAD-Box Protein CYT-19 Uses Arginine Residues in Its C-Tail To Tether RNA Substrates. Biochemistry, 56(28), 3571–3578. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00362

Daniel Lee  (Summer 2015)                 

Yifan (Amy) Qin  (Summer 2015)

Michael Atwood  (Spring 2016 – Summer 2017)                 

Max Rector  (Spring 2017 – Spring 2018)                       

  • Publication: Busa, V. F., Rector, M. J., & Russell, R. (2017). The DEAD-Box Protein CYT-19 Uses Arginine Residues in Its C-Tail To Tether RNA Substrates. Biochemistry, 56(28), 3571–3578. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00362

Bruce Chang-Gu  (Spring 2017 – Spring 2020)                       

  • URF Recipient
  • Publication: Chang-Gu, B., Bradburn, D., Yangyuoru, P. M., & Russell, R. (2020). The DHX36-specific-motif (DSM) enhances specificity by accelerating recruitment of DNA G-quadruplex structures. Biological chemistry, 402(5), 593–604. https://doi.org/10.1515/hsz-2020-0302
  • Publication: Chang-Gu, B., Venkatesan, S., & Russell, R. (2022). Kinetics measurements of G-quadruplex binding and unfolding by helicases. Methods (San Diego, Calif.), 204, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2022.04.012

Tu Nguyen  (Spring 2018 – Spring 2019)                       

  • URF Recipient

Shehani Jayawickrama  (Spring 2018 – Spring 2020)                       

  • URF Recipient

Allen Feng  (Fall 2019 – Summer 2021)

Sneha Venkatesan  (Fall 2019 – Fall 2023)                                     

  • Publication: Chang-Gu, B., Venkatesan, S., & Russell, R. (2022). Kinetics measurements of G-quadruplex binding and unfolding by helicases. Methods (San Diego, Calif.), 204, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2022.04.012

Alex Nguyen  (Spring 2021 – Spring 2023)                       

  • Publication: Strohkendl, I., Saha, A., Moy, C., Nguyen, A. H., Ahsan, M., Russell, R., Palermo, G., & Taylor, D. W. (2024). Cas12a domain flexibility guides R-loop formation and forces RuvC resetting. Molecular cell, 84(14), 2717–2731.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2024.06.007

Allison Uebele  (Spring 2021 –  Spring 2023)

Arsalaan Asad  (Summer 2021 – Fall 2023)

Mihir Gupta  (Summer 2021 – Spring 2025)                 

  • URF Recipient

Anna Helmers  (Summer 2021 – Spring 2023)                  

  • URF Recipient
  • Publication: Jarmoskaite, I., Helmers, A. E., & Russell, R. (2022). Measurement of ATP utilization in RNA unwinding and RNA chaperone activities by DEAD-box helicase proteins. Methods in enzymology, 673, 53–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mie.2022.04.004

Mahit Vunnam  (Summer 2021 – Fall 2021)

Nefertiti Aneke  (Summer 2022 – Spring 2024)                 

  • URF Recipient

Nathan Appleby  (Summer 2022 – Spring 2024)                 

  • Publication: Sinan S, Appleby NM, Chou CW, Finkelstein IJ, Russell R. (2024). Kinetic dissection of pre-crRNA binding and processing by CRISPR-Cas12a. RNA, 30(10):1345-1355. doi: 10.1261/rna.080088.124.                  

Maggie Miao  (Summer 2022)                 

Jaden Thomas  (Summer 2022)                 

Malak Tousson  (Summer 2022 – Spring 2024)                

  • Publication: Ms. Israa Al-Jnadi, Ms. Bárbara Bahls, Ms. Rita Emídio, Siona Manocha, Malak Tousson, Sophie Russell, Joana Figueiredo, Dr. Carla Cruz, Dr. Sérgio camões, Prof. Joana Miranda, Dr. Eduarda Mendes, Dr. Ermelinda Maçoas, Dr. Bruno Victor, Prof. Rick Russell, and Prof. Alexandra Paulo. (2025). ChemRxiv. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-bj074.

Christine Yu  (Summer 2022)

Jon Graswich  (Fall 2022 – Spring 2024)

Jaden Ju  (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023)

Suvaacha Bajpal  (Spring 2022 – Spring 2024)     

Srilaasya Yenduri  (Spring 2022 – Spring 2025)

Nicholas Long  (Spring 2023 – Spring 2025)

Siona Manocha  (Spring 2023 – Spring 2025)                

  • Publication: Ms. Israa Al-Jnadi, Ms. Bárbara Bahls, Ms. Rita Emídio, Siona Manocha, Malak Tousson, Sophie Russell, Joana Figueiredo, Dr. Carla Cruz, Dr. Sérgio camões, Prof. Joana Miranda, Dr. Eduarda Mendes, Dr. Ermelinda Maçoas, Dr. Bruno Victor, Prof. Rick Russell, and Prof. Alexandra Paulo. (2025). ChemRxiv. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-bj074.

Divya Sambathkumar  (Spring 2023 – Spring 2024)

Mark Betancort  (Summer 2024)

Sophie Russell  (Summer 2024 & Summer 2025)                

  • Publication: Ms. Israa Al-Jnadi, Ms. Bárbara Bahls, Ms. Rita Emídio, Siona Manocha, Malak Tousson, Sophie Russell, Joana Figueiredo, Dr. Carla Cruz, Dr. Sérgio camões, Prof. Joana Miranda, Dr. Eduarda Mendes, Dr. Ermelinda Maçoas, Dr. Bruno Victor, Prof. Rick Russell, and Prof. Alexandra Paulo. (2025). ChemRxiv. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-bj074.