People

Principal Investigators

Irina Bezsonova, Ph.D.
bezsonova[at]uchc.edu
860-679 2769

Dmitry Korzhnev, Ph.D.
korzhniev[at]uchc.edu
860-679-2849

Students

Dane Geddes-Buehre, Ph.D. Student

geddesbuehre[at]uchc.edu

ORCiD: 0000-0002-1861-0515.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-geddes-buehre-b87a31101

Dane holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.Sc. in Biochemistry from California State University, Northridge.

His research focuses on intermolecular interactions among proteins involved in the DNA damage tolerance pathway during translesion DNA synthesis (TLS).

Daniel Fairchild, Ph.D.  Student 
dfairchild[at]uchc.edu

ORCiD: 0000-0001-9191-1149

Daniel has a B.Sc. degree in Structural Biology and Biophysics from UConn with minors in Chemistry and Mathematics.

His research focuses on the human promyelocytic leukemia protein, PML, and its role in the anti-viral stress response.

Rebekah Sheih, Ph.D. Student

rsheih[at]uchc.edu

ORCiD: 0000-0003-2584-2709

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekah-sheih/

Rebekah has B.Sc. degree in Neuroscience from DePaul University.

Her research focuses on the role of promyelocytic leukemia protein PML in cancer.

Nuala Peterman, Ph.D.  Student 
peterman[at]uchc.edu

ORCiD: 0009-0004-7595-8659

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nuala-peterman-27b48522b/

Nuala has a B.Sc. degree in Biology with a concentration in Biomedical Sciences from Trinity College in Hartford.

They investigate how pathogenic mutations alter the structure and dynamics of the USP7 enzyme and contribute to cancer and Hao-Fountain syndrome.

Tine Meekers, M.Sc. Intern

tine.meekers[at]student.kuleuven.be

ORCiD: 0009-0005-7494-798X

Tine is a graduate student at KU Leuven University in Belgium. During her research internship at UConn Health Tine investigates the functional consequences of novel clinical variants of USP7 enzyme.

Ethan Shamshtein, Undergraduate Intern

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-shamshtein/

Ethan is pursuing a B.Sc. degree in Pathobiology at UConn.

His summer research project focuses on the inhibition of translesion synthesis (TLS) DNA polymerases.

 

Castle, the cutest lab member

Castle is a service dog working in the lab.

Her primary research focus is squirrel watching

 

Ethan Shamshtein, undergraduate intern

www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-shamshtein

Ethan is pursuing a B.Sc. degree in Pathobiology at UConn.

His summer research project focuses on inhibition of TLS DNA Polymerases.

Staff

Irina Semenova, Ph.D., Research Associate

isemenova[at]uconn.edu

Irina holds an M.Sc. in Physiology from Lomonosov Moscow State University and a Ph.D. from the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology.

Former Lab Members

Emilie Korchak, Ph.D. 2025, post-doctoral fellow, 2025-2026

Uplifting Athletes Top 10 Young Investigator Pick

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilie-korchak/

Gianluca Arianna, MD/Ph.D. 2026 (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianluca-arianna/

Sam Mahdi, Ph.D. 2025 (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-mahdi-aa961013a/

Thomas Bregnard, Ph.D. 2022

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-bregnard-436360a7/

Nancy Jaiswal, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow 2020-2023

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-jaiswal-04613ba8/

Kerry Silva McPherson, Ph.D. 2022 (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-silva-1252b071/

Socheata Lim, Ph.D. 2022 (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/socheata-lim/

Gabrielle Valles, Ph.D. 2021

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-valles-30136b175/

Affrin Ahmed, M.Sc. 2021

https://www.linkedin.com/in/affrin-amena-ahmed-a2603860/

Esmael Alyami, Quinnipiac University M.Sc. student (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmael-alyami-ph-d-44a5bb6b/

Alessandro Rizzo, Ph.D. 2019 (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-rizzo-374bb85a/

Mariana Quezado, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariana-quezado-146b5866/

Luciana Elena de Souza Fraga Machado, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro visiting Ph.D. student (Dr. Korzhnev's lab)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luciana-machado-48b3a2b8/

Yulia Pustovalova, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yulia-pustovalova-0a408479/

Alexandra Pozhidaeva, Ph.D. 2016

https://www.linkedin.com/in/apozhidaeva/