People

Principal Investigators

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

Dmitry Korzhnev, Ph.D.

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

Current Students

Thomas Bregnard, M.S., Ph.D. Student 
bregnard[at]uchc.edu

Thomas studies structure of Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein (PML) and its self-assembly into PML-nuclear bodies in response to viral infections and other cellular stress.

Socheata Lim, Ph.D. Student
solim[at]uchc.edu

Socheata works on dynamics and interactions of beta-clamp proteins in bacterial DNA replication.

Emilie Korchak, Ph.D. Student 
korchak[at]uchc.edu

Emilie studies how USP7 gene mutations causing Hao-Fountain Syndrome effect structure and function of USP7 enzyme.

Kerry McPherson, M.S., Ph.D. Student 
kesilva[at]uchc.edu

Kerry works on characterization of protein interaction network in DNA Translesion Synthesis in yeast.

Protein crystallography wizard.

Daniel Fairchild,

Rotation Student 
dfairchild[at]uchc.edu

Daniel studies conformational dynamics of human ubiquitin ligase E6AP (UBE3A).

 

Sam Mahdi, Ph.D. Student 
mahdi[at]uchc.edu

Sam works on dynamics and interactions of gamma clamp loader in E. coli.

Dane Geddes-Buehre,

Rotation Student

geddesbuehre[at]uchc.edu

Dane studies molecular mechanism of activation of USP7 enzyme.

Gianluca Arianna, M.D./Ph.D. Student 
arianna[at]uchc.edu

Gianluca works on interactions of Translesion Synthesis DNA polymerases.

Tvesha Parikh,

Rotation Student

tparikh[at]uchc.edu

Tvesha works on discovering new therapies for USP7-related diseases.

Post Doctoral Fellows

Nancy Jaiswal, Postdoctoral Fellow 
njaiswal[at]uchc.edu

Nancy uses integrational structural biology approach to characterize large dynamic proteins in solution.

Staff

Irina Semenova, Ph.D.

Research Associate

isemenova[at]uconn.edu

Former Postdoctoral Fellows

Yulia Pustovalova, Ph.D. (currently at University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Structural Characterization of Translesion Synthesis (TLS) DNA Polymerases

Mariana Quezado, Ph.D. (currently at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil)
Structural Characterization of Human Helicase-Like Transcription Factor (HLTF)

Former Students

Affrin Ahmed, M.S. student

Gabrielle Valles, Ph.D. student (currently a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University)

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

Alexandra Pozhidaeva, Ph.D. student (currently a postdoctoral fellow at UCONN Health).

Luciana Elena de Souza Fraga Machado, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro visiting Ph.D. student (currently at University of São Paulo, Brazil)

Esmael Alyami, Quinnipiac University M.Sc. student (currently a Ph.D. student at University of Idaho)

Matt Kosakowski, honors undergraduate student

Chelsea Cassidy, Bay Path College undergraduate student

Former Rotation Ph.D. Students

Tima Karginov

Mathew Sticco

Marc Gillig

Scott Adamson

Yinzhou (Joe) Zhu

Charlene Campbell

Undergraduate Summer Research

Sherif Eldirani, summer undergraduate student

Frank Monney, summer undergraduate student

Yustyna Bobak, summer undergraduate student

Hannah Sowalsky, summer undergraduate student

Paige Salerno, summer undergraduate student

Kirsten Salline, a summer undergraduate student

Briana Munoz, a summer undergraduate student