Biochemistry
& Molecular Biology
Graduate Students & PostDocs
Graduate Students
Adeseye Adekeye - Knox Lab - adekeyea@upstate.edu
Dimitra Aggeli - Amberg Lab - aggelid@upstate.edu
Jamal Alafifi - Hanes Lab - alafifij@upstate.edu
Heather DeBari - Berry Lab - debarih@upstate.edu
Heba Diab - Kane Lab - diabh@upstate.edu
Darin Dolezal - Pignoni Lab - dolesald@upstate.edu
Ivayla Geneva - Calvert Lab - genevai@upstate.edu
Cherry Mae Ignacio - Knox Lab - ignacioc@upstate.edu
Joshua Karchin - Loh Lab - karchinj@upstate.edu
Thuy La - Chen Lab - lat@upstate.edu
Caitlin Leone - Pignoni Lab - leonec@upstate.edu
Yaxin Liu - Chen Lab - liuya@upstate.edu
Richard Mangio - Pruyne Lab - mangior@upstate.edu
MacMillan Mbantenkhu - Chen Lab - mbantenm@upstate.edu
Andrew McCulley - Feng Lab - mccullea@upstate.edu
Zahra Motahari - Zuber Lab - motaharz@upstate.edu
Mehdi Najafi - Calvert Lab - najafim@upstate.edu
Zachary Oaks - Perl Lab - oaksz@upstate.edu
Rebecca Oot - Wilkens Lab - ootr@upstate.edu
Lee Parsons - Wilkens Lab - parsonsl@upstate.edu
Jie Peng - Feng Lab - pengj@upstate.edu
MD Shafiuddin - Schmitt Lab - shafiudm@upstate.edu
Naman Shah - Duncan Lab - shahn@upstate.edu
Avinash Thakur - Loh Lab - thakura@upstate.edu
Lala Zafreen - Berry Lab - zafreenl@upstate.edu
Huimei (Janet) Zheng - Loh Lab - zhengh@upstate.edu
Xinming Zhuo - Knox Lab - zhuox@upstate.edu
Post Docs
Heba Diab and Sheena Claire Li, PhD students in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, use the yeast model system to study basic cell functions. Yeast enzymes are similar to human enzymes, which makes yeast a popular tool among researchers.
SUNY Upstate's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology students have a time-consuming advantage—the Virtek pinning robot that transfers individual yeast mutants from one plate to another to test their responses. "It's a nice way to get a lot of data quickly, so you can spend time addressing the major question behind the experiment," said Deb, who studies oxidative stress in cells.
Biochemistry students are at the front end of translational research, conducting the basic science that can lead to treatments for diseases such as osteoporosis and cancer.