Shayne succesfully defends her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Easterwood!

Employing robust bioinformatic analysis with molecular biology, Shayne exmained cell type specific eRNA synthesis and evaluated these molecules in transcriptional regulation in human cells. She uncovered previously unrecognized complexity and diversity of eRNA synthesis and stability, as well as extending and validating our prior finding on general functionality of these molecules. Shayne demonstrate persistence, resilience, and commitment to scientific process during her pursuit of science. We are so proud of Dr. Easterwood - soon to be Professor Easterwood.

Dr. Shayne Easterwood!

UTD Fun Lab members (current and former): Sangwoo Kim, Tae Hoon Kim, Alyssa Briggs, Edmund Miller, Simba Mazambani, Jacob Roy, Won Hwang, Shayne Easterwood, and Yeunhee Kim.

After almost 5 years leading the Department of Biological Sciences

This month, I am stepping down from my administrative position as Department Head of Biological Sciences and handing the leadership to my highly respected and capable colleague. I am very grateful for her willingness to take the reins and to serve and lead us for the next several years. The last five years have been enormously challenging due to COVID19, but also equally rewarding. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to serve. I am now looking forward to engaging more deeply and fully in my research and teaching and to enlisting support for our unique and exceptional research and training programs in human genome science and biology. We are seeking support for our work. If you would like to contribute, please reach out and make a tremendously positive support for our program.

Meaningful numbers for the Department of Biological Sciences during the last two decades (2000-2022). The projected numbers for this and next years are even bigger for all measures.

Gözde defends her thesis. Congratulations Dr. Büyükkahraman!

Employing scRNA-seq, bulk RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and elegant experimentation, Gözde uncovered a very interesting feature of interferon and inflammatory response.Cells, like us, are in a very regimented schedule for various functions and activities. Schedule alone can trigger events, e.g, late G1 phase activates interferon and inflammation genes in B and T cells. When Gözde joined the lab five years ago, we were still in the ancient age of bulk genomics. Gözde brought us into this modern era of single-cell biology. Along this journey, she uncovered very interesting features of gene regulation. By the way, during her doctoral research, she also completed a rigorous master's program in Statistics. She is a rare talent combining programming/statistics/functional genomics.

Tae, Alyssa, Gözde, Edmund, and Shayne

Tae Hoon Kim and Gözde Büyükkahraman

Simba successfully defends his thesis. Congratulations Dr. Mazambani!

Simba successfully defended his tour de force work that spanned mouse genetics; murine cancer models; human tumor xenografts; cancer metabolism; glucose and insulin signaling; ROS and pro-oxidants; transcriptional enhancers and enhancer RNAs. All with the laser focus on developing targeted therapies for squamous carcinomas. Simba brought persistence and dedication, broad and comprehensive knowledge of the problem, innovative problem solving and creative approaches, and experimental discipline to how squamous carcinomas can be specifically targeted for elimination. So proud of Dr. Mazambani's accomplishments!

Much appreciation to the committee members, clock-wise: Zhenyu Xuan, Matt Goeckner, Tae Hoon Kim, Simba Mazambani, Nikki Delk, and Li Zhang.

Won Hwang, Edmund Miller, Simba Mazambani, and Shayne Easterwood

Tae Hoon Kim and Simba Mazambani

congratulations to our graduates

Many of our current undergraduates are leaving the laboratory for Graduate or Medical Schools. Congratulations to Sruthi Suresh, Suhana Bedi, and Ethan Pawl. Alyssa Briggs completed her MS. Congratulations!

Suhana Bedi was a class speaker for the Natural Sciences and Math commencement. You can listen to her inspiring speech starting at 17:50 mark on this video on Youtube.

a wonderfully impactful and brief description of her work by Shayne Easterwood

Shayne Easterwood competed in UTD 3MT competition this Spring. Her video is on Youtube. It is the clearest description for how we intent to target genes in a cell type specific way.

Lab Lunch for 2023

So great to share lunch and reflections on our experiences over the past three years.

Celebratory Group Meeting with Dr. Lian Cao

We are so proud of Dr. Lian Cao's work and her successful completion of her PhD. We celebrate her accomplishments and her embarking on a new journey - responsibly with social distancing and masks. Best wishes on your new position, Dr. Cao!

Lian, Tae, Bo, Edmund, Gözde, Simba, Shayne, Chahat & Sruthi

Lian defends her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Cao!

Lian Cao joined the lab five years ago. During that time, she completed her masters degree in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. She has been the most fearless scientist in our group, unafraid to tackle the most challenging questions concerning enhancer biology. I have been most fortunate to work with Lian over the past years and I look forward to continued collaboration. I am so proud of her work and all her accomplishments. Now, she completed her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology. Congratulations, Dr. Cao!

5 years at UTD

I can’t believe how fast 5 years have gone by. It has been and continues to be an exciting scientific and teaching journey for me at UTD. Looking forward to many more years.