SCHURERLAB.ORG - Key Persons


Bijul L. Aniyarath

Job Titles:
  • Visitig Professor ( Fulbright Fellow ) Director of Research

Dr. Dušica Vidović

Job Titles:
  • Lead Scientist
Dr. Dušica Vidović joined the Chemoinformatics team in September 2008. Previously, she was a Research Associate at The Scripps Research Institute and The Computer-Chemistry Centrum in the field of chemoinformatics. Dr. Vidović has experience in HTS data analysis, structure-based and ligand-based drug design, homology modeling, docking and scoring, virtual screening, pharmacophore modeling, lead optimization, ADMET modeling, QSAR/QSPR prediction, physicochemical properties prediction, topological indices. She received her PhD degree in chemistry from the University of Kragujevac (Kragujevac, Serbia). Fun Fact: Dusica can jump 6ft lengthwise.

Dr. Feng Yangbo

Job Titles:
  • Research Assoicate Professor

Dr. Nicolette Christa Ross

Job Titles:
  • Scientist

Dr. Saurabh Mehta

Job Titles:
  • Associate
  • Scientist
  • Visiting Professor ( DBT CREST Fellow )
Dr. Mehta's research interests include Synthetic Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Natural Products, Cheminformatics, Chemical and Systems Biology, and Anticancer Drug Discovery. Dr. Mehta's research work involves the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of small molecule inhibitors for Protein Arginine Methyltransferases (PRMTs), particularly PRMT4, also known as Coactivator Associated Arginine Methyltransferase 1 (CARM1). Previously he was a tenured Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India (July 2010 - Jan. 2023), where he taught students from engineering and science backgrounds, and performed research on the development of new synthetic methods for medicinally important heterocyclic compounds. Dr. Mehta was a visiting researcher (2014-15) at the Center for Computational Science (CCS), University of Miami, where I obtained training in the areas of Structure Based Drug Design and contributed to the development of the Drug Target Ontology (DTO). Dr. Mehta obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA (2004-2009). He previously obtained my M.Phil. (Industrial Methods of Chemical Analysis) from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India (2001) and also previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry for approximately 3 years.

Dr. Vasileios Stathias

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director
Dr. Stathias was born in Athens, Greece and his fascination with the study of genetics lead him to apply to the Miller School of Medicine for his graduate studies in Human Genetics. During this time, he incorporated both wet lab and computational work under the tutelage of Dr. Nagi Ayad and co-mentor Dr. Stephan Schürer. Vas was integral in developing a glioblastoma synergy assay using LINCS data to identify combination drug treatments to enhance activity and avoid resistance. He recently joined the Schürer lab for a post-doctoral fellowship where he is continuing this work to develop a platform for predicting synergy combinations in multiple cancer cell models. Vas enjoys being active and is a proud member of the Brickell run club.

Joseph Micahel Schulz

Joseph is currently working on in silico methods to optimize the design of the linker domain connecting the warhead and ligase recruiter of PROTACs. Prior to joining the Schurer lab, Joseph did work on natural product synthesis at Rollins College, earning a degree in Chemistry, after which i followed that up with a master's in neuroscience from UCF, where he had the opportunity to investigate new models for Alzheimer's Disease using induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs). In addition, Joseph is a lead educator for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute where i have the opportunity to teach a class on nutrition to local communities in the Miami-Dade area, and a lead educator for Mindful Diabetes Inc, the only nonprofit focusing on preventing the progression of type 2 to type 3 diabetes. Through this platform, Joseph is able to educate people about the risks associated with lifestyle and ways we can proactively prevent cognitive decline in our daily lives by making simple changes. .

Kunie Sakurai

Job Titles:
  • Staff / Research Scientist

Nooshin Nabizadeh

Job Titles:
  • Software Engineer, Machine Learning / Industry / Mentor Graphics

Susan Thomas

Job Titles:
  • Visitig Professor ( Indo - US Science and Technology Fellow ) Assistant Director at NIRRH