PANIN LAB - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Research Scientist
Boris Novikov is an Associate Research Scientist. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Krasnodar State Agricultural University in Russia. In the beginning of his research career, he studied molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance and mRNA turnover in plants as well as bacterial pesticide degrading enzymes. His recent projects were focused on purification and characterization of proteins important for therapeutic approaches, including specific interest in functions of posttranslational modifications. Current projects he is involved in concentrate on elucidation of biosynthetic mechanisms of sialylation in Drosophila.
Brooke Howell is working towards her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics. She has a B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University. She studies the role of sialylation in heart physiology. Through examination of dissected flies, she captures high-speed videos which are then analyzed using Matlab to obtain parameters (such as heart rate, systolic and diasolic intervals) that can be used for comparison of Drosophila salylation pathway mutants.
Job Titles:
- Department of Biochemistry
- Professor
Vlad Panin received Ph.D. in Biophysics from Moscow State University (Russia) in 1990 and completed his Postdoctoral training in Developmental Biology and Glycobiology in Ken Irvine's laboratory at Rutgers University, NJ. He joined Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in 2002. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Texas A&M University.
Hilary Scott is a graduate student in the Genetics program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Purdue University and continued there as a Research Assistant. Currently she is focusing on the role of sialylation genes, including CSAS and DSiaT, in the central nervous system utilizing Drosophila melangaster as a model organism.
Ilya Mertsalov was a recent Postdoctoral Research Associate. He obtained his Diploma (BSc & MSc) in Biochemistry from Lomonosov Moscow State University and PhD in Molecular Biology from the Laboratory of Neuropeptides Reception, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. His project focused on characterization of molecular mechanisms of the sialylation pathway. He completed his work in February 2015. He is currently a Senior Researcher in the Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow
Ishita Chandel is a graduate student in Biochemistry program. She received her Masters in Biochemistry from M.S.University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. After that she worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India. She is currently working on her PhD project that focuses on the role of glycosylation in neural plasticity and neuronal connectivity in Drosophila.
Jeannette Flores was an undergraduate student worker in 2014-2015. She is graduating with B.S. in Geographic Information Science and Technology, with a minor in Environmental Geosciences, in May 2016. After graduation, she plans to work in the field of Geographic Information Technology
Jorge Galván, a Biochemistry major and Spanish minor undergraduate student, was exploring new functions of galectin genes in 2014-2015. He is graduating with B.S. in Biochemistry in 2016.
Maria Lyuksyutova was an undergraduate reseacher pursuing a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Dance. She was studying the function of galectins in Drosophila melanogaster. She completed her project and graduated in 2015. She currently continues her studies in the Medical School in Lubbock.
Jorge Galván, a Biochemistry major and Spanish minor undergraduate student, was exploring new functions of galectin genes in 2014-2015. He is graduating with B.S. in Biochemistry in 2016.
Megan Hall worked in the lab in 2013-2015. She was instrumental in making the lab functional, while taking care of ordering, helping to maintain our fly collection and coordinate the work of other students. She graduated with B.S. in Animal Science in December 2015.
Maria Lyuksyutova was an undergraduate reseacher pursuing a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Dance. She was studying the function of galectins in Drosophila melanogaster. She completed her project and graduated in 2015. She currently continues her studies in the Medical School in Lubbock.
Michelle Alfert was a graduate student in the Neuroscience program and worked in the lab until November 2014. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University. Her research project explored the role of sialylation in the nervous system, with emphasis on plasticity and the blood-brain barrier. She used a number of imaging and electrophysiological techniques to analyze the phenotypic significance of sialic acid in the Drosophila model organism. She is currently attending a Nursing Program to become a certified nurse.
Nada Radwan was working in the lab from 2013 till 2015. Together with Zac, she was a resident fly doctor, reviving ill-fated Drosophila stocks. She graduated with B.S. in Nutrition in 2015. She is currently working in a dental office.
Ryan Baker is a graduate student with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He studies O-mannosylation of proteins and its relevance to muscular dystrophy. He uses a combination of genetic and biochemical techniques to identify and characterize O-mannosylation targets, enzymes that modify O-linked mannose, and phenotypes at the physiological and molecular level.