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Yousif Shamoo
Professor
Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
e-mail:[email protected]
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B.S. Biology (1983) Carnegie-Mellon University
Ph.D. Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (1988)
Yale University
Primary Department
Department of BioSciences
Department Affiliations
 Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering
 Keck Center for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences
 Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology
Websites
Shamoo Lab
Research Areas
Structural biology, molecular evolution, X-ray crystallography, microbial evolution, antibiotic
resistance
Research Statement 2015
Our interest in molecular evolution is stimulated by the rise in drug resistant pathogens and
how understanding the physical basis for adaptation can be used for prediction of resistance
and the identification of new targets and strategies for antimicrobial therapies. By combining
approaches from biophysics and experimental evolution we are able to identify and
characterize intermediates along the mutational pathways of adaptation and then link those
intermediates to the overall evolutionary trajectory of the bacterial populations. Adaptive
changes in protein sequence and expression impact organismal fitness and, consequently,
dictate population dynamics. By combining experimental evolution with molecular biophysics
we take a systems level view of adaptation and link it to the molecular mechanism responsible
for the resulting evolutionary dynamics.
Selected Publications
Abstracts
Davlieva M., Doneske J., Michnicka M., Nikonowicz E. and Shamoo Y. "Structural studies of an
RNA aptamer with high affinity for the B. anthracis ribosomal protein S8." (2010)
Miller C. and Shamoo Y. "Experimental Evolution of Daptomycin Resistance in Enterococcus
Faecalis." (2010)
Peña M., Davlieva M., Bennett M.R., Olson J.S. and Shamoo Y. "Protein folding dynamics and
function determine evolutionary fates in a microbial population." (2010)
Walkiewicz K., Lau K. and Shamoo Y. "Biophysical basis for TetX mediated antibiotic
resistance." (2010)
Refereed articles
Beabout, K.R., Saxer, G., Hammerstom, T., and Shamoo, Y. "Evolutionary dynamics of a
transposon mediated adaptation to tigecycline by vancomycin-resistant Enterococci." In
Progress
Davlieva, M., Johnson, T., Leonard, P., Ladbury, J., Arias, C.A and Shamoo, Y. "LiaR
oligomerization mediates daptomycin resistance in multidrug-resistant Enterococcus
faecalis." In Progress
Beabout K, Hammerstrom TG, Perez A, Magalhães B, Prater A, Clements T, Arias C, Saxer G,
Shamoo Y. The ribosomal S10 protein is a general target for decreased tigecycline
susceptibility. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015. 59(9):5561-5566 PMCID: PMC4538488
Beabout K, Hammerstrom TG, Wang TT, Bhatty M, Christie PJ, Saxer G, Shamoo Y. Rampant
parasexuality evolves in a hospital pathogen during antibiotic selection. Molecular biology and
evolution. 2015 32(10):2585-97 PMCID: PMC4683365
Davlieva M, Shi Y, Leonard PG, Johnson TA, Zianni MR, Arias CA, Ladbury JE, Shamoo, Y. A
variable DNA recognition site organization establishes the LiaR-mediated cell envelope stress
response of enterococci to daptomycin. Nucleic acids research. 2015; 43(9):4758-73. PMCID:
PMC4482077
Hammerstrom TG, Beabout K, Clements TP, Saxer G, Shamoo Y. Acinetobacter baumannii
repeatedly evolves a hypermutator phenotype in response to tigecycline that effectively
surveys evolutionary trajectories to resistance. PLoS One 2015. 10(10):e0140489. PMCID:
PMC4619398
Panesso D, Reyes J, Gaston EP, Deal M, Londoño A, Nigo M, Munita JM, Miller WR, Shamoo Y,
Tran TT, Arias CA. Deletion of liaR reverses eaptomycin resistance in Enterococcus
faecium independent of the genetic background. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015.
59(12):7327-34. PMCID: PMC4649183 [Available on 2016-06-01]
Reyes J, Panesso D, Tran TT, Mishra NN, Cruz MR, Munita JM, Singh KV, Yeaman MR, Murray
BE, Shamoo Y, Garsin D, Bayer AS, Arias CA. A liaR deletion restores susceptibility to
daptomycin and antimicrobial peptides in multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecalis. The
Journal of infectious diseases. 2015; 211(8):1317-25. PMCID: PMC4402337
Davlieva M, Donarski J, Wang J, Shamoo Y, Nikonowicz EP. "Structure analysis of free and
bound states of an RNA aptamer against ribosomal protein S8 from Bacillus anthracis." Nucleic
Acids Res., 42(16) (2014) : 10795-808.
doi: 10.1093/nar/gku743
Diaz L, Tran TT, Munita JM, Miller WR, Rincon S, Carvajal LP, Wollam A, Reyes J, Panesso D,
Rojas NL, Shamoo Y, Murray BE, Weinstock GM, Arias CA " Whole-genome analyses of
Enterococcus faecium isolates with diverse daptomycin MICs." Antimicrob Agents Chemother.,
58(8 (2014) : 4527-34.
doi: 10.1128/AAC.02686-14
Miller C, Kong J, Tran TT, Arias CA, Saxer G, Shamoo Y. "Adaptation of Enterococcus faecalis
to daptomycin reveals an ordered progression to resistance." Antimicrob Agents Chemother,
57(11) (2013) : 5373-83 .
doi: 10.1128/AAC.01473-13
Nicolaou KC, Hale CR, Nilewski C, Ioannidou HA, ElMarrouni A, Nilewski LG, Beabout K, Wang
TT, Shamoo Y. "Total synthesis of viridicatumtoxin B and analogues thereof: strategy
evolution, structural revision, and biological evaluation ." J Am Chem Soc., 136(34) (2014) :
12137-60.
doi: 10.1021/ja506472u
Saxer G, Krepps MD, Merkley ED, Ansong C, Deatherage Kaiser BL, Valovska MT, Ristic N, Yeh
PT, Prakash VP, Leiser OP, Nakhleh L, Gibbons HS, Kreuzer HW, Shamoo Y. "Mutations in
global regulators lead to metabolic selection during adaptation to complex
environments.." PLoS Genet., 10(12) (2014) : :e1004872.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004872
Agrawal A, Chipara AC, Shamoo Y, Patra PK, Carey BJ, Ajayan PM, Chapman WG, Verduzco R.
"Dynamic self-stiffening in liquid crystal elastomers." Nat Commun, 4 (2013) : 1739.
Davlieva M, Zhang W, Arias CA, Shamoo Y. "Biochemical characterization of cardiolipin
synthase mutations associated with daptomycin resistance in enterococci." Antimicrob Agents
Chemother, 57(1) (2013) : 289-96.
Tran TT, Panesso D, Gao H, Roh JH, Munita JM, Reyes J, Diaz L, Lobos EA, Shamoo Y, Mishra
NN, Bayer AS, Murray BE, Weinstock GM, Arias CA. "Whole-Genome Analysis of a
Daptomycin-Susceptible Enterococcus faecium Strain and Its Daptomycin-Resistant Variant
Arising during Therapy." Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 57(1) (2013) : 261-8.
Tran TT, Panesso D, Mishra NN, Mileykovskaya E, Guan Z, Munita JM, Reyes J, Diaz L,
Weinstock GM, Murray BE, Shamoo Y, Dowhan W, Bayer AS, Arias CA. "Daptomycin-resistant
Enterococcus faecalis diverts the antibiotic molecule from the division septum and remodels
cell membrane phospholipids." MBio, 4(4) (2013) : e00281-13.
Mishra NN, Bayer AS, Tran TT, Shamoo Y, Mileykovskaya E, Dowhan W, Guan Z, Arias CA.
"Daptomycin resistance in enterococci is associated with distinct alterations of cell membrane
phospholipid content." PLoS One, 7(8) (2012) : e43958.
Walkiewicz K, Benitez Cardenas AS, Sun C, Bacorn C, Saxer G, Shamoo Y. "Small changes in
enzyme function can lead to surprisingly large fitness effects during adaptive evolution of
antibiotic resistance." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A., 109(52) ( 2012 Dec 26) : 21408-13.
Arias, C.A., McGrath, D., Qin, X.,Mojica M.F., Miller C., Diaz S. L., Tran, T.T., Rincon, S.,
Barbu, E.M., Reyes, J.C., Panesso, D., Lobos, E., Sodergren, E., Pasqualini, R., Arap, W.,
Quinn, J.P., Shamoo, Y., Murray, B.E., and Weinstock, G. "Whole-Genome and Cell Envelope
Analysis of Daptomycin- Susceptible Enterococcus faecalis and Its Resistant Derivative that
Arose During Therapy." New Engl. J. Med., 362 (2011) : 892-900. PMID 21899450.
Walkiewicz, K., Davlieva, M., Wu, G. and Shamoo, Y. "Crystal structure of Bacteroides
thetaiotaomicron TetX2, a tetracycline degrading monooxygenase at 2.8 Å
resolution." Proteins: Struc. Func. Bioinform, 79: 2335-2340. PMID 21590745.
Davilieva, M. and Shamoo, Y. "Crystal structure of a trimeric archaeal adenylate kinase from
the mesophile Methanococcus maripaludis with an unusually broad functional range and
thermal stability." Proteins, 78 (2010) : 357-364.
Miller, C., Davilieva, M., Wilson, C., White, K., Counago, R., Wu, G., Myers, J.C., WittungStafshede, P., and Shamoo, Y. "Experimental evolution of adenylate kinase reveals contrasting
strategies towards protein thermostability." Biophys. J, 99 (2010) : 887-896 PMID: 20682267.
Peña, M., Davlieva, M. Bennett, M.R., Olson, J.S. and Shamoo, Y. "Evolutionary fates within a
microbial population highlight an essential role for reversible and irreversible protein folding
during natural selection." Molecular Systems Biology 6:387 (2010). PMID 20631681
Peña, M., Van Italie, E., Bennett, M.R., and Shamoo, Y. "Evolution of a single gene highlights
the complexity underlying molecular descriptions of fitness." CHAOS 20:026107 (2010).
PMID:20590336
Davlieva, M. and Shamoo, Y. "Structure and biochemical characterization of an adenylate
kinase originating from the psychrophilic organism Marinibacillus marinus ." Acta Cryst F Struc
Biol Cryst Commun, 65 (2009) : 751-756.
Guelker, M., Stagg, L., Wittung-Stafshede, P., and Shamoo, Y. "Pseudo symmetry, high copy
number and twinning complicate the structure determination of flavodoxin from Desulfovibrio
desulfuricans (ATCC 29577)." Acta Cryst D Biol Crystallogr, D65 (2009) : 513-522.
Couñago, R., Wilson, C.J., Peña, M.I., Wittung-Stafshede, P., and Shamoo, Y. "An adaptive
mutation in adenylate kinase that increases organismal fitness is linked to stability-activity
trade-offs." Prot. Eng. Des. Sel., 21 (2008) : 19-27.
Woodward, A.W., Ratzel, S.E., Woodward, E.E., Shamoo, Y., and Bartel, B. "Mutation of E1CONJUGATING ENZYME-RELATED1 decreases RELATED TO UBIQUITIN conjugation and alters
auxin response and development." Plant Physiology, 144 (2007) : 976-987.
Brock, D.A., van Egmond, W.N., Shamoo. Y., Hatton, R.D., and Gomer, R.H. "A 60-kilodalton
protein component of the counting factor regulates group size in Dictyostelium
discoideum." Eularyotic Cell, 5 (2006) : 1532-1538.
Counago, R., Chen, S. and Shamoo, Y. "In vivo evolution reveals biophysical origins of
organismal fitness." Molecular Cell, 22 (2006) : 441-446.
Maximciuc, A., Putkey, J.A., Shamoo, Y., and Mackenzie, K.R. "Complex of calmodulin with a
ryanodine receptor target reveals a novel, flexible binding mode." Structure, 14 (2006) :
1547-1556.
Morozova, N., Aller, J.A., Myers, J., and Shamoo, Y. "Protein-RNA interactions: Exploring
binding patterns with a three-dimensional superposition analysis of high resolution
structures." Bioinformatics, 22 (2006) : 2746-2752.
Sun, S., Geng, L., and Shamoo, Y. "Fusion of bacteriophage RB69 DNA polymerase and
single-stranded DNA binding protein leads to increased processivity." Prot. Struc. Func. and
Bioinform., 65 (2006) : 231-238.
Bruning, J.B., and Shamoo, Y. "Structural and thermodynamic analysis of human PCNA bound
to peptides derived from DNA polymerase-delta p66-subunit and flap endonuclease-1 (FEN1)
proteins." Structure (2004) In Press
Counago, R., and Shamoo, Y. "Gene replacement of adenylate kinase in the gram-positive
thermophile Geobacillus stearothermophilus disrupts adenine nucleotide homeostasis and
reduces cell viability." Extremophiles, 9 (2005) : 135-144.
Myers, J., and Shamoo, Y. "Human UP1 as a model for understanding purine recognition in the
family of proteins containing the RNA Recognition Motif (RRM)." J. Mol. Biol., 342 (2004) :
743-756.
Myers, J.G., Moore, S.A., and Shamoo, Y. "Structure-based incorporation of 6-MI into the
human telomeric repeat DNA as a probe for UP1 binding and destabilization of G-tetrad
structures." J. Biol. Chem., 278 (2003) : 42300-42306.
Shamoo, Y. "Structural insights into BRCA2 function." Curr. Op. Struc. Biol., 13 (2003) : 206211.
Sun, S., and Shamoo, Y. "Biochemical characterization of interactions between DNA
polymerase and single-stranded DNA binding protein in bacteriophage RB69." J. Biol. Chem.,
278 (2003) : 3876-3881.
Allers, J., and Shamoo, Y. "Structure-based analysis of protein-RNA interactions using the
program ENTANGLE." J. Mol. Biol., 311 (2001) : 76-86.
Shamoo, Y., and Steitz, T.A. "Building a Replisome Structure from Interacting Pieces:
Structures of a Sliding Clamp Complexed with an Interaction Peptide from DNA Polymerase,
and a DNA Polymerase Editing Complex." Cell, 99 (1999) : 155-169.
Rice, L.M., Shamoo, Y., and Brunger, A.T "Phase Improvement by Multi-start Simulated
Annealing Refinement and Structure Factor Averaging." J. Appl. Cryst., 31 (1998) : 798-805.
Book chapters
Shamoo, Y. "Single-stranded DNA Binding Proteins." in Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (2000)
Presentations
Invited Talks
"Defense Threat Reduction Agency Scientific and Basic Sciences Meeting." Washington D.C.
(August 29, 2012)
"Experimental evolution of a model organism and a clinical pathogen: What can they tell us
about predicting drug resistance?." U. Maryland School of Medicine , Baltimore, MD. ( Dec12)
"Experimental evolution of a model organism and a clinical pathogen: What can they tell us
about predicting drug resistance?." Rocky Mountain ASM Regional Meeting Keynote Speaker,
(April 21, 2012)
"Quantitative Evolutionary Dynamics: Experimental evolution of a clinical pathogen." United
States Military Academy, West Point, NY. (November 19, 2012)
"Use of adaptive genetic networks as predictors for bacterial domestication.." Defense Threat
Reduction Agency Biomarkers Meeting, Washington D.C.. (March 8, 2012)
"Evolutionary fates within a microbial population highlight an essential role for protein folding
during natural selection." Protein Society National Meeting, Boston, MA. (August 24, 2011)
"Evolutionary fates within a microbial population: The essential role for protein folding during
natural selection." Gordon Research Conference - Microbial Populations 2011, (August 23,
2011)
"Experimental adaptation and biophysics: building the links between molecules and fitness."
Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Populations, Proctor Academy, Andover, NH. (July
17, 2011)
"Experimental evolution of a model organism and a clinical pathogen: What can they tell us
about predicting drug resistance?." Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, TX. (December 12, 2011)
"Nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of biophysics." Steitz Symposium, Dept
of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT. (June 25, 2011)
"Signatures of Laboratory Grown Bio Agents." 2011 DTRA Basic Research Technical Review
Meeting, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Springfield, VA. (July 26, 2011)
"Adaptation and atoms: Can we determine a molecular basis for fitness?." U. North Carolina,
(02/02/2010)
"Evolutionary fates within a microbial population: The essential role for protein folding during
natural selection." Georgia Institute of Technology, (10/22/2010)
"Molecular evolution within bacterial populations: Can we from fitness to molecules? ." UT
Health Sciences Center Houston, (12/10/2010)
"Adaptation and Atoms: Biophysical Origins of Molecular Evolution." Sealy Structural Biology
Symposium, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. (May 16-17, 2008)
"Adaptation and Atoms: Biophysical Origins of Molecular Evolution." CARB, University of
Maryland. (November 17, 2008)
Speaker. "Experimental evolution within a microbial population highlights strategies towards
protein adaptation.." Workshops Current Trends in Biomedicine, Baeza, Spain. (October 22,
2007) With R. Counago
"Molecular evolution within bacterial populations reveals biophysical origins for fitness." 15th
Annual Texas Protein Folders Meeting, Navasota, Texas. (March 31, 2007) With R. Couñago,
C. Wilson, P. Wittung-Stafshede
"Thinking small: Evolution in a world the size of a coffee pot." Alabama Lectures on Life's
Evolution (Allele), (February 22, 2007) With R. Couñago
"Using structural superposition for the analysis of protein-RNA interactions." American
Chemical Society, Boston. (August 21, 2007) With N. Morozova, J. Myers and J. Allers
"Going Beyond the Human Genome Project." Society of Rice University Women, Houston,
Texas. (2002)
Keynote Speaker
"Evolution writ small: Molecular evolution within bacterial populations reveals biophysical
origins for fitness." Baylor College of Medicine Retreat: Program in Cell and Molecular Biology,
With R. Counago, M. Pena, C. Wilson, P. Wittung-Stafshede
Other
"Structural Biology in the 21st Century: Going Beyond the Human Genome Project." Rice
University Alumni College, Houston, Texas. (2001)
Posters
"Structural Studies of RB69 DNA Polymerase Bound to an Autoregulatory RNA Element."
American Crystallographic Association Meeting, San Antonio, Texas. (2002) With Sun, S.
"Structural Studies of the Yeast La Protein Pre-tRNA Complex." American Crystallographic
Association Meeting, San Antonio, Texas. (2002) With Bruning, J.
"Understanding the Rules of Protein:RNA Interactions." American Crystallographic Association
Meeting, San Antonio, Texas. (2002) With Myers, J.
Seminar Speaker
"Evolution writ small: Molecular evolution within bacterial populations reveals biophysical
origins for fitness." Department of Human & Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, Texas. (March 15, 2007)
"Evolution writ small: Molecular evolution within bacterial populations reveals biophysical
origins for fitness." Department of Chemistry, Univeresity of Alabama. (February 22, 2007)
Workshops
"Army Research Office Workshop on Microbial Adaptation." (9/29/08-10/1/08)
Editorial Positions
Associate Editor, Protein, Structure, Function and Bioinformatics. Wiley. (2008 - 2016)
Associate Editor, Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics. Wiley. (2011 - 2011)
Associate Editor, Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics. Wiley. (2010 - 2010)
Associate Editor, Protein Structure, Function and Bioinformatics. (2008 - 2008)
Supervised Theses & Dissertations
Lucian Smith, Ph.D. The Effects of Amino Acid Substitution on Apomyoglobin Stability, Folding
Intermediates, and Holoprotein Expression. (2002) (Committee Member)
Jie Xiao, Ph.D. Structural Characterization and Kinetic Evaluation of RecA-Mediated Strand
Exchange. (2002) (Committee Member)
Wei Zhang, Ph.D. X-ray Structural Determination and Biophysical Characterization of HemAT,
a Chemotaxis Receptor from B. subtilis. (2003) (Committee Member)
Rachel Leininger Schweers, Ph.D. Electrostatic Regulation of O2 and CO Binding in the alpha
and beta Subunits of Recombinant Human Hemoglobin. (2003) (Committee Member)
John Bruning, Ph.D. Structural and Thermodynamic Analysis of Human PCNA Bound to
Peptides Derived from DNA Polymerase-delta p66-Subunit and Flap Endonuclease-1 (FEN1)
Proteins. (2004) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)
Rebekah A. Rampey, Ph.D. Genetic Analysis of IAA-Conjugate Sensitivity in Arabidopsis
thaliana: Hydrolysis, Transcriptional Regulation, and Metal Homeostasis. (2004) (Committee
Member)
Jeffrey C. Myers, Ph.D. Human UP1 as a Model for Understanding Purine Recognition in the
Family of Proteins Containing the RNA Recognition Motif (RRM). (2004) (Thesis or Dissertation
Director)
Siyang Sun, Ph.D. Biochemical and Crystallographic Studies of Bacteriophage RB69 DNA
Polymerase and Single-stranded DNA Binding Protein Interactions. (2005) (Thesis or
Dissertation Director)
Jamie Catanese, Ph.D. Biophysical and Biochemical Characterization of the Disconnected
Interacting Protein 1, DIP1, from Drosophila melanogaster. (2005) (Committee Member)
Renee LeClair, Ph.D. Elucidating the Mechanism of Triterpene Cyclization Using DNA Synthesis
and Phylogenetic Approaches. (2005) (Committee Member)
Rafael Counago, Ph.D. Single Gene Evolution: A Punctuated History of Chance. (2005) (Thesis
or Dissertation Director)
Corey Wilson, Ph.D. Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Protein Folding, Stability, and
Assembly: A Thorough Assessment of Complex Behavior. (2005) (Committee Member)
Hongli Zhan, Ph.D. Biophysical Characterization of the Allosteric Transition in Lactose
Repressor Protein (LacI). (2005) (Committee Member)
Kathryn Luke, Ph.D. Exploring the Envelope of Life: Folding and Assembly Reactions of the
Hyper-Thermostable Co-Chaperonin Protein 10 from Aquifex aeolicus. (2007) (Committee
Member)
Angela Noel Hvitved, p NO Dioxygenation in Mammalian Hemoglobins and Microbial
Flavohemoglobins. (2007) (Committee Member)
Liping Dong, M.A. Functional and Structural Studies of the Influenza A Virus Polymerase
Subunit PB1 and its Subcomplex with the Subunit PA. (2007) (Committee Member)
Endah Sulistijo, Ph.D. Specificity of Membrane Helix-Helix Interactions by Mutagenesis and
Structural Analysis. (2007) (Committee Member)
Megan Guelker, Ph.D. Overcoming the Challenges of Twinning and Pseudo Symmetry in
Solving the Structure of Flavodoxin from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans 29577 by X-ray
Crystallography. (2008) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)
Ian Dews, Ph.D. The Four Syndecans: A Fugue in GxxxG Minor. (2008) (Committee Member)
Augustina Rodriguez Granillo, PhD Copper as a Biological Yin-Yang Element: Structural
Dynamics, Protein-Protein Interactions and Transfer Mechanisms of Copper Transport
Proteins. (2009) (Committee Member)
Pietro Morlacchi, PhD Triterpene biosynthesis in plants: Oxidosqualene cyclization in
Arabidopsis. (2009) (Committee Member)
Y. Nissanka Wickremasinghe, PhD Probing biophysical interactions at the nanoscale. (2009)
(Committee Member)
Andres Salvador Benitez Cardenas, Ph.D. The Biophysical Basis for Adaptation: Predicting
Evolutionary Outcomes from Physicochemical Properties. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation
Director)
Katarzyna Walkiewicz, Ph.D. Experimental evolution of TetX2: correlating changes in fitness to
their structural and functional origins. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)
Corwin Miller, Ph.D. Evolutionary Trajectories to Daptomycin Resistance in Enterococcus
faecalis. (2013) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)
Kathryn R Beaubout, PhD Evolutionary dynamics leading to tigecycline resistance in a hospital
strain of Enterococcus faecalis. (Thesis or Dissertation Director)
Xu Wang, PhD Structure-function studies of E. faecalis YybT and GshF associated with
daptomycin resistance. (Thesis or Dissertation Director)
Lu Han, PhD Method development for natural products structure determination. (Committee
Member)
Yasmin Chebaro, PhD Sulfur metabolism of Candida albicans: Adaptation to sulfite and biofilm
formation. (Committee Member)
Juan Diaz, PhD Analyses of independent evolution on alleles that confer resistance to
anticoagulants in US population rodents. (Committee Member)
Awards, Prizes, & Fellowships
George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching , Rice University
Brown Superior Teaching Award, Rice University (2013)
George R. Brown Superior Teaching Award,
Wiess Career Development Chair, (2008-present)
Distinguished Faculty Associate, Brown College, Brown College (2002)
Member, The RNA Society,
Member, American Chemical Society,
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Member, American Crystallographic Association,
Member, American Crystallographic Association
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Member, The RNA Society
Member, The RNA Society
Member, American Crystallographic Association
Positions Held
Member, Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC). (2001 - 2015)
Member, Computer and Information Technology Institute (CITI-Rice) . (2005 - 2015)