Lab Members
Staff Members:Dr. Lizna Mohamed Ali, PhD. Medical Research Specialist:
Dr. Ali is the senior most member of the lab and her research interests
are founded in retroviral RNA packaging (Ali et al., Viruses 2016). She
has recently delineated the role of purine-rich regions in MPMV genomic
RNA packaging (Ali et al., Front. Micro., 2020). She is currently
working on MMTV gRNA export pathway. Briefly, MMTV encodes an RNA
export protein called Rem, which interacts with the Rem-Responsive
Element (RmRE) present at the 3’end of the viral genome, facilitating
nuclear export of unspliced RNA. Dr. Ali is currently working towards
identifying the Rem binding site(s) on RmRE by expressing and purifying
Rem protein from bacterial cultures. Vineeta Pillai, Research Assistant: Ms. Pillai is
working towards delineating the molecular mechanisms involved in the
packaging of SIV gRNA. She has recently identified a stretch of
unpaired purines in the leader region of SIV gRNA which is crucial for
its packaging into assembling virions (Pillai et al., J. Mol. Biol.,
2021). Ms. Pillai is now focusing towards identifying SIV Gag precursor
binding sites on this stretch of unpaired purines towards which she has
already purified SIV Gag precursor (Pillai et al., Heliyon, 2023). |
Postdoctoral Fellow:Dr. Soumeya Jaballah:
Dr. Jaballah recently joined as a postdoctoral fellow after obtaining
her PhD from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland,
New Zealand. During her PhD, she worked on the structural and
functional analysis of a retroviral Gag polyprotein. In her new role as
a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Jaballah will be working towards developing
the next generation of retroviral vectors and packaging cell lines and
test their ability to reverse single gene disorders in animal model
systems. |
Current Graduate Students:Bushra Zia, CMHS, UAE University, (Fall 2023- present):
Recently joined as a PhD student and is working towards elucidating the molecular mechanism(s) which allow specific selection of retroviral genomic RNA (gRNA) by structural as well as enzymatic proteins.
Mohammad Abdullah Jehad, CMHS, UAE University, (Fall 2022- present):
PhD student and is working towards elucidating the molecular mechanism(s) which allow specific selection of retroviral genomic RNA (gRNA) by Gag protein and to establish whether Gag-Pol and/or Gag-Pro-Pol precursors play any role in gRNA packaging.
Suresha G. Prabhu, CMHS, UAE University, (2019- present):
Suresha is a PhD candidate working on the role of structural motifs
during MMTV gRNA packaging. Our work on MMTV has identified conserved
long-range interactions (LRIs) between U5 and Gag sequences within the
MMTV gRNA packaging determinants (Aktar et al., Retrovirology, 2014;
Chameettachal et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 2021). Suresha’s thesis
project is directed towards validating the existence and biological
significance of U5-Gag LRIs and the architectural role these LRIs may
play in stabilizing the overall RNA secondary structure of MMTV
packaging signal RNA employing a combination of in vitro and in vivo
approaches. |
Past Graduate Students:Anjana Krishnan:
Dr. Krishnan defended her PhD thesis entitled “Identification of a potential Pr50Gag
binding site critical for selective encapsidation of feline
immunodeficiency virus (FIV) genomic RNA”. Briefly, her thesis work was
directed towards expressing, purifying, and characterizing FIV Pr50Gag,
characterizing Pr50Gag binding site(s) on the FIV gRNA, and establishing
correlations between the Pr50Gag binding site(s) and gRNA packaging.
Part of her thesis work has recently been published in the leading
journal (Krishnan et al., Viruses, 2019; Krishnan et al.,
RNA, 2024). In addition, she contributed significantly to other
projects in the laboratory to be a co-author on other manuscripts from
our laboratory (Chameettachal et al., Nucleic Acids Research,
2021; Pitchai et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2021; Pillai et al.,
J. Mol. Biol., 2021; Pillai et al., Heliyon, 2023).
Finally, she also presented her thesis work at the prestigious annual
retrovirus meeting of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, 2019. Akhil Chameettachal: Dr. Chameettachal defended his PhD thesis entitled, “Insights into the packaging of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) genomic RNA by identifying Pr77Gag binding sites involved during its selective encapsidation”. Briefly, his thesis work was directed towards expressing, purifying, and characterizing MMTV Pr77Gag, characterizing Pr77Gag binding site(s) on the MMTV gRNA, and establishing correlations between the Pr77Gag binding site(s) and gRNA packaging (Chameettachal et al., Viruses, 2018; Chameettachal et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 2021; Chameettachal et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2023). In addition, he contributed significantly to other projects in the laboratory to be a co-author on other manuscripts from our laboratory (Pitchai et al., Scientific Reports, 2018; Krishnan et al., Viruses, 2019; Ali et al., Front. Micro., 2020; Pitchai et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2021; Pillai et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2021). Finally, he also gave a talk at the prestigious annual retrovirus meeting of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, 2019 (https://youtu.be/zvkAraQVowM). Fathima Nuzra Nagoor Pitchai: Dr. Pitchai defended her PhD thesis entitled, “Delineating the binding sites of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) Gag precursor polyprotein (Pr78Gag) on genomic RNA for its selective packaging”. Briefly, her thesis work was directed towards expressing, purifying, and characterizing MPMV Pr78Gag, characterizing Pr78Gag binding site(s) on MPMV gRNA, and establishing correlations between the Pr78Gag binding site(s) and gRNA packaging (Pitchai et al., Scientific Reports, 2018; Pitchai et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2021). In addition, she contributed significantly to other projects in the laboratory to be a co-author on other manuscripts from our laboratory (Chameettachal et al., Viruses, 2018; Krishnan et al., Viruses, 2019; Ali et al., Front. Micro., 2020; Chameettachal et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 2021; Pillai et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2021). Finally, she also gave a talk at the prestigious annual retrovirus meeting of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, 2020 (https://youtu.be/L41Icadeiek). Rawan Mohammad Khaleel Kalloush: Defended her MS thesis entitled “Optimal packaging of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) genomic RNA depends upon conserved long-range interactions (LRIs) between U5 and Gag sequences”. Briefly, her thesis work was directed towards validating the structure-function relationship(s) of various stems and loops of the recently predicted RNA secondary structure of MPMV packaging determinants (Jaballah et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2010; Aktar et al., RNA, 2013). Specifically, she validated the existence and the biological significance of U5-Gag long-range interactions (LRIs) and the architectural role these LRIs may play in stabilizing the overall RNA secondary structure the MPMV packaging signal RNA that has been published in two leading journals of the field (Kalloush et al., RNA, 2016; Kalloush et al., RNA Biology, 2019). Suriya Jahan Aktar: Defended her doctoral thesis entitled "SHAPE validated secondary structures of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) and mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) packaging signal RNAs reveal pal helix loops functioning as dimerization initiation sites (DIS) controlling their genomic RNA (gRNA) packaging". Briefly, her work validated the structure-function relationship(s) of various stems and loops of the putative RNA secondary structure of MPMV and MMTV packaging and dimerization determinants employing a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches. Part of her thesis work has recently been published in the leading journals (Aktar et al., RNA, 2013; Aktar et al., Retrovirology, 2014). In addition, she contributed significantly to other projects in the laboratory to be a co-author on other manuscripts from our laboratory (Rizvi et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2010; Jaballah et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2010). Soumeya Jaballah: Soumeya defended her Master’s thesis entitled, “Delineation of MPMV RNA packaging determinants: Structure-function correlation of the 5' end of MPMV RNA genome” in April 2010. Her thesis work was published in one of the leading journals of the field (Jaballah et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2010). In addition, she also contributed to other published work from the laboratory (Al Dhaheri et al., Retrovirology, 2009). Akela Ghazawi: Defended her Master’s thesis entitled “Fine mapping of sequences important for FIV RNA packaging and their mechanism of function” in April 2005. Work from her thesis has resulted in two publications in the top journals of the field (J. Virol., 2005; Microbes Infect., 2006). In addition, based on her contributions to different ongoing projects in the laboratory, she had been a co-author in a number of other publications. Matthew T. Browning: Defended his doctoral thesis entitled: “Cross-packaging among retroviruses and characterization of the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) packaging signal: Implications for the development of FIV-based gene transfer systems” in 2001. His thesis related work resulted in a number of publications in the leading journals of the field (Browning et al., J. Virol., 2001; Browning et al., J. Gen. Virol., 2003; Browning et al., Virus Research, 2003). |
Undergraduate Medical Students: |
Following undergraduate medical students have been trained in my laboratory at CMHS.
|