Terns Lab

Members







GRADUATE STUDENTS
Osama Youssef
  • M.S. in Chemistry from South Valley University in Egypt.
  • Osama received a scholarship from the Egyptian government to study molecular biology in the United States.
  • He is studying RNA-protein complexes in eukaryotes and archaea. Osama has determined the requirements for the interaction of the 4 proteins of the H/ACA RNP with an H/ACA guide RNA.
  • Osama presented his work at the 2005 RNA Tool and Target: Small RNAs and RNPs Meeting in Research Triangle Park, NC and the 2006 RNA Meeting in Seattle.
  • Baker, D.L., Youssef, O.A., Chastkofsky, M.I.R., Dy, D., Terns, R.M., and Terns, M.P. (2005) RNA-Guided RNA Modification:Functional Organization of the Archaeal H/ACA RNP. Genes & Development, 19(10):1238-48. Read Baker et al.
    This paper was recommended to members of Faculty of 1000 by Dr. Gabriele Varani (University of Washington).
  • Rashid, R., Liang, B., Baker, D.L., Youssef, O.A., He, Y., Phipps, K., Terns, R.M., Terns, M.P., Li, H. (2006) Crystal Structure of a Cbf5-Nop10-Gar1 Complex and Implications in RNA-Guided Pseudouridylation and Dyskeratosis Congenita. Molecular Cell, 21(2):249-60. Read Rashid et al.
  • Youssef, O.A., Terns, R.M., Terns, M.P. (2007) Dynamic interactions within sub-complexes of the H/ACA pseudouridylation guide RNP, Nucleic Acids Research, 35(18):6196-206. Read Youssef et al.
 
Eladio Abreu
  • B.S. in Biology from Morehouse College.
  • As an undergraduate, Eladio received a fellowship from the NSF Genomics and Computational Biology REU Program to work in our laboratory for the summer and an NIH MARC award.
  • He is investigating the factors responsible for the changes in telomerase that are observed in cancer cells.
  • Eladio was awarded a UGA Summer Bridge Award, a UGA Graduate Research Opportunities Award, and the 2005 James Travis Award.
  • Eladio is the recipient of a research supplement award from the National Cancer Institute.
  • He has presented his work at the 2006 RNA Meeting in Seattle, the Telomeres & Telomerase Meeting at Cold Spring Harbor and the AACR Role of Telomeres and Telomerase in Cancer Meeting in San Francisco.
  • Tomlinson, R., Abreu, E., Ziegler, T., Ly, H., Counter, C., Terns, R.M., Terns, M.P. (2008) Telomerase reverse transcriptase is required for the localization of telomerase RNA to Cajal bodies and telomeres in human cancer cells, Molecular Biology of the Cell, in press.
Caryn Hale
  • B.A. with Highest Distinction from Louisiana Scholars’ College, Northwestern State University - Magna Cum Laude.
  • Caryn is studying RNA-protein compexes in Pyrococcus furiosus.
  • She attended the 2005 RNA Tool and Target: Small RNAs and RNPs Meeting in Research Triangle Park, NC and received a travel award to present her work at the 2006 Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Regulatory RNAs.
  • Roovers, M., Hale, C., Tricot, C., Terns, M.P., Terns, R.M., Grosjean, H., and Droogmans, L. (2006) Formation of the conserved pseudouridine at position 55 in archaeal tRNA. Nucleic Acids Research, 34(15):4293-301. Read Roovers et al.
    Caryn and Martine contributed equally to this work.
Jason Carte
  • B.S. in Biology from Georgia Southern University.
  • Jason is a Ph.D. student in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology studying archaeal RNPs.
Sonali Majumdar
  • M.S. with Distinction in Biotechnology from Bangalore University.
  • B.Sc. with Distinction in Microbiology from Bangalore University.
  • Sonali was awarded Best Outgoing Student, Department of Microbiology, Bangalore University.
  • She has worked as a clinical embryologist and volunteered for several projects to improve community health.
  • Sonali is investigating non-coding RNA-protein complexes in archaea.
Our Previous Graduate Students
Wayne Speckmann, Ph.D.
Aarthi Narayanan, Ph.D.
Andrew Lukowiak, Ph.D.
Kevin Jones, M.S.
Sarah Whitehead Finch, Ph.D.
Dan Baker, Ph.D.
Rebecca Tomlinson, Ph.D.
Maggie Qiu, Ph.D.		 Our Previous Post-docs
Yusheng Zhu, Ph.D.
Natalia Starostina, Ph.D.
Zhu-Hong Li, Ph.D.
Kevin Polach, Ph.D.


RESEARCH STAFF
Brad Culp
  • B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech.
  • M.S. in Bioengineering from University of California at San Diego.
  • Brad is studying the function of SMN in motor neurons.
 
Micah Hale
  • Undergraduate in Music at the University of Georgia.
  • Micah currently provides research support for our lab.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Kyle Kleppe
  • Undergraduate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia.
  • President of the University of Georgia Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Undergraduate Student Association.
  • Kyle is an Eagle Scout, Vigil Honor recipient in the Order of the Arrow, professional scuba diver, and high adventure ropes course and rock climbing instructor.
  • Kyle is studying non-coding RNA-protein complexes in Pyrococcus furiosus.
Neil Pfister
  • Undergraduate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Genetics at the University of Georgia.
  • Presidential Scholar, John W. Nuttycombe Scholar, and Member of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges.
  • Neil is the Chair for Volunteering and Shadowing for Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-medical Honor Society and a Brother in BYX (Brothers Under Christ/Beta Upsilon Chi - uga.edu/byx).
  • Neil is studying new classes of non-coding RNA-protein complexes in hyperthermophilic archaea.
Lindsay Jones
  • Undergraduate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Finance at the University of Georgia.
  • Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholar.
  • Lindsay volunteers for the Thomas Lay Community Center tutoring program, Athens Regional Medical Center, Relay for Life, and Colleges Against Cancer.
  • She is studying archaeal RNA-protein complexes.
Matthew Belcher
  • Undergraduate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia.
  • Matt enjoy the outdoors, soccer, bicycling, reading and playing the violin.
  • He is studying the telomerase complex in cancer cells, and plans to pursue an M.D. after graduation.

Michael and Rebecca Terns
The University of Georgia
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Life Sciences Building
Athens, Georgia 30602