People
Anastasios Vourekas got his PhD at the University of Patras in Greece studying the ribozyme RNase P with Denis Drainas. He did his PostDoc at Penn with Zissimos Mourelatos working on piRNAs and Piwi proteins. He started at LSU as a tenure track Assistant Professor in January 2019.
He is teaching BIOL 4132, Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics.
Email: avourekas@lsu.edu
Current:
Mahmoud Dondeti is a Ph.D student at the department of Biological Sciences. He is interested in studying gene expression and its regulation, especially at the post-transcriptional level. He is studying the non-coding RNAs using bioinformatics and computational tools to uncover the mechanisms of gene regulation.
Email: Mdonde1@lsu.edu
Allison Scarboro is a second year Ph.D candidate from Savannah, Georgia . She graduated in 2019 from Oglethorpe University. Her project is focused on the study of RNase P. Furthermore, she is interested in proteomics and genomics.
Email: Ascarb7@lsu.edu
Abd-El-Monsif (Monsif) Shawky is a graduate student from Egypt, and a bioinformatician interested in RNA Biology and translation initiation. He is currently working on DDX3 and other initiation factors and their role in post-transcriptional regulation, especially during stress.
Email: Ashawk1@lsu.edu
Eleni Liapi is a research scholar at Louisiana State University, and a PhD student at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Eleni joined the Vourekas lab in October 2020. Eleni is working on non-coding RNAs, such as tRNA-like molecules and tRFs, their structural biology and their interactions with proteins - ultimately aiming to identify the cellular roles of those complexes and their relevance to human (patho)physiology.
Email: Eliapi1@lsu.edu
Xiongming Dai is a Ph.D. student at Computer Science, LSU. He is interested in the Big (genomic) Data Analysis via machine learning, especially the Gaussian Process Regression and Determinant Point Process.
Email: Xdai2@lsu.edu
Aleah Holts is a graduate student from Alexandria, Louisiana. She graduated in 2021 at Louisiana State University and is currently attaining her master’s degree in Biotechnology at John’s Hopkins University. She is pursuing an M.D. and will be applying to medical school.
Email: Aholts1@lsu.edu
Summer 2022:
Alumni:
Claire Fisher did her Undergraduate Honors Thesis in our lab in 2019 - 2020. Claire defended her
Honors Thesis on April 22nd 2020, and she is currently attending LSU Medical School at Shreveport.
Deepika Nagliya worked in our lab in 2019 - 2020. Deepika is currently attending the College of Osteopathic
Medicine at NSU Florida.
Kenneth Avanzino carried out his Undergraduate Honors Thesis in our lab in 2020 - 2021. Kenneth defended
his Honors Thesis on April 14th 2021, and he is currently studying at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine.
Jared Navarre worked in the Vourekas lab during 2019-2020. He is majoring in Biological Sciences
and aspires to go to medical school.
Lillian Wilder worked in the Vourekas lab during 2021-2022. She is pursuing a dual degree in Microbiology and Global Studies to obtain an M.d/Ph.D. and work internationally.
Email: Lwilde4@lsu.edu
Kaili Taylor was an undergraduate from Shreveport. She worked in the Vourekas lab during 2020-2023.
She was majoring in Biological Engineering and minoring in Computer Science and Biology.
She started her graduate school in Rutgers University.
Email: Ktay132@lsu.edu