About Us

We are a diverse group of folks that care about understanding molecular mechanisms in normal and disease states

D'Orso Lab is associated with the Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology graduate programs. We are located in the Department of Microbiology and are associated with the Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry / Cellular and Molecular Biology graduate programs. Our team is comprised of graduate students, postdocs, and research assistants. For more details please see Lab Projects or directly contact the Principal Investigator.

Meet the Principal Investigator

Ivan D'Orso

Ivan D'Orso, Ph.D.

The major theme of Dr. D'Orso's work is to characterize the mechanisms of HIV transcriptional regulation, and the molecular and structural basis of cellular reprogramming by viral transcription factors. His current work is focused on using cell biological, biochemical, and genetic studies to elaborate the contribution of these host co-factors to the establishment of latency and efforts for HIV eradication. Dr. D’Orso’s research program is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, The Welch Foundation, and an Institutional grant from the American Cancer Society.

Current Lab Members

Ashwini Challa

Research Assistant
(2017 – Present)

Ashwini is working towards completing a global comparative analysis of RNA polymerase II elongation complexes in eukaryotic cells.

Email

Ashwini Challa

Usman Hyder

Graduate Student I Genetics, Development & Disease Ph.D. Program
(2019 – Present)

Usman is working towards determining how the transcription elongation factor KAP1 recognizes chromatin at target gene promoters to exert transcription activation.

Email

Usman Hyder

Emily Cruz-Lorenzo

Lab Manager
(2016 – Present)

Email

Emily Cruz-Lorenzo

Nora-Guadalupe Ramirez

Graduate Student I Molecular Microbiology
(2014 – Present)

Nora is interested in defining new pathways that control the establishment and maintenance of HIV proviral latency in CD4 T cells using an unbiased gain-of-function approach with human cDNAs.

Email

Nora-Guadalupe Ramirez

Jinli Wang, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow 
(2017 – Present)

Jinli is interested in elucidating how the ARF tumor suppressor cooperates with transcription elongation factors to control cell fate and prevent cancer development.

Email

Jinli Wang

Ashutosh Shukla, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow
(2018 – Present)

Email

Ashutosh Shukla

Keyera Randolph

Graduate Student I Molecular Microbiology
(2018 – Present)

Email

Keyera Randolph

Former Lab Members

Youn-Tae Kwak, Ph.D.

Research Associate
(2011-2013)

Current Position: Research Scientist, UT Southwestern

Youn-Tae Kwak, Ph.D.

Swapna Aravind, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
(2012-2014)

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Huntsman Cancer Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Swapna Aravind

Jennifer McCann

Lab Technician
(2012-2014)

Current Position: Graduate Student, University of Minnesota

Jennifer McCann

Jonathan Reeder

Green Fellow, Research Associate
(2013-2015)

Current Position: Medical School, UT Southwestern

Jonathan Reeder

Ryan McNamara, Ph.D.

Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
(2011-2015)

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Dirk Dittmer's lab, UNC Chapel Hill

Ryan McNamara

Sonali Pandhe

Postdoctoral Researcher
(2014-2016)

Current Position: Research Associate

Sonali Pandhe

Emily Morton

Research Assistant
(2014-2016)

Current Position: Research Associate, Peloton Therapeutics, Inc (Dallas, Texas)

Emily Morton

Victor Fung

Research Technician
(2015-2017)

Victor Fung

Carlos Guzman

Research Assistant
(2015-2017)

Current Position: Graduate Student, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology, UC San Diego

Carlos Guzman

Chi Pak

Research Associate
(2016-2018)

Current Position: Data Analyst, TXU (Dallas, TX)

Chi Pak

Curtis Bacon

Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
(2015-2020)

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Julia Zeitlinger’s lab at Stowers Institute, Kansas City

Curtis Bacon

Zheng Ma. Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
(2015-2020)

Zheng Ma

Lab Alumni

2010    Ryan McNamara, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2011    Terry Ng, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2011    Amparo Estrada, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2011    Evan Stevens, Graduate Student, MSTP
2012    Kelly Vollbracht, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2012    Sureka Gattu, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2012    Blake Richardson, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2012    Shreya Endapally, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2013    Nicholas Rinkenberger, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2014    Azucena Briones, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2014    Jonathan Reeder, Undergraduate Student, Green Fellow
2014    Jonathan Reeder, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2014    Victor Fung, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2014    Alicia Stars, High School Teacher, STARS Program
2014    Nora-Guadalupe Ramirez, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2015    Curtis Bacon, Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
2015    Matthew Deng, Undergraduate Student, Green Fellow
2015    Addison White, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2015    Zane Gibbs, Graduate Student, Cellular and Molecular Biology
2016    Addison White, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2016    Jordan Driskill, Graduate Student, MSTP
2016    Michelle Ramirez, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2016    Mikal Woods, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2017    Matthew Lanahan, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2017    Usman Hyder, Undergraduate Student, Green Fellow
2017    Darien Nguyen, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2017    Joy Nesbitt, Physician Scientist Training Program participant
2017    Anne Devlin, Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
2018    Francisco Bautista, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2018    Victor Nunez, High-School Student, STARS Program
2018    Brittany Stewart, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2018    Cameron Torres, Postponed graduate school training for 2019
2018    Juliana Herbeck, Graduate Student, Genetics, Development & Disease
2020    Valerie Rodriguez Irizarry, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2020    Landon Nguyen, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology