Meet the Principal Investigator
Ivan D'Orso, Ph.D.
The D’Orso lab has extensive experience in studying mechanisms of gene regulation in the context of human health and disease. Two major areas of study have been: 1) the characterization of mechanisms regulating HIV-1 proviral transcription and their implications for viral latency and reactivation, and 2) the basic understanding and therapeutic exploitation of mechanisms involved in the initiation and/or maintenance of human cancer. Studies on these research areas focus on exploring how gene regulatory programs normally operate and, on the identification, and exploitation of drug targets in these pathways. These include the characterization of viral and host factors, non-coding RNAs, cell signaling and epigenetic programs. We have pioneered new concepts in the regulation of gene expression, found new factors involved in the activation and maintenance of transcriptional programs, and implemented next-generation sequencing approaches and computational tools to broadly define how these factors operate.
Since 2011, Dr. D’Orso has trained 6 Ph.D. students (3 already graduated and doing postdocs somewhere else), rotated 16 Ph.D. or MSTP students, and trained 14 undergraduate students, 5 high school students, and 6 postdocs. Our students have received training grants (Cellular and Molecular biology, Molecular Microbiology and Pharmacology), predoctoral fellowships from Ford Foundation, NSF, and NIH, including one NCI predoctoral-to-postdoctoral fellow transition award (F99/K00).
Current Lab Members
Former Lab Members
Usman Hyder
Graduate Student, GDD Program (2019-2023)
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Keyera Randolph, Ph.D.
Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology Graduate Program
(2018-2024)
Current Position: Postdoc, UT Health San Antonio
Emily Cruz-Lorenzo
Lab Technician (2016-2021)
Current Position: Graduate Student, University of Pittsburgh (2021-Present)
Nora-Guadalupe Ramirez
Graduate Student, Ford Fellow (2014-2022)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Duke University (2022-Present)
Ashutosh Shukla, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2023)
Current Position: Instructor, Lab of Josephine Ni, UT Southwestern (2023-Present)
Youn-Tae Kwak, Ph.D.
Research Associate (2011-2013)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Lab of Carole Mendelson, UT Southwestern
Swapna Aravind, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher (2012-2014)
Current Position: Manager at ARUP Laboratories, University of Arizona
Jennifer McCann
Lab Technician (2012-2014)
Current Position: Consultant at Lumanity and Founder/CEO of LDR Bags, Denver, NC
Jonathan Reeder
Green Fellow, Research Associate (2013-2015)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine
Ryan McNamara, Ph.D.
Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology (2011-2015)
Current Position: Director of the Systems Serology Laboratory at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard
Sonali Pandhe
Postdoctoral Researcher (2014-2016)
Current Position: Senior Medical Science Liaison (Pediatric Oncology) at Y-mAbs Therapeutics
Emily Morton
Research Assistant (2014-2016)
Current Position: Research Associate at Peloton Therapeutics, Inc., Dallas, TX
Victor Fung
Research Technician (2015-2017)
Current Position: Resident Physician at UTMB Galveston
Carlos Guzman
Research Assistant (2015-2017)
Current Position: Graduate Student, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, UCSD
Chi Pak
Research Associate (2016-2018)
Current Position: Sr. Data Scientist, Foodome, Inc
Curtis Bacon
Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry (2015-2020)
Current Position: Biomedical Research Scientist, Eurofins Viracor
Zheng Ma, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher (2015-2020)
Current Position: Researcher, UT Austin
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 - 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
- 2021 - Henry Vo, Molecular Microbiology
- 2021 - Erick Lopez, Molecular Microbiology
- 2021 - Noah Mathai, STARS Program
- 2022 - Aarohan Burma, Cellular and Molecular Biology
- 2022 - Maham Saeed, Cellular and Molecular Biology
- 2022 - Matthew White, Green Fellow
- 2022 - Emily Santos, STARS Program
- 2023 - Sriram Kumar, Visiting Scholar, Graduate Student, Germany
- 2024 - Tiffany Chambers, Rotation Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
- 2024 - Adithi Radapalli, Amgen Scholar