Meet the Principal Investigator
Khuloud Jaqaman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Khuloud joined the Department of Biophysics at UT Southwestern Medical Center in January 2013 and later the Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics in 2017. She is excited about pursuing her research program and contributing to the education and training of students and postdocs. She is part of the Biomedical Engineering - Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics graduate programs.
Khuloud received her Ph.D. from Indiana University Bloomington, where she did research in molecular dynamics and protein folding. She then did her postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Research Institute, where she got immersed in the fascinating world of investigating receptor dynamics and function in living cells.
Before joining the faculty at UTSW, she was an Instructor in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School.
Meet our Current Lab Members
Aparajita Dasgupta, Ph.D.
Lab Director/Assistant Instructor
Aparajita received her Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the National Centre for Cell Science (affiliated with Pune university, S.P.P.U), India, where she studied the effect of a novel triterpenoid AECHL-1 on tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. She learned that AECHL-1 could inhibit the neo-vessel formation and stall metastasis and EMT by perturbing the cell’s cytoskeleton. Thus, her interest was piqued by the influence that cytoskeletal dynamics can wield on cellular morphology, behavior, and survival.
Aparajita is the director of the experimental branch of the lab, mentoring and collaborating with students and postdoctoral fellows in order to obtain amazing data! For her research project, she is engaged in studying the regulation of cell surface receptor mobility and signaling by the underlying actin cytoskeleton, using several high-resolution and quantitative imaging techniques.
Jaime Guerrero
Graduate Student
Jaime is a graduate student in the Molecular Biophysics graduate program, with an emphasis on Computational and Systems Biology. He received his bachelor's degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from UC San Diego.
In the Jaqaman Lab, Jaime is pursuing quantitative microscopy studies of cell surface receptor interactions.
Tra Ngo
Graduate Student
Tra is a graduate student in the Genetics, Development and Disease graduate program, with an emphasis on Mechanisms of Disease and on Computational and Systems Biology. She received her bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Mathematics from UT Dallas.
In the Jaqaman Lab, Tra employs computational and experimental approaches to study the regulation of endothelial cell surface receptor behavior and angiogenic signaling by the cytoskeleton.
Khai Nguyen
Graduate Student
Khai is a graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering - Computational Biology graduate program. He received his bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from UT Dallas.
In the Jaqaman Lab, Khai is developing deep learning-based analysis approaches to quantify molecular interaction kinetics in their native cellular environment.
Jesus Vega-Lugo
Graduate Student
Jesus is a graduate student in the Molecular Biophysics graduate program, with an emphasis on Computational and Systems Biology. He received his bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, Puerto Rico, while doing research at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, where he investigated the molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction in heart disease.
In the Jaqaman Lab, he is interested in developing computational analysis approaches to quantitatively assess the spatial regulation of receptor interactions with downstream effectors and signaling.
Bilal, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Bilal completed his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. His areas of interest include numerical optimization, stochastic modeling, Bayesian inference and evolutionary algorithms, and the applications to real-life problems arising in diverse fields.
In the Jaqaman lab, Bilal employs Bayesian and evolutionary algorithms to study single-molecule level interactions of cell surface receptors.
Soma Jana, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Soma received her Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISER Kolkata), India. Her thesis work was focused on the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation in E. coli.
In the Jaqaman lab, she is interested in deciphering the molecular link between the cell surface receptor CD36 and the actin cortex in microvascular endothelial cells.
Tieqiao (Tim) Zhang, Ph.D.
Microscope Manager
Tim received his Ph.D. in physics from Peking University, Beijing. China. He has worked in the fields of ultrafast time-resolved laser spectroscopy, optical microscopy, and imaging. In the past decade, he focused his research on super-resolution optical microscopy and novel technologies for live cellular imaging.
Tim divides his time between multiple labs and departments! In the Jaqaman Lab, he keeps our microscopes in the best shape possible and collaborates with other lab members to utilize optical microscopy to study single molecule events.
Lab Alumni
Anthony Vega
Graduate Student
Molecular Biophysics; Computational and Systems Biology emphasis (2014-2018)
Currently: Postdoctoral fellow, Diamond and Rajaram Labs, UT Southwestern
Robel Yirdaw, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2013-2014
Mark Kittisopikul, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2014-2017
Currently: Software engineer, Janelia Research Campus
Luciana de Oliveira, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2016 - 2019
Currently: Postdoctoral fellow, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Xian Cheng, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2018 - 2019
Currently: Research Associate, QBRC, UT Southwestern
Sungsoo Lee, Ph.D.
Lab Director
2013-2016
Currently: Research assistant professor, Korea University, Korea
Bruno da Rocha Azevedo, Ph.D.
Lab Director
2016-2022
Currently: Senior scientist, Eikon Therapeutics
Deryl Tschoerner
Undergraduate Student
Green fellow & Summer undergraduate research fellow (2018)
Zachariah Malik
Undergraduate Student
Green fellow & Summer intern (2020)
Currently: Graduate student, CU Boulder
Mamerto Cruz
Undergraduate Student
Summer undergraduate research fellow (2022)
Currently: Undergraduate student, University of North Texas
Lauren Baron
High School Student
STARS summer intern (2015)
Summer intern (2016)
Currently: Graduate student, Columbia University
Albert Zhang
High School Student
Summer intern (2018)
Colton Alstatt
High School & Undergraduate Student
Independent study intern (Frisco High School; 2018)
Summer undergraduate research fellow (2019)
Currently: Undergraduate student, Rice University