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/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. Her PhD research got her interested in the influence that cytoskeletal dynamics can wield on cellular morphology, behavior, and survival. Thus she joined the Jaqaman lab, first as a postdoctoral fellow and now as an instructor.
Aparajita is currently 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.
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, Ph.D.
Graduate Student
Molecular Biophysics; Computational and Systems Biology emphasis (2014-2018)
Currently: Senior Bio-Image Analyst, The Max-Planck Institute of Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany
Jesus Vega-Lugo, Ph. D.
Graduate Student
Molecular Biophysics; Computational and Systems Biology emphasis (2019-2024)
Currently: Quantitative Analytics Early Career Development Program, Wells Fargo
Robel Yirdaw, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2013-2014
Last known position: Software Engineer, Brightspeed
Mark Kittisopikul, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2014-2017
Currently: Software engineer, Janelia Research Campus
Luciana de Oliveira, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2016-2019
Currently: Adjunct Professor, Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil
Xian Cheng, Ph.D.
Postdoc
2018-2019
Currently: Senior Research Associate, O’Donnell School of Public Health, UT Southwestern
Bilal, Ph. D.
Postdoc
2022-2023
Currently: Postdoctoral fellow, Maher lab, UT Southwestern
Sungsoo Lee, Ph.D.
Lab Director
2013-2016
Last known position: 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)
Currently: Actuarial associate, Lewis & Ellis
Zachariah Malik
Undergraduate Student
Green fellow & Summer intern (2020)
Currently: Graduate student, CU Boulder
Mamerto Cruz
Undergraduate Student
Summer undergraduate research fellow (2022)
Currently: Avionics Installer, Gulfstream Aerospace
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)
Last known pos: Undergraduate student, Rice University