Meet the Principal Investigator
Ram Madabhushi, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Madabhushi graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Weill Graduate School of Cornell University in New York, where he studied how cytokinesis is coordinated with chromosome segregation in the bacterial model organism, E. coli. Subsequently, Dr. Madabhushi conducted his postdoctoral research at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, where he studied mechanisms governing genomic stability and activity-dependent gene expression in neurons. Dr. Madabhushi joined the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry in 2017.
Current Lab Members
Ilse Delint Ramirez, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Education history: I studied Biology and Ph.D. at the National University of Mexico (UNAM), postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
Current research: My work is focused on understanding how the signaling pathways triggered by neuronal activity control topoisomerases activity.
Off topic science interest: I like to read about quantum physics and astronomy even though I do not understand it too much.
Outside of lab you'll find me: I love to play soccer and other outside activities like riding bicycles, running, or hiking.
Amir Segev, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Education history: Amir obtained his Ph.D. in Psychobiology from the University of Haifa in Israel. He joined the Madabhushi Lab on a bright spring day in 2017.
Current research: He currently studies how local DNA topology is altered following activity in neurons.
Off topic science interest: Understanding how gluten intake provides life enrichment and impacts reward circuits; especially gluten in homemade bread.
Outside of lab you'll find me: regularly feeding my wife and daughter with Mediterranean dishes they kindly reject on the grounds of being too healthy. I also have an imaginary Welsh Corgi (Pembrook) named “Topo”.
Lahiri Konada, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
Education history: Ph.D. in Biochemistry from CDFD, Hyderabad, India.
Current research: Investigate the molecular players involved in Top2b regulation. Employ biochemical and molecular biology techniques to understand the regulators of Top2b.
Off topic science interest: Culinary medicine.
Outside of lab you'll find me: cooking and taking my kid to play centers/parks. I am terrible at doing business, but I always have crazy business ideas in my head, like opening a samosa drive-thru in Dallas.
Richard Rueda, B.S.
Graduate Student
Education history: Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology from Boston University.
Current research: Investigating the role of activity induced double strand breaks in the establishment of new chromatin contact landscapes.
Off topic science interest: Pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases and the interaction of multiple cell types in the progression of neurodegenerative disease
Outside of lab you'll find me: checking out new brunch places with friends
Lance Heady, B.S.
Graduate Student
Education history: Bachelors of Science in Neuroscience and Biochemistry from the University of Iowa.
Current research: Understanding the long term impacts of triggering repeated activity dependent DNA double strand breaks on the neurons ability to respond to future events.
Off topic science interest: Tissue engineering, ectogenesis, species identification
Outside of lab you'll find me: Hanging with my dog or spending time at the local queer watering holes.
Morgan Crewe, B.S., M.A.
Graduate Student
Education history: Graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Psychology in 2017, and an MA in Behavioral Neuroscience in 2019.
Current research: Understanding how topoisomerase-mediate break formation regulates genome stability and transcriptional activity in pathological and non-pathological neuronal states
Off topic science interest: machine learning and gastronomy
Outside of lab you'll find me: at home gaming with my husband or out on the volleyball court
Siddhartha Sunkara
Undergraduate Student
Education history: I am currently a Neuroscience major at the University of Texas at Dallas
Current research: Understanding the effects of flame retardants in jet fuel on neuronal function, particularly genome integrity.
Off topic science interest: The physiological process of memory formation, storage, and recall, as well as the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's Disease
Outside of lab you'll find me: Cruising around on my motorcycle or grinding away at one of my favorite action-adventure video games.
Lab Alumni
- Emily Jensen, Physician Assistant Student, UT Southwestern
- Morgan Merriman, Senior Instructional Designer, Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences
- Charlotte Marchioni, Graduate Student, University of Colorado School of Medicine
- Eric Marlin, Medeia, Inc.
- Ali Wazir, Medical Student
- Krystal Morton, Medical Student, Texas Tech School of Medicine