People

Meet the Principal Investigator

Anju Sreelatha, Ph.D.

Dr. Anju Sreelatha received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2009. Following a research fellowship with the UT Dallas Green Fellows Program, Dr. Sreelatha earned her Ph.D. from UT Southwestern in 2014 under the supervision of Kim Orth, Ph.D. During her graduate work, she identified the biochemical activity and molecular mechanism of a bacterial effector protein, VopQ. These studies provided a better understanding of bacterial pathogenesis and also offered new insight into the host cell mechanisms of autophagy and vesicle fusion. As a postdoctoral fellow with Vincent Tagliabracci, Ph.D. she discovered a new catalytic activity for the protein kinase fold and the selenoprotein family. Her postdoctoral work on Selenoprotein O revealed a new paradigm in cellular antioxidant pathways. In 2019, Anju joined the Department of Physiology as an Assistant Professor.

Meet Our Lab Members

Meghomukta Mukherjee, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Meghomukta Mukherjee was born and brought up in India. She earned her B.sc in biochemestry from Burdwan University and Master's in Science in Biochemistry from Bundelkhand University. During her master's dissertation she worked on cloning and expression of EGFP under Dr. Chinmay Kumar Mukhopadhyay in the Special Center of Molecular Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Meghomukta earned her Ph.D from Bose institute, Kolkata. Her thesis focused on studying inhibition of protein aggregation with a biochemical and and biophysical approach. She learned to design and synthesize anti-aggregative peptides during her graduate training.

Meghomukta joined Sreelatha Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in February 2021, and is escalating her research perspective to understand the regulation of mitochondrial AMPylation.

Apart from lab, Meghomukta loves to dance, listen to music, and play with her baby in her free time.

Alex Pon

Research Technician

Alex earned her B.S. in cellular and molecular biochemistry from The University of Texas at El Paso in 2016. She completed undergraduate research in the lab of Dr. Charles Spencer, studying bacterial neuroinflammation in response to F. tularensis infection. In her free time she enjoys swimming, jigsaw puzzles, crafts, and spending time with her dog.

Shruti Ramesh

Research Technician

Shruti received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Austin College in May 2024, majoring in Biology and minoring in Psychology. She worked under Dr. Hebda, focusing on designing an optimal expression system of peptides in E. coli. She joined the Sreelatha lab in July 2024. In her free time, Shruti enjoys spending time with her friends and family, crocheting, and baking.