Principal Investigator

Thomas R. Cech

Thomas R. Cech

Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry • Director, Interdisciplinary Quantitative Biology PhD Program • Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute • Member, Department of Biochemistry and BioFrontiers Institute
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1989; National Medal of Science, 1995

Administrative Assistant

Laura Konyha

Laura Konyha

(303) 492-5067
Joined 2011

Staff Scientists

Anne Gooding

Anne Gooding

Staff Scientist (HHMI Research Specialist) • Lab Member since 1990
Research Interests: Polycomb Repressive Complex 2
Butterfly on yellow flower

Karen Goodrich

Staff Scientist (HHMI Lab Manager) • Lab Member since 1996 • B.S.: Medical Technology, University of Scranton, 1986
Research Interests: Nucleic acid-protein interactions
Proteins

Arthur Zaug

Staff Scientist (HHMI Senior Scientist) • Lab Member since 1978 • B.S.: Biochemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1975 • Honorary Doctorate in Science, University of Colorado, 1992
Research Interests: Telomerase and telomere replication

Visiting Scholar

Paul Rothman

Paul Rothman

Paul B. Rothman-  Lab member since 2022 • M.D. from Yale in 1984 • B.S. in Biology from MIT 1980
Research interests- Control of chromatin structure by DNA methylation

MD/PhD Student

Dan Youmans

Dan Youmans

Lab Member 2016-present  • B.S. Chemical Biology: University of California, Berkeley 2012 • PhD awarded May 2021; MD expected May 2023
Research Interests: interplay between RNA and protein interactions during PRC2 mediated epigenetic silencing

Postdoctoral Fellows

Wayne Hemphill

Wayne Hemphill

NIH NIGMS Postdoctoral Fellow • Lab Member since 2021 • B.S.:  Biology (Chemistry), University of Louisiana at Monroe, 2017 • PhD:  Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, 2021
Research Interests: Dynamics of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 - nucleic acid interactions
Linnea Jansson-Fritzberg

Linnea Jansson-Fritzberg

HHMI Postdoctoral Associate • Lab Member since 2018 • B.S. in Neuroscience from UC Santa Cruz 2013 • Ph.D. in Molecular, Cell and developmental Biology from UC. Santa Cruz 2018
Research interests: RNA-protein interactions in the regulation of DNA methylation
Kaitlin Johnson

Kaitlin Johnson

HHMI Postdoctoral Associate • Lab member since 2019 • B.A. Chemistry, Manchester University (2012) • PhD Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (2019)
Research interests: Fluorescent tags for live cell imaging
jiarui.song

Jiarui Song

HHMI/Jane Coffin Childs Fellow • Lab Member since 2021 • B.S.: Biotechnology, Shandong University (2015) • PhD: Biochemistry, Texas A&M University (2021)
Research Interests: Cryo-EM of RNA binding to Polycomb Repressive Complex 2

Graduate Students

Liyi Cheng

Liyi Cheng

Lab Member since 2022 • Biochemistry Department • Co-mentored by Roy Parker
B.S: Life Science (with Specialization in Molecular Cell Biology), National University of Singapore (2020) Research interest: RNA G-quadruplexes in RNP assemblies
Julia Seidel

Julia Seidel

Regensburg Exchange Student 2022 • B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, 2021 • currently M.Sc.: Biochemistry, University of Regensburg Research Interests: Telomere replication and its inhibition by G4 compounds
Jessica Song

Jessica Song

Lab Member since 2022 • Biochemistry Department • Co-mentored by Vignesh Kasinath
B.A. Biochemistry, Colorado College (2019) Research Interests: Nucleosome/protein interactions involved in DNA methylation.

Undergraduate Students

Regan Fenske

Regan Fenske

Undergraduate Research Assistant • Lab Member since 2021
Major: MCDB
Cech Lab

Dylan Renner

Undergraduate Assistant • Lab Member since 2022
Major: MCDB