Members

Principal Investigator

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

thomas.cech@colorado.edu

Administrative Assistant

Laura Konyha

(303) 492-5067

Joined 2011

konyhal@hhmi.org

Staff Scientists

Anne Gooding

Staff Scientist (HHMI Research Specialist) • Lab Member since 1990

Research Interests: Polycomb Repressive Complex 2

anne.gooding@colorado.edu

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

karen.goodrich@colorado.edu

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

arthur.zaug@colorado.edu

Visiting Scholar

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

prothma1@jhmi.edu

Postdoctoral Fellows

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

wayne.hemphill@colorado.edu

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

kaitlin.johnson-1@colorado.edu

Eliza Lee

HHMI Postdoctoral Associate • MBiochem (Undergraduate degree) Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom (2011) • PhD Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Canada (2021)

Research Interests: Regulation of DNMT1 subcellular localization

Eliza.lee@colorado.edu

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

Jiarui.song@colorado.edu

Guanhui Wu

HHMI Postdoctoral Associate • Lab member since 2023 • B.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona (2013) • Ph.D. Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue University (2020)

Research Interest: G-quadruplex - protein interactions in the regulation of human telomere and gene transcription

guanhuiw@outlook.com

Regensburg Exchange Students

Valentin Thron

Graduate exchange student • Lab Member since 2023 • Biochemistry Department • BSc. Biochemistry 2022 at University of Regensburg, Germany

Research interest: Regulation of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) by RNA

vath8365@colorado.edu

Graduate Students

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

Liyi.Cheng@colorado.edu

Mingfeng Liu

Lab Member since 2023 • MCDB Department • Co-mentored by John Rinn • B.A. Biological Sciences, Sichuan University (2017)

Research Interests: Structure of functional lncRNPs

mingfeng.liu@colorado.edu

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.

jeso3380@colorado.edu

Ella Tommer

Lab member since 2023 • Biochemistry Department • Co-mentored by Roy Parker • B.S. Neuroscience from Indiana University with minors in Chemistry and Psychology (2020)

Research interest: RNA binding proteins and functional relevance of RNA secondary structures

ella.tommer@colorado.edu