Lab Members
Jason S. McLellan, Professor of Molecular Biosciences
Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry
Jason earned a BS in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Afterward, he obtained his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Leahy. He then carried out postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Kwong and in collaboration with Dr. Barney Graham. In the Fall of 2013, he joined the faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in the Department of Biochemistry, and in January 2018 he moved his laboratory to the University of Texas at Austin and became a member of the Department of Molecular Biosciences.
Luqiang Guo, Postdoctoral Scholar
Luqiang earned his B.S in Biotechnology from Jilin University in 2015, where his research focused on the optimization of the formulation of nifedipine liposomes. He then acquired his Ph.D. degree in the laboratory of Yongning He at Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, where he studied the the structural mechanism of membrane proteins utilizing X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Now, he is interested in structure-based vaccine or drug design to develop therapeutic interventions and prevent disease transmission. Outside of lab, he enjoys reading, cycling and running.
Gretel Torres, Postdoctoral Scholar
Gretel earned her B.S. in Biology from Rider University, where she studied humoral responses in ovarian cancer. She earned her Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Patricia Pioli at Dartmouth College, where she focused on overcoming Vemurafenib resistance through tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) re-education/elimination using CDDO-Me in melanoma. She is interested in developing new therapeutic interventions using structure-based drug design.
Emily Rundlet, Postdoctoral Scholar
Emily earned her BA in Biochemistry from Colgate University in 2014. She then joined the group of Dr. André Hoelz at Caltech as a Research Technician studying the structure and composition of the nuclear pore complex. Emily obtained her PhD in Chemical Biology in 2022 in the lab of Dr. Scott Blanchard at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her thesis research integrated structural biology (cryo-EM) and single molecule dynamics measurements (smFRET) to study the mechanism of tRNA translocation by the ribosome. Emily is interested in understanding how the conformational dynamics of viral fusion complexes contribute to infection and vaccine efficacy. Outside of lab, she enjoys brewery hopping, furniture restoration, and spoiling her dog.
Mahtab Beikzadeh, Research Scientist
Mahtab earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Tehran and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas Tech University in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Latham, where she conducted structural biology research focusing on protein complexes involved in DNA repair. She continued her work in structural biology during her postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, where she studied non-coding RNAs and ribonucleoproteins. Mahtab specializes in NMR spectroscopy and is expanding her expertise to include cryo-EM, aiming to integrate these techniques for comprehensive structural analysis in the development of novel therapeutics. Outside the lab, she enjoys traveling, hiking, and hanging out with friends.
Nicole Johnson, Research Scientist
Nicole earned her BS in Biology and Chemistry from The University of Utah. She then joined Ilya Finkelstein’s research group at The University of Texas at Austin as a lab manager, where she studied the mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas immunity in bacteria using single-cell fluorescent microscopy. She is interested in using protein structure to understand how pathogens infect cells using host machinery, and how these interactions can be manipulated to prevent and treat disease.
Ling Zhou, Graduate Student
Ling earned her B.S. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017, and her research there focused on transplantation immunology and stem cell culturing. In 2018, she earned her M.Eng in Bioengineering from University of California, Berkeley where she worked for Dr. Kevin Healy on human stem cell-based PDMS microfluidic chip design and 3D blood vessel regeneration for drug toxin screening. She then relocated to New Hampshire and worked at Adimab, LLC for antibody discovery using FACS sorting, next-generation sequencing, and yeast-presentation platform. She is interested in learning structure-based antigen design to help the development of vaccines and therapeutics for tough targets. Outside lab, she enjoys traveling and taking photos.
Ryan McCool, Graduate Student
Ryan earned his B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of San Diego in 2020, where he worked to determine functions of the immune protein Suppressor of IKK-epsilon under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Bell. He is interested in protein structure and its relationship to host-pathogen interactions and therapeutic interventions at large. Outside of lab, he enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and attempting to become multilingual.
Elizabeth McFadden, Graduate Student
Elizabeth earned her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Penn State University in 2019, where her research was focused on iron acquisition in antibiotic-resistant gram-negative pathogens, like E. coli. She is interested in structural biology as it relates to health and human disease, and learning how to leverage structural biology to aid in the development of novel therapeutics. Outside of lab, she likes to lift weights, play golf, and try new food spots around Austin.
Nasim Abdi, Graduate Student
Nasim earned her B.S.A. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022, where her research focused on polymer chemistry and synthesis of sequence-defined oligourethanes under the supervision of Dr. Eric Anslyn. She is interested in studying protein structure for structure-based antigen design to develop vaccines and therapeutics. Outside the lab, she enjoys painting, going on walks, and hanging out with friends.
Chayan Ali, Graduate Student
Chayan earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering from Islamic University, Bangladesh. In 2022, he moved to Stockholm and worked with Dr. Ana Teixeira at the Karolinska Institute on virus-like particle synthesis for cargo delivery. Before coming to UT Austin, he worked for Professor Dr. Anastassis Perrakis at the Netherlands Cancer Institute on Microtubule detyrosinating enzymes MATCAP and vasohibins to understand their substrate binding affinities. He is interested in developing structure-based antigens to fight against the next possible pandemic. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling and voluntarily helps Bangladeshi students secure scholarships for higher studies abroad, ensuring a legacy of knowledge and opportunities.
JeongRyeol (JR) Kim, Graduate Student
JR earned his B.S. in Biology from Konkuk University, South Korea in 2019, and his research focused on the structural characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa D-ala-D-ala ligase. In 2022, he obtained his M.S. in the laboratory of Dr. Joo Young Kim at Yonsei University where he worked on the development of next-generation immunotherapy targeting B-cell lymphoma using protein engineering. Before joining UT Austin, he worked at Yonsei University College of Medicine on discovering synthetic nanobodies targeting challenging membrane receptors. He is interested in viral glycoproteins and understanding their interactions with host macromolecules using structural information. Outside the lab, he enjoys going for walks and cooking.
James Guerra, Postbaccalaureate Researcher
James earned his B.S. in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from the University of Texas at Austin in 2023. He honed in on his research skills as an undergraduate working with aptamers to help develop novel molecular tools while working part-time at an antimicrobial testing lab. As a postbaccalaureate researcher in the McLellan lab, he is interested in developing his structural biology skill set to investigate macromolecular structures for novel therapeutics and beyond. Outside of the lab he is a nature enthusiast, enjoys tending to his orchids, and cooking.
Ajit Ramamohan, Research Scientist
Ajit joined the lab as a sophomore Biochemistry major at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating in 2024, he has continued to work in the lab while applying to MD-PhD programs. He has worked on solving structures of various viral glycoproteins via cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography and enjoys exploring how protein structure leads to function. He is also interested in applying AI-generated data to stabilize new vaccine antigens. Outside of lab, you’ll find him flying his drone, coding, and playing tennis (now pickleball).
Sofia Picucci, Undergraduate Student
Sofia is currently pursuing a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating, she plans to continue her research career in a PhD program. She is interested in determining macromolecular structures of proteins to discover their roles in pathogen-immune system interactions for disease prevention. When not in the lab, you’ll find her with friends enjoying Austin food or hanging out at Zilker Park. She also likes spending her free time running Town Lake and playing soccer.
Lab Alumni
Christy Hjorth, Graduate Student
Christy received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2024 and then joined GSK as a Scientist. View Christy’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Madeline Sponholtz, Graduate Student
Madeline received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2024 and then joined Sanofi as a Scientist. View Madeline’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Cory Acreman, Undergraduate Student
Cory joined the McLellan lab as an undergraduate student in 2022. He graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry in 2024 and then went to Caltech for graduate school.
Deepthi Joseph, Postdoctoral Scholar
Deepthi joined the McLellan lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2022 after receiving her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science. In 2024, she accepted a position at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
Patrick Byrne, Postdoctoral Scholar
Pat joined the McLellan lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2020 after receiving his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 2023, he joined the GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines Institute for Global Health. View Pat’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Jory Goldsmith, Graduate Student
Jory received his PhD from The University of Texas at Austin in 2023. He then joined the lab of Dr. John Briggs at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry as a postdoctoral fellow.
Scott Rush, Graduate Student
Scott received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and then joined Sanofi as a Scientist. View Scott’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Ching-Lin Hsieh, Postdoctoral Scholar
Ching-Lin joined the McLellan lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2018 after receiving his PhD from Cornell University. In 2022, he joined Sanofi Pasteur as a Principal Scientist. View Ching-Lin’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Nianshuang Wang, Postdoctoral Scholar
Nianshuang joined the McLellan lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2014 after receiving his Ph.D. from Tsinghua University. He then joined Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as a Scientist in 2020. View Nianshuang’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Akaash Mishra, Graduate Student
Akaash received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and then joined Merck as a Senior Scientist in Biologics Process Development. View Akaash’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Daniel Wrapp, Graduate Student
Daniel received his PhD from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in 2020. He then joined the laboratory of Dr. Bart Haynes at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute as a postdoctoral fellow. View Daniel’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Morgan Gilman, Graduate Student
Morgan received her PhD from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in 2019. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Kruse at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow. View Morgan’s LinkedIn Profile here.
Harrison Jones, MD/PhD Student
Harrison received his PhD from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in 2019. He then returned to the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth to complete the remainder of his MD requirements.
Michael Battles, Graduate Student
Mike received his PhD from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in 2018. He then joined Adimab, LLC as a Scientist specializing in antibody discovery. View Mike’s LinkedIn Profile here.
John Ludes-Meyers, Research Associate
John was a research associate in the McLellan laboratory from 2018-2020. He then accepted a position in the UT next-generation sequencing core.
Emilie Shipman, Technician
Emilie was a laboratory technician in the McLellan laboratory from 2014-2018. She went on to serve as a technician in the Institute for Biomolecular Targeting at Dartmouth College.