Julie Brunelle, Research Technician
Previous Institution: Alma College
E-Mail: jbrunelle at jhmi dot edu

After graduating from Alma College, I began working in the Green lab in June 2000 as a research technician. Bacterial translation has been my main research focus, although I continue to work on a variety of projects in the lab depending on where I'm most useful. Over the years, I have been able to offer technical support to members of the Green lab and have learned many different techniques.

Allen Buskirk, Research Associate
Previous Institution: Brigham Young University
E-Mail: buskirk at jhmi dot edu

My lab studies ribosome stalling in bacteria. Using genetic selections and in vitro kinetics, we identified and characterized nascent peptides that interfere with their own translation. Through our work on stalling peptides, we became interested in EFP, an elongation factor that suppresses pausing at polyproline motifs, and in the enzymes that modify EFP. In addition, we continue to work on determining the mechanism of how stalled ribosomes are recognized and recycled in bacteria. In 2014 we moved from BYU to Hopkins in order to collaborate more extensively with the Green lab.

Chris Woolstenhulme, Research Associate
Previous Institution: Brigham Young University 
E-Mail: cwoolst1 at jhmi dot edu

Colin Wu, Postdoctoral Researcher
Previous Institution: Academia Sinica
E-Mail: colinccwu at gmail.com

I am interested in identifying Dom34:Hbs1-associated extra-ribosomal factors that are involved in no-go decay (NGD) and nonstop decay (NSD) pathways, using immunoprecipitation coupled with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Boris Zinshteyn, Damon Runyon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Previous Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E-Mail: borisz at jhmi dot edu

Nearly a third of heritable human disease-causing mutations result in the production of premature translation termination (or nonsense) codons. These premature termination events often result in the degradation of the encoding messenger RNA, preventing the accumulation of potentially harmful truncated proteins, through a process caused nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Using high-throughput screening and ribosome profiling I am studying the factors that influence stop codon recognition. I am also developing methodologies to rapidly and quantitatively determine small-molecule and protein binding sites on the ribosome.

Kazuki Saito, Postdoctoral Researcher
Previous Institution: University of Tokyo 
E-Mail: ksaito4 at jhmi dot edu

Current focus of my research is ribosome rescue in both canonical and aberrant translation. Using as well as modifying ribosome profiling, I am pursuing to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and the endogenous regulations of those phenomena.

Daniel Goldman, Damon Runyon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
Previous Institution: University of California - Berkeley
E-Mail: goldman at jhmi dot edu

Translation is a tightly regulated process, yet many of the determinants of this step of gene expression are not understood. One important example is the non-sequence context of messenger RNA (mRNA), which is bound by myriad proteins and decorated with covalent modifications. I am studying how mRNA composition is connected to past events in the mRNA lifecycle (“molecular memory”), and how it subsequently influences translation.

Niladri Sinha, Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Postdoctoral Fellow
Previous Institution: University of Utah
E-Mail: nsinha9 at jhmi dot edu

Aberrantly stalled ribosomes on messenger RNAs disrupt translational homeostasis - leading to defects in protein synthesis, and activation of downstream quality control (QC) pathways. Using biochemical, mass-spectrometric and ribosome profiling approaches, I am interested in studying how QC factors spatiotemporally recognize and resolve stalled ribosomes, and how such factors discriminate terminally (“dead end”) stalled ribosomes on defective mRNAs, from transiently paused ribosomes on elongation-limited transcripts.

Boyang (Frank) Hua, Postdoctoral Researcher

Previous Institution: Johns Hopkins
E-Mail: bhua1 at jhmi dot edu

Karole D'Orazio, Graduate Student, BCMB
Previous Institution: Stony Brook University
E-Mail: kdorazi1 at jhmi dot edu

I am interested in studying different factors that alter the activity of the ribosome.

Fuad Mohammad, Graduate Student, BCMB
Previous Institution: The Ohio State University
E-Mail: fmohamm6 at jhmi dot edu

I’m interested in studying the role of protein synthesis and degradation within the nervous system. Using molecular biology techniques and ribosome profiling, I wish to understand how depolarization can modulate translational control within neurons, as well as characterize rapid protein turnover by the proteasome.

Laura Lessen, Graduate Student, PMB
Previous Institution: University of Maryland Baltimore County
E-Mail: lnevin1 at jhu dot edu

I am interested in further characterizing the mechanisms of eukaryotic translation termination and ribosome recycling through the use of single molecule fluorescence studies. This work is performed using objective-based total internal reflection microscopy.

Jamie Wangen, Graduate Student, BCMB
Previous Institution: St. Olaf College
E-Mail: jwangen1 at jhmi dot edu

I am interested in studying the role of translational regulation in the differentiation of hematopoietic cells, particularly of the erythroid lineage, using high-throughput approaches including ribosome profiling. Additionally, I hope to elucidate the particular roles of several ribosomal proteins governing this process.

Anthony Veltri, Graduate Student, PMB
Previous Institution: Wayne State University
E-Mail: anthony.veltri at jhmi dot edu 

I am interested in exploring the mechanisms of mRNA decay in mammalian cells, particularly nonsense-mediated decay and deadenylation-dependent decay, by applying high-throughput sequencing methods such as ribosome profiling.

Usman Enam

Jonathan Movsik

Joodh Waleedh