Meet the Principal Investigator
Ivan D'Orso, Ph.D.
The D’Orso lab has extensive experience in studying mechanisms of gene regulation in the context of human health and disease. Two major areas of study have been: 1) the characterization of mechanisms regulating HIV-1 proviral transcription and their implications for viral latency and reactivation, and 2) the basic understanding and therapeutic exploitation of mechanisms involved in the initiation and/or maintenance of human cancer. Studies on these research areas focus on exploring how gene regulatory programs normally operate and, on the identification, and exploitation of drug targets in these pathways. These include the characterization of viral and host factors, non-coding RNAs, cell signaling and epigenetic programs. We have pioneered new concepts in the regulation of gene expression, found new factors involved in the activation and maintenance of transcriptional programs, and implemented next-generation sequencing approaches and computational tools to broadly define how these factors operate.
Since 2011, Dr. D’Orso has trained 6 Ph.D. students (3 already graduated and doing postdocs somewhere else), rotated 16 Ph.D. or MSTP students, and trained 14 undergraduate students, 5 high school students, and 6 postdocs. Our students have received training grants (Cellular and Molecular biology, Molecular Microbiology and Pharmacology), predoctoral fellowships from Ford Foundation, NSF, and NIH, including one NCI predoctoral-to-postdoctoral fellow transition award (F99/K00).
Former Lab Members
Usman Hyder
Graduate Student, GDD Program (2019-2023)
Current Position: Postdoc, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Keyera Randolph, Ph.D.
Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology Graduate Program
(2018-2024)
Current Position: Postdoc, UT Health San Antonio
Emily Cruz-Lorenzo
Lab Technician (2016-2021)
Current Position: Graduate Student, University of Pittsburgh (2021-Present)
Nora-Guadalupe Ramirez
Graduate Student, Ford Fellow (2014-2022)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Duke University (2022-Present)
Ashutosh Shukla, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2023)
Current Position: Instructor, Lab of Josephine Ni, UT Southwestern (2023-Present)
Youn-Tae Kwak, Ph.D.
Research Associate (2011-2013)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Lab of Carole Mendelson, UT Southwestern
Swapna Aravind, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher (2012-2014)
Current Position: Manager at ARUP Laboratories, University of Arizona
Jennifer McCann
Lab Technician (2012-2014)
Current Position: Consultant at Lumanity and Founder/CEO of LDR Bags, Denver, NC
Jonathan Reeder
Green Fellow, Research Associate (2013-2015)
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine
Ryan McNamara, Ph.D.
Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology (2011-2015)
Current Position: Director of the Systems Serology Laboratory at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard
Sonali Pandhe
Postdoctoral Researcher (2014-2016)
Current Position: Senior Medical Science Liaison (Pediatric Oncology) at Y-mAbs Therapeutics
Emily Morton
Research Assistant (2014-2016)
Current Position: Research Associate at Peloton Therapeutics, Inc., Dallas, TX
Victor Fung
Research Technician (2015-2017)
Current Position: Resident Physician at UTMB Galveston
Carlos Guzman
Research Assistant (2015-2017)
Current Position: Graduate Student, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, UCSD
Chi Pak
Research Associate (2016-2018)
Current Position: Sr. Data Scientist, Foodome, Inc
Curtis Bacon
Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry (2015-2020)
Current Position: Biomedical Research Scientist, Eurofins Viracor
Zheng Ma, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher (2015-2020)
Current Position: Researcher, UT Austin
Lab Alumni
- 2010 Ryan McNamara, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2011 Terry Ng, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2011 Amparo Estrada, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2011 Evan Stevens, Graduate Student, MSTP
2012 Kelly Vollbracht, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2012 Sureka Gattu, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2012 Blake Richardson, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2012 Shreya Endapally, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2013 Nicholas Rinkenberger, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2014 Azucena Briones, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2014 Jonathan Reeder, Undergraduate Student, Green Fellow
2014 Jonathan Reeder, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2014 Victor Fung, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2014 Alicia Stars, High School Teacher, STARS Program
2014 Nora-Guadalupe Ramirez, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2015 Curtis Bacon, Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
2015 Deng, Undergraduate Student, Green Fellow
2015 Addison White, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2015 Zane Gibbs, Graduate Student, Cellular and Molecular Biology
2016 Addison White, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2016 Jordan Driskill, Graduate Student, MSTP
2016 Michelle Ramirez, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2016 Mikal Woods, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2017 Matthew Lanahan, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2017 Usman Hyder, Undergraduate Student, Green Fellow
2017 Darien Nguyen, Undergraduate Student, STARS Program
2017 Joy Nesbitt, Physician Scientist Training Program participant
2017 Anne Devlin, Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
2018 Francisco Bautista, Undergraduate Student, SURF Program
2018 Victor Nunez, High-School Student, STARS Program
2018 Brittany Stewart, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2018 Cameron Torres, Postponed graduate school training for 2019
2018 Juliana Herbeck, Graduate Student, Genetics, Development & Disease
2020 Valerie Rodriguez Irizarry, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2020 Landon Nguyen, Graduate Student, Molecular Microbiology
2021 Henry Vo, Molecular Microbiology
2021 Erick Lopez, Molecular Microbiology
2021 Noah Mathai, STARS Program
2022 Aarohan Burma, Cellular and Molecular Biology
2022 Maham Saeed, Cellular and Molecular Biology
2022 Matthew White, Green Fellow
2022 Emily Santos, STARS Program
2023 Sriram Kumar, Visiting Scholar, Graduate Student, Germany
2024 Tiffany Chambers, Rotation Graduate Student, Biological Chemistry
2024 Adithi Radapalli, Amgen Scholar