April 2025

• Arvin successfully passed his qualifying exam and moved to the next level PhD candidacy. Congratulations, Arvin! 

• Griffin Sanders, an undergraduate student who did research in the Georgieva lab was selected as one of the RSC graduating senior award winners for his academic performance and outstanding research. Congratulations, Griffin and all the best for the future!

• Elka gave a lecture to students at Lubbock High School: Studies of viral proteins.

• The Georgieva lab presented 2 posters at the annual meeting of the Center of Membrane Protein Research at TTUHSC:

   1. Conformations of HCV core protein in soluble and lipid-bound state: toward understanding the core protein function in virus assembly and budding by Adeyemi Ogunbowale, Olamide Ishola, Peter P. Borbat, Elka R. Georgieva*

   2. The soluble form of HIV-1 Vpu protein interacts with calmodulin in a Ca2+-dependent manner by Olamide Ishola#, Md Majharul Islam#, Elaheh Hadadianpour, Peter P. Borbat, Elka R. Georgieva*

• Majharul was selected to receive a Cengage General Chemistry TA award for the Spring 2025 semester. Congratulation, Majharul! Good job!

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March 2025

• Elka's Special Issue in the Journal of Structural Biology/Journal of Structural Biology X was completed. You can read very interesting and exiting papers on Structural and Computational Studies in Virus-Host Interactions: https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10DCDGRWQQL 

• Elka attended the Gilead’s Research Scholars in HIV meeting (part of CROI conference) and presented a poster entitled “The HIV1-ncoded protein Vpu and its interactions with cellular components”

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February 2025

• Elka served as a co-chair of the platform session Membrane Protein Structures at the Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society.

• Elka served a mentor in one-to-one meeting with a graduate student at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting.

• Elka presented a poster at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting entitled: Biophysical approaches to study viral proteins at the cellular membranes

• Elka delivered an invited talk at the DrugR&D conference, Newton, MA, entitled: Production and characterization of viral membrane proteins as druggable targets.

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December 2024

• Our opinion paper Highly versatile small virus-encoded proteins in cellular membranes: A structural perspective on how proteins' inherent conformational plasticity couples with host membranes properties to control cellular processes by Arvin Saffarian Delkhosh#, Elaheh Hadadianpour#, Md Majharul Islam, Elka R. Georgieva* was accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Biology X.​

• Adeyemi successfully completed his Research Exam and moved to the next level - PhD candidacy. Congratulations, Adeyemi!

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October 2024

• Elka joined IOTA SIGMA PI, a national honor society for women in chemistry.

• Elka served as a reviewer for a Collaboration Application to the Royal Society of Chemistry.

• Arvin Saffarian Delkhosh received the prestigious Graduate Student Research Support Award from TTU. Congratulations, Arvin!

 

September 2024​

• Elka delivered an invited lecture at a workshop at Cornell University entitled Conformational dynamics of viral membrane proteins.

• Juan Camilo Rueda Amador re-joined the Georgieva lab as a Research Associate. Welcome back Juan!

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August 2024​

• The Georgieva lab published a preprint Highly versatile small virus-encoded proteins in cellular membranes: A structural perspective on how proteins' inherent conformational plasticity couples with host membranes properties to control cellular processes by Arvin Saffarian Delkhosh#, Elaheh Hadadianpour#, Md Majharul Islam, Elka R. Georgieva*

• Katie Starr, a chemistry undergraduate student at Texas Tech University Honors College, joined the lab to work on a research project. Welcome, Katie!

• Emma Abdul-Rahman, a biology undergraduate student at Texas Tech University Honors College, joined the lab to work on a research project as a part of the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Welcome, Emma!

• Elka served as a reviewer for a Research Fund Application to the Royal Society of Chemistry.

 

June 2024​

• Elka served on the NIH Chemical Biology and Probes Study Section.

• Our manuscript Conformations of influenza A M2 protein in DOPC/DOPS and E. coli native lipids and proteins by Griffin Sanders, Peter P. Borbat and Elka R. Georgieva** was accepted for publication in Biophysical Journal. 

• Elka attended the BPS thematic meeting Molecular Biophysics of Membranes at Granlibakken Tahoe, CA, and presented a talk entitled Viral protein-lipid interactions illustrated by the influenza A M2 and hepatitis C virus core proteins by Peter P. Borbat, Griffin Sanders, Adeyemi Ogunbowale, Elka R. Georgieva. It was a great opportunity to meet outstanding scientist and learn about their membrane biophysics research!

 

May 2024​

• Elka attended the Retroviruses conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, and presented a talk entitled Insights into the structure and conformational dynamics of the HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu in lipid and in solution by Md Majharul Islam, Saman Majeed, Lan Dang, Peter P. Borbat, Jon Mccod, Roger Bryan Sutton, Steven Ludtke, Elka R. Georgieva. It was a great opportunity to meet outstanding scientist and learn about their Retroviruses research!

• Emily Hart, an undergraduate student who did research in the Georgieva lab, was admitted to the Three Counties Medical School at the University of Worcester, UK. Such a great accomplishment! Congratulations, Emily!

• The Georgieva group visited the Adventure Park in Lubbock, TX....so much fun!

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April 2024​

• Elka was invited and joined the Biophysical Society Committee on Professional Opportunities for Women (July 2024 - June 2027 term).

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March 2024​​

• Elka become a 2024 Honored Listee of Marquis Who's Who. So, grateful for this opportunity!

• Elka organized a workshop "Designing and conducting multidisciplinary studies on membrane protein structure and folding" at DiscoverBMB 2024 (the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) in San Antonio, TX.

It was such a great scientific experience! ​

• At DiscoverBMB 2024 Olamide presented a poster Production and reconstitution in lipid nanoparticles of an engineered chimera construct of the Mtb EfpA drug exporter with apolipoprotein by Olamide Ishola#, Adeyemi Ogunbowale#, Md Majharul Islam, Elaheh Hadadianpour, Saman Majeed1, Oluwatosin Adetuyi1, Elka R. Georgieva*

• Elka attended the Gilead New Research Scholars in HIV meeting in Denver, Colorado and gave an invited lecture on her studies on HIV-1 Vpu protein interactions with host components, funded by Gilead.

It was such a great opportunity to meet leaders in HIV research, including the new and past Gilead's Research Scholars Awardees in HIV.  ​

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February 2024​

• February 19: Olamide successfully completed her Research Exam and moved to the next level - PhD candidacy. Congratulations, Olamide!

• Our review article Engineered chimera proteins to facilitate the production of heterologous transmembrane proteins in E. coli by Adeyemi Ogunbowale, Elka R. Georgieva** was accepted for publication in Int J Mol Sci.

• Elka's Gilead Research Award was featured in TTU news: Texas Tech Researcher Looks to Unlock Fundamental Workings of HIV | February 2024 | Texas Tech Now | TTU

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January 2024​

• Juan Camilo Rueda Amador, joined the Georgieva group as an Intern. He is an undergraduate student at the ICESI UNIVERSITY, Columbia. Welcome Juan!

• The Georgieva lab published a preprint Engineered chimera proteins to facilitate the production of heterologous transmembrane proteins in E. coli by Adeyemi Ogunbowale, Elka R. Georgieva** (review article) doi:10.20944/preprints202401.1093.v1

• The Georgieva lab published a preprint A comparative study of influenza A M2 protein conformations in DOPC/DOPS liposomes and in native E. coli membranes, bioRxiv, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.08.57468, (2024) by Griffin Sanders, Peter P. Borbat, Elka R. Georgieva** (research article)

Griffin Sanders is an undergraduate student in a pre-medical school program. This is a collaboration with ACERT at Cornell University.

 

December 2023​

• Elka was selected as a recipient of a Gilead Research Scholars Program (HIV) Award to advance her studies on HIV-1 Vpu complexes with host proteins. So grateful for this opportunity!

• Olamide was selected as travel award recipient to attend and present her work at the Annual Meeting of ASBMB in San Antonio, TX. Congratulations, Olamide!

 

November 2023​

The Georgieva lab attended the 15th annual symposium of the Membrane Protein Research Center at TTUHSC. At the symposium:

• Elka gave an invited talk Conformations of viral proteins in soluble and membrane-bound state.

• Majharul gave a poster presentation Cryo-EM and EPR with protein spin labeling to reveal the structure of HIV-1 Vpu by Md Majharul Islam, Saman Majeed, Lan Dang, Peter P. Borbat, Olamide Ishola, Steven J. Ludtke, Elka R. Georgieva.

• Olamide gave a poster presentation Production and reconstitution in lipid nanoparticles of an engineered chimera construct of the Mtb EfpA drug exporter with apolipoprotein by Olamide Ishola#, AdeyemiOgunbowale#, Md Majharul Islam, Elaheh Hadadianpour, Saman Majeed, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Elka R. Georgieva.

• Griffin gave a poster presentation Similar conformations of a single-pass viral transmembrane protein reconstituted in DOPC/DOPS liposomes and in native E. coli membranes by Griffin Sanders, Pater P. Borbat and Elka R. Georgieva.

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September 2023​

• Our manuscript HIV-1 Vpu protein forms stable oligomers in aqueous solution via its transmembrane domain self-association by Saman Majeed#, Lan Dang#, Md Majharul  Islam, Olamide Ishola, Peter P. Borbat, Steven J. Ludtke*, Elka R. Georgieva* was accepted for publication in Nature Scientific Reports.

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August 2023​

• Elaheh joined the group as a PhD student in Biochemistry. Welcome back, Elaheh!

• Our new fluorimeter was installed. So exciting!

• August 5th - Saman's graduation ceremony. Such an astonishing moment! Congratulations, Saman!

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July 2023​

• Elka served as a poster judge at the 7th Annual Symposium of the Protein Society in Boston, MA.

• Elka presented a poster at the 37th Annual Symposium of the Protein Society in Boston, MA.

​Conformations of the HIV-1 Vpu protein in solution and lipid membranes: Insights from a multi-technique approach by Saman Majeed, Lan Dang, Peter Borbat, Md Majharul Islam, Olamide Ishola, Steven J. Ludtke, Elka R. Georgieva*

• Harshith presented his work at the poster presentation organized by TTU and Welch Foundation Summer High-School Scholars Program.

Production of a Chimera Construct to Facilitate HIV-1 VPU Protein Study by Harshith Amaram, Saman Majeed, Elka R. Georgieva​

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June 2023​

• The Georgieva group published a preprint.

Protein engineering, production, reconstitution in lipid nanoparticles, and initial characterization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis EfpA drug exporter

Olamide Ishola, Adeyemi Ogunbowale, Md Majharul Islam, Elaheh Hadadianpour, Saman Majeed, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Elka R. Georgieva* (research article) bioRxiv  doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.26.546575

• ​Elaheh completed her internship in the Georgieva lab. She worked on characterization of lipid nanoparticles and reconstitution of integral membrane proteins in them. Good job, Elaheh!

• June 22: Saman defended her PhD thesis!!! It was a great presentation of a hard work and highly valuable scientific accomplishments! Congratulations, Saman! All the best for the future!

• Harshith joined the lab as a High-School Welch Foundation Summer Scholar. Welcome Harshith!

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May 2023​

• The Georgieva group published a preprint in collaboration with Steven Ludtke's lab at Baylor College of Medicine and ACERT at Cornell University

HIV-1 Vpu protein forms stable oligomers in aqueous solution via its transmembrane domain self-association by Saman Majeed#, Lan Dang#, Md Majharul  Islam, Olamide Ishola, Peter P. Borbat, Steven J. Ludtke*, Elka R. Georgieva* (research article) bioRxiv  doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.05.08.539839 (2023)

• May 1: Majharul successfully completed his PhD Research Exam and moved to the next level - PhD candidacy. Congratulations, Majharul!

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April 2023​

• Elka was invited and gladly accepted to join the Editorial Board of the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group).

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March 2023​

• Peter was admitted to the Welch Foundation Summer Scholar Program. He will be doing research at the University of Houston in Summer 2023.

• The Georgieva lab presented two posters at the Graduate students' poster competition at TTU.​

• Elka was awarded a research grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry to advance the studies on a Mycobacterium tuberculosis membrane exporter. 

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February 2023​

• Majharul and Elka presented two posters at the Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society in San Diego, CA:

Cryo-EM snapshots and protein spin labeling in structural studies of HIV-1 Vpu by Md Majharul Islam, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Saman Majeed, Olamide Ishola, Isaac Forester, Steven J. Ludtke, Elka R. Georgieva*​

Insights into the structure-function relationship of the HIV-1 Vpu protein by Elka R. Georgieva*, Saman Mejeed, Oluwatosin Adetyui, Md Majharul Isalm​

• ​Our manuscript Insights into the oligomeric structure of the HIV-1 Vpu protein by Saman Majeed, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Peter P. Borbat, Md Majharul Islam, Olamide Ishola, Bo Zhao, Elka R. Georgieva was accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Biology

This is a collaborative work with TTU Art&Sciences EM facility and ACERT at Cornell University.

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Well done! Time for celebration!

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January 2023

• Elaheh Hadadianpour joined the lab as a Master's Student. Elaheh will start her PhD program in the Georgieva lab in Fall 2023. Welcome Elaheh!

• Emily Hart and Griffin Sanders joined the group as a CHEM 3000 student and volunteer, respectively. Welcome Emily and Griffin!

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September 2022

• Majharul presented a poster at the 14th Annual meeting of the Center for Membrane Protein Research at TTUHSC

​Negative staining electron microscopy provides insights into the HTLV-1 p13II protein interactions with lipid membranes by Md Majharul Islam, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Lithasha Wickramasinghe, Olamide Ishola, Saman Majeed, Elka R. Georgieva

 

August 2022​

• The Georgieva group published a preprint in collaboration with the TTU Art&Sciences EM facility

Oligomer polymorphism of HIV-1 Vpu protein oligomer formation in solution and in lipid environment (research article) bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.26.505453 (2022) by Saman Majeed, Oluwatosin Adetyui, Md Majharul Islam, Bo Zhao, Elka R. Georgieva*​

• Kyle joined the group as an Undergraduate Student Researcher

• Peter joined the group as a High-School Volunteer Researcher

• Griffin, an undergraduate student at TTU, joined the group as a volunteer

Welcome Kyle, Peter and Griffin!​

 

July 2022

• Lithasha presented her work at the poster presentation organized by TTU and Welch Foundation Summer High-School Scholars Program.

Expression and Purification of p13 II protein from Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 and Interactions with Biological Membranes by Wickramasinghe, Lithasha ; Adetuyi, Oluwatosin; Islam, Md Majharul; Georgieva, Elka R.​

• Tosin attended and presented a poster at the 2022 Annual Symposium of the Protein Society in San Francisco.

Design of fusion constructs to facilitate the production and study of viral membrane proteins and their complexes by Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Saman Majeed, Md Majharul Islam, Elka R. Georgieva​

• The Georgieva research group having lunch together.​

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Happy 4th of July!

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​June 2022

• Maggie joined the group as a volunteer researcher.

• Olamide joined the group as a Graduate Student in Biochemistry.

• Paula joined the group as a Summer Undergraduate Student in Biochemistry.

• Lithasha joined the group as a High-School Student and Welch Foundation Scholar.

Welcome, Magie, Olamide, Paula and Lithasha!​

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April 2022

• Elka was invited and gladly accepted to join the Deputy Editorial Board of the Journal of Structural Biology and Journal of Structural Biology X.

• Saman and Elka attended and presented posters at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) in Philadelphia

Protein engineering and biochemical/biophysical approaches for structural studies of small membrane proteins and their complexes: Application to viroporins by Saman Majeed, Akram Bani Ahmad, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Eric G. Evans, Stefan Stoll, Elka R. Georgieva.

Production of recombinant Mtb membrane efflux pump for structural and functional studies to reveal mechanisms of drug resistance by Elka R. Georgieva, Akram Bani Ahmad, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Saman Majeed.

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March 2022

• Saman was awarded the TTU Study Abroad Competitive Scholarship (SACS) for both the 2022 Summer and 2022 Fall Semesters. Congratulations, Saman!

• Elka was admitted as a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

• At the TTU Graduate Student poster competition 2022, Saman presented her and colleagues' poster "Biochemical and biophysical approaches to study dynamics of viroporin formation and structure in lipid membranes: applications to HIV-1 Vpu and HCV-p7 viroporins" by Saman Majeed, Akram Bani Ahmad, Oluwatosin Adetuyi, Md Majharul Islam, Elka R. Georgieva.

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February 2022

• Akram was selected to receive the TTU Study Abroad Competitive Scholarship (SACS) for the 2022 Spring Semester. Congratulations, Akram!

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January 2022

• Saman's application for an ASBMB 2022 Graduate Student Travel Award was approved for funding. Congratulations, Saman!

In April 2022, Saman will attend the ASBMB Annual Meeting in Philadelphia to present her, and colleagues' exciting work on viral membrane proteins.

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November 2021

• Majharul joined the group as a Graduate Student in Biochemistry.

• November 17: Saman successfully completed her Research Exam and moved to the next level - PhD candidacy. Congratulations, Saman!

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September 2021

• Oluwatosin joined the group as a Graduate Student in Biochemistry.

• The Georgieva group published a review paper

Lipid Membrane Mimetics in Functional and Structural Studies of Integral Membrane Proteins. Saman Majeed, Akram Bani Ahmad, Ujala Sehar, Elka R. Georgieva**, 2021, Membranes, September 3; 11(9), 685. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11090685.

 

July 2021

• Elka was appointed as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics at Texas Tech University Health Science Center.

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May 2021

• Ujala joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher.

• Claudia joined the group as an undergraduate researcher for Summer 2021.

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February 2021

• Elka gave a platform talk at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (via Zoom)

Structure and Function of Viroporins in Lipid Membranes: Insights from Studies by the EPR Spectroscopy.

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January 2021

• Akram joined the group as a Graduate Student in Analytical Chemistry.

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November 2020

• Elka published a review paper 

Protein Conformational Dynamics upon Association with the Surfaces of Lipid Membranes and Engineered Nanoparticles: Insights from Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Elka R. Georgieva, Molecules​, 2020, Nov18;25(22):5393. doi: 10.3390/molecules25225393.

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September 2020

• Saman joined the group as a Graduate Student in Biochemistry.