March 2023​

• 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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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.