Meet the Team

  • Principal Investigator

    The PI

  • Josh (Zhexi) Zhu

    Postdoctoral Researcher; Estrogen Receptor a Dynamics; Protein dynamics in Computationally Designed Enzymes ‍

  • Edgar Africano

    Graduate Student; Fluorinase discovery, Dynamics, and Engineering, DDX3X, NRPS Dynamics

  • Jude Ubi

    Graduate Student; Carbonic Anhydrase Thermo Adaptation, Defluorinase for PFAS remediation

  • Olaide Adekusibe

    Graduate Student; Engineered myoglobin scaffold to enables non-native catalysis, Defluorinase for PFAS remediation

  • Henry Clark

    Undergraduate Researcher; Defluorinase for PFAS remediation

  • Tri Le

    Undergraduate Researcher; NTC Undergraduate Research Fellowship

  • Cassidy Ward

    Tulane REU student from University of Colorado Boulder

    Tulane Use-Inspired Research and Entrepreneurship Program (TURE)

  • Ashley Ally

    Undergraduate Researcher; CBE Undergraduate Research Scholarship

  • Srikanya Garuda

    Undergraduate Researcher; Tulane Research and Innovation Award

  • Kseniia Karpova

    Undergraduate Researcher; Louisiana Board of Regents REU Fellowship

  • Maggie Swift

    Maggie Swift

    Undergraduate Researcher; Tulane Research and Innovation Award; Estrogen Receptor alpha in breast cancer and diabetes

  • Murimi Muchina

    Murimi Muchina

    Undergraduate Researcher; Honors Freshman, Defluorinase for PFAS degradation for environmental remediation

Past lab members:

10. Jared Seidel, Undergraduate Researcher; Fluorinase discovery, Dynamics, and Engineering, 2025-2026

9. Ellie French, Undergraduate Researcher; Carbonic Anhydrase Thermo Adaptation. 2025-2026

8. Sophie Leff, NTC Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Undergraduate Honors Thesis. 2024-2026

7. Damian Liamkeo, Undergraduate Researcher, 2024-2025, Louisiana Board of Regents REU fellowship; NTC Summer Research Program; CELT Faculty Mentored Undergraduate Research Award

6. Mark Zhai, Undergraduate Researcher, 2023-2025

5. Alejandra Simán, Undergraduate Researcher, 2024

4. Maiyan Suskin, Undergraduate Researcher, 2024

3. Morgan Lentino, Undergraduate Researcher, 2024

2. Kate Zelig, Undergraduate Researcher, 2024

1. Brenda Ellis, Undergraduate Researcher, 2024