People – Panin Lab

Vlad Panin received Ph.D. in Biophysics from Moscow State University (Russia) in 1990 and completed his Postdoctoral training in Developmental Biology and Glycobiology in Ken Irvine’s laboratory at Rutgers University, NJ. He joined Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in 2002. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Texas A&M University.

Boris Novikov is an Associate Research Scientist. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Krasnodar State Agricultural University in Russia. In the beginning of his research career, he studied molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance and mRNA turnover in plants as well as bacterial pesticide degrading enzymes. His recent projects were focused on purification and characterization of proteins important for therapeutic approaches, including specific interest in functions of posttranslational modifications. Current projects he is involved in concentrate on elucidation of biosynthetic mechanisms of sialylation in Drosophila.

Alex Choi started as a biochemistry student and an undergraduate worker and now is currently a lab technician. He also helps in research by performing experiments for projects mainly concentrated on the protein sialylation pathway.

Renata Santiago serves as the lead student worker in the laboratory: maintaining operations by overseeing the feeding schedules of fly stocks and coordinating responsibilities among fellow student workers. She is currently pursuing degrees in Biochemistry and Genetics with a minor in Italian and has aspirations to attend medical school.

Jake Fields is studying biochemistry and genetics with a minor in bioinformatics and working as a student lab worker. He helps maintain Drosophila stocks and prepare food. He will graduate in May 2025.

Margaux Fellona is a student lab worker. She works to maintain fly stocks by making food, transferring files from old to new vials, and maintaining a clean and organized work environment. She is working on a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Psychology and is set to graduate in the Spring of 2026, with hopes to pursue graduate school.

Tri Ha is a biochemistry major on the pre-med track. He is an undergraduate researcher.

Alumni

Melissa Koff recently received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the Panin Lab. She studies the non-canonical O-mannosylation pathway orchestrated by TMTC1-4 in Drosophila, by examining its role in the development of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Currently Melissa works for the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics instructing the courses GENE 301, 312, & 314.

Ryan Baker was a graduate student with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He studied O-mannosylation of proteins and its relevance to muscular dystrophy. He used a combination of genetic and biochemical techniques to identify and characterize O-mannosylation targets, enzymes that modify O-linked mannose, and phenotypes at the physiological and molecular level.

Ishita Chandel was a graduate student in Biochemistry program. She received her Masters in Biochemistry from M.S.University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. After that she worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India. Her PhD project focused on the role of glycosylation in neural plasticity and neuronal connectivity in Drosophila.

Brooke Howell earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics after completing her B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University. She studied the role of sialylation in heart physiology. Through examination of dissected flies, she captured high-speed videos which were then analyzed using Matlab to obtain parameters (such as heart rate, systolic and diasolic intervals) that were used for comparison of Drosophila salylation pathway mutants.

Hilary Scott was a graduate student in the Genetics program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Purdue University and continued there as a Research Assistant. She focused on the role of sialylation genes, including CSAS and DSiaT, in the central nervous system utilizing Drosophila melangaster as a model organism.

Ilya Mertsalov was a recent Postdoctoral Research Associate. He obtained his Diploma (BSc & MSc) in Biochemistry from Lomonosov Moscow State University and PhD in Molecular Biology from the Laboratory of Neuropeptides Reception, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. His project focused on characterization of molecular mechanisms of the sialylation pathway. He completed his work in February 2015. He is currently a Senior Researcher in the Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow

Zac Cozzi, a former biochemistry student, was working in the lab as an undergraduate worker and researcher for two years, from 2013 to 2015. Zac was one of our most talented fly doctors who revived hundreds of hopelessly ill flies. He was taking care of the lab fly collection and this website. Zac was a galvanizing force for the whole team of our student workers. His research project concentrated on the protein O-mannosylation pathway. He went on to work towards a D.V.M. degree in a veterinary school.

Jorge Galván, a Biochemistry major and Spanish minor undergraduate student, was exploring new functions of galectin genes in 2014-2015. He graduated with B.S. in Biochemistry in 2016.

Megan Hall worked in the lab in 2013-2015. She was instrumental in making the lab functional, while taking care of ordering, helping to maintain our fly collection and coordinate the work of other students. She graduated with B.S. in Animal Science in December 2015.

Nada Radwan was working in the lab from 2013 till 2015. Together with Zac, she was a resident fly doctor, reviving ill-fated Drosophila stocks. She graduated with B.S. in Nutrition in 2015. She went on to work in a dental office.

Jeannette Flores was an undergraduate student worker in 2014-2015. She graduated with a B.S. in Geographic Information Science and Technology, with a minor in Environmental Geosciences, in May 2016. After graduation, she worked in the field of Geographic Information Technology

Maria Lyuksyutova was an undergraduate reseacher pursuing a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Dance. She was studying the function of galectins in Drosophila melanogaster. She completed her project and graduated in 2015. She continued her studies in the Medical School in Lubbock.

Michelle Alfert was a graduate student in the Neuroscience program and worked in the lab until November 2014. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University. Her research project explored the role of sialylation in the nervous system, with emphasis on plasticity and the blood-brain barrier. She used a number of imaging and electrophysiological techniques to analyze the phenotypic significance of sialic acid in the Drosophila model organism. She then attended a Nursing Program to become a certified nurse.