The Taylor Lab Members

Eric received his bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University, where he majored in Biochemistry. As an undergraduate student, he was a member of the lab of Dr. Emily Pentzer (now at Texas A&M) in CWRU’s Department of Chemistry. There, Eric synthesized and characterized graphene oxide and polymer nanomaterials. After his undergraduate studies, Eric pursued a PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. In the lab of Dr. Namandjé Bumpus, Eric studied the metabolism of the anti-HIV NRTI Tenofovir and the role that muscle-type creatine kinase plays in interindividual differences in tenofovir activation. Throughout his PhD, he learned various mass spectrometry methods. During his thesis work, Eric developed an interest in understanding how proteins work at a molecular level, resulting in a desire to learn structural biology. Upon the completion of his PhD, Eric joined the Taylor Lab for his postdoctoral training to learn cryo-EM. Here, he studies the mechanism by which human papillomavirus causes cancer by characterizing the interactions between HPV proteins and human proteins.

Sagar holds an undergraduate degree and M.Sc. degree from University of Pune, Pune, India. After receiving his M.Sc. degree, he worked on a summer project that focused to define the structure and function of a G-quadruplex in the long terminal repeat of the proviral HIV-1 genome in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Then, he did his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Sierin Lim and Prof. Kathy Qian Luo from School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, NTU, Singapore. As a graduate student, he focused on understanding the effects of shear stress and ROS-generating drugs on circulating tumor cells. In this project, he uncovered the role of exercise induced shear effect on circulating tumor cells. In another study, he investigated the effect of known chemotherapy drugs for their effects on circulating tumor cells. After his Ph.D. from NTU, he worked as a Research Staff at the Faculty of Health Science, University of Macau, China where he focussed on the applications of microfluidics that could advance the field of oncology. He is currently working as a Postdoctoral Scholar at Prof. Derek J. Taylor Laboratory at Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is working on the enzyme 15-prostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) with a strategy to trap prostaglandin substrates and define the structure of 15-PGDH with diverse prostaglandin substrates (PGD2 and PGE2) using cryogenic electron microscopy and identify the molecular interactions that govern binding and specificity of the enzyme. Furthermore, he is focusing to identify the role of the C-terminal tail in the regulation of the activity of 15-PGDH with prostaglandin substrate.

Malligarjunan received his M.Sc. in Physics from The American College and carried out his doctoral research in structural biology at the Molecular Biophysics Unit of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where he studied protein biochemistry, natural peptide biosynthesis mechanisms and multi-drug resistance. He joined the Taylor Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2011, where his work focused on telomere biology, protein–protein and protein–DNA interactions within telomere complexes such as POT1-TPP1, the structural characterization of pathogenic cancer mutations, and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry.

After his postdoctoral training, he continued at Case Western Reserve University as a Research Associate, using high-throughput screening and assay development to search for protein–protein interaction inhibitors targeting a bacterial penicillin-binding protein and its regulator. He then moved to industry as a Scientist II in Protein & Antigen Product Development at BioLegend in San Diego, California, coordinating recombinant protein and antigen production.

As a postdoctoral scholar in the Taylor Lab, Magdalena studied how the telomere end-binding POT1-TPP1 complex interacts with G-quadruplex DNA structures at chromosome ends, contributing to the study “Active and passive destabilization of G-quadruplex DNA by the telomere POT1-TPP1 complex” (Journal of Molecular Biology, 2021). She is affiliated with the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and is now a Project Scientist at the University of California, Irvine.

As a postdoctoral scholar in the Taylor Lab, Xuehuo helped develop the lab’s “Trojan Horse” strategy for targeting telomerase in cancer, leading the study “Administration of a nucleoside analog promotes cancer cell death in a telomerase-dependent manner” (Cell Reports, 2018). He is now a Research Associate at Case Western Reserve University.

Daniel received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany. During his time there he spent two years with Dr. Melinda Larsen, interrogating the development of the human salivary gland. This initial exposure to research prompted Daniel to continue his research training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Bugge, investigating the physiologic and pathologic recycling mechanisms of extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen. After two years at NIH, Daniel began his medical training at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM), a program that integrates numerous opportunities for independent research. These independent research blocks provided through CCLCM and his Medical Scientist Fellowship awarded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute reminded Daniel of his passion for research and so he joined the Case Western Reserve University Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) to pursue a Ph.D. in addition to the MD from CCLCM.

Tawna received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Findlay College of Pharmacy. During this time, she spent six years in the laboratory of Dr. Ryan Schneider in the College of Pharmacy focusing on cancer pharmacology-based research. During Tawna’s undergraduate pharmacy research experience, she made significant contributions to studies aimed at identifying the mechanism by which non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents exert their anti-cancer effects. In addition to continuing her undergraduate research, Tawna’s pharmacy graduate research involvement included two separate drug screening and validation studies with a library of compounds designed as either sigma-2 receptor agonists or autophagy inhibitors with the goal of eliciting cancer cell cytotoxicity. In addition to research-based cancer pharmacology training, Tawna received extensive training in pathophysiology, pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, and pharmacotherapy of human diseases while earning her Doctor of Pharmacy.

Wilnelly received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, in Industrial Biotechnology. As an undergraduate, she spent two years doing research with Dr. Elsie Pares-Matos, studying gene regulation and analyzing the promoter regions of Nuclear Factor for Interleukin 6 (NF-IL6). After completion of her bachelor degree, she was accepted in the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in June 2012. As part of the PREP program, she worked full-time in a research lab under Dr. Mark Jackson supervision in the Cancer Biology department at CWRU. Her project focused on studying protein interactions between two newly discovered oncogenes FAM83B and FAM83A. Upon acceptance into graduate school at Case Western, she joined the lab of Dr. Derek Taylor, in the Pharmacology Department. During her graduate career, Wilnelly had the opportunity to study a novel telomerase inhibitor and the kinetics consequences of nucleotides concentration over telomerase catalytic activity.

Harry received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in 2012 and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Case Western Reserve University in 2018. In the Taylor Lab, his work focused on determining the three-dimensional structures of protein complexes using cryo-electron microscopy, beginning with telomere-binding complexes such as the Schizosaccharomyces pombe Ccq1-Tpz1-Poz1 shelterin complex and extending to the anthrax protective antigen pore and the Acinetobacter baumannii AdeB multidrug efflux pump. He received the Best Member Oral Presentation award from the Microscopy Society of Northeast Ohio and an Oral Presentation Award from the CWRU Department of Pharmacology, and served as Vice President of the Graduate Student Organization.

After graduate school, Harry joined Oregon Health & Science University as a Research Associate and then Senior Research Associate, operating Titan Krios and Arctica transmission electron microscopes to support structural biology labs across the country. He is now a Scientific Content Manager at Aptitude Health in Portland, Oregon.

Mengyuan received her bachelor’s degree from Nankai University in China, majoring in biological science and minoring in mathematics and science. After college, she continued to pursue her master’s degree in biochemical and molecular biology at Nankai University. Mengyuan’s research experience as an undergraduate shaped her future research endeavors as she chose to pursue structural biology as her primary research interest. Due to the fact that structural biology requires a solid mathematical background, the knowledge, and most importantly, the spirit of mathematics would always benefit her in her future research undertakings. In the pursuit of her master’s degree, Mengyuan solved the crystal structure of the N-terminal fragment of FILIA, which revealed a unique N-terminal extension beyond the canonical KH region that is well known for its RNA binding ability. This experience generated her interest in nucleic acid binding proteins and their cellular consequences. Therefore, she decided to continue her research career as a PhD student in the Department of Pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Nathaniel received his B.S. in molecular genetics and mathematics from The Ohio State University in 2013. While at OSU, his research focused on the mechanisms of translational regulation of gene expression in bacteria and developing informatic methods to identify new regulatory pathways. After graduating, he worked as a research assistant at Nationwide Children’s Hospital studying the molecular genetic bases of inherited epilepsy before joining the Medical Scientist Training Program at CWRU in 2014.

Jenish is currently pursuing a dual-degree as an undergraduate student in Biology and a Master of Public Health (MPH). Additionally, he is minoring in Spanish and Chemistry and is active in research throughout the lab and on-campus leadership.

Anjali is a Biochemistry major at CWRU in the Class of 2024. She is involved in the Discussions Undergraduate Journal and is the Community Outreach Director for the PERIOD chapter at CWRU. In the Taylor Lab, she is working on refining protein purification methods for PP2A and its substrates with the ultimate goal of solving a structure of PP2A and a substrate.

Nikhil is an undergraduate student researcher majoring in Systems Biology at Case Western Reserve University and is currently studying the oncoprotein c-Myc and its life cycle in recombinant protein systems in the lab. Specifically he focuses on determining how its modifications affect its interaction with the tumor suppressor protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and ultimately how these modifications affect cellular signaling and cancer progression.

Jackie is a Class of 2022 biology major at the College of Wooster and plans to pursue a PhD in the biomedical sciences. In the Taylor lab, she has worked to troubleshoot and optimize protein purification techniques for PP2A subunits and substrates. At Wooster, she is a member of the WOODs Outdoors Club and works as a teaching assistant and tutor for chemistry and biology courses.