Our Team

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Editte Gharakhanian, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
MLSC, Room 231
Contact: E.Ghara@csulb.edu

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Christopher Frost

Lifetime Gharakhanian Lab Member

• M.S. Biochemistry (CSULB 2005)
• B.S. Microbiology (CSULB, 2002)
• B.S. Biology (CSULB, 2002)

Chris provides training to incoming lab members. He also assists with various laboratory operations including experiments involving yeast microscopy.

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Surya Manandhar

Post-Doctoral Research Associate

• General Medicine from Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Kharkov State University, Kharkov, Ukraine (USSR)
• M.S. in Biochemistry from Kharkov State University, Kharkov, Ukraine (USSR)

Surya's research is focused on understanding yeast ENV7p, product of a gene ENV7 that is not yet characterized, but apparently involved in sorting proteins at late endosome-to-vacuolar interface. Using molecular, biochemical and microscopic approaches, Surya intends to characterize this gene/protein in respect to its cellular localization and biological functions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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Ikha Mansoora Siddiqah

Research Assistant II

• Master of Science degree in Biology
• B.S. in Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology

I am studying the role of Env7 phosphorylation in negative regulation of vacuolar fusion.

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Sara Valencia

Graduate Research Assistant

I study phosphorylation and localization of vacuolar membrane kinase Env7 during the cell cycle in order to better understand how it regulates vacuolar membrane fission/fusion dynamics. I also study protein-protein interactions between Env7 and Yck3, another vacuole membrane kinase.

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Leah Frisardi

Graduate Research Assistant

I am studying how vacuolar membrane protein Env7 reaches the yeast vacuole, and what sorting signals may be necessary for its vacuolar localization.

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Andrew Dunnigan

Graduate Research Assistant

I am currently refining cell arrest methods to better understand the variable phosphorylation state of ENV7 and how it localizes over the course of the cell cycle.

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Carlos Alvarado

Undergraduate Research Assistant

I am currently involved in establishing a protocol to arrest S. cerevisiae at S phase of the cell cycle using Hydroxyurea. With this protocol, we are hoping to determine the phosphorylation levels of a protein known as Env7 as S. cerevisiae progresses throughout the cell cycle.

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Anthony Ricci

Undergraduate Research Assistant

My project is examining the sufficiency of the hydrophobic domain of Env9 on lipid droplet localization to hopefully establish it as a lipid droplet targeting sequence.

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Shannon Satterfield

Undergraduate Research Assistant

I am looking at the localization of Env7 in the VAC8 and VAC17 deletion mutants compared to wild-type. Vac8 and Vac17 proteins could potentially interact with or could exist upstream to Env7. By tagging Env7 with GFP, I can visualize it's localization in the deletion mutants using different types of microscopy, for example, DIC and epifluorescence and start to make conclusions from there.