People

September 2023 (above, from left): Augustine Onyema, Tania Rajpersaud, Rutika Patel, Sharon Loverde, Chris DiForte, Abhik Ghosh Moulick

Principal Investigator

Sharon M. Loverde

Professor, Chemistry, College of Staten IslandGraduate Center, Departments of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and PhysicsCUNY, College of Staten Island                                                                                              2800 Victory Blvd, 6S-238Staten Island, NY10314    Phone: 718-982-4075Fax: 718-982-3910sharon.loverde@csi.cuny.edusloverde@gc.cuny.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2007 - 2012Mentors: Dennis E. Discher and Michael L. KleinNIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) F32 FellowPhD in Materials Science of Engineering at Northwestern University, 2007Adviser: Monica Olvera de la Cruz

Postdoctoral Fellow


Abhik Ghosh MoulickPhD Soft Matter Physics, S N Bose Centre for Basic Sciences, IndiaWebsite Projects
Coarse Grained Models of Polyelectrolyte ComplexesFree Energy Methods to Sample Strucutre and Stability of the NCP

Graduate Students


Augustine Chimezie OnyemaPhD Biochemistry expected 20252023-2024 MolSSI Software Fellow
Projects
MD Simulations of the Oncogenic Mutations in Nucleosome










Rutika Patel (Rosemary O' Halleran Scholarship, partially supported by CUNY MMA)PhD Biochemistry expected 2025
Projects
MD Simulations of PTM in Histone Tails










Tania Rajpersaud (Rosemary O'Halleran Scholarship Fall 2022, NanoBioNYC Fellow, starting January 2023)PhD Biochemistry expected 2026
Projects
Simulations of Polyelectrolyte Complexes









Chris DiForte (co-advised with Prof. Sebastien Poget, partially supported by CUNY MMA), Spring 2023- present
Projects
Biophysical Methods to Characterize the Nucleosome Core Particle

Undergraduate Students


Nadzeya FliahaMajor: Computer Science , Macauley Honors CollegeSummer 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023Project:  Development of a Peptide Modeling Pipeline
Chukwuebuka DikeochaMajor: Computer ScienceProject: C/C++ Code to Calculate Translational Order Parameter, Python Code to Calculate H Bond Autocorrelation FunctionSummer 2022, Spring 2023, Summer 2023, Fall 2023
Santos HanaMajor: BiologyProject: Biophysical Methods to Characterize the NCPSummer 2023
Mohammad MoussaMajor: BiochemistryProject: Effect of Mutations in Histone Tails on NCPSummer 2022, Fall 2023

High School Students

Alumni

Postdoctoral Fellow

Prabir Khatua (now Assistant Professor, GITAM Institute of Technology)PhD, IIT Kharagpur
Projects
Coarse Grained Modeling of PolymersomesFree Energy Calculations Applied to Peptide Self-AssemblySequence Dependent Stability and Dynamics of the Nucleosome Core Particle
William Hu, Hunter High School (now Harvard)Summer 2017, Summer 2018, Summer 2019, Summer 2020, Summer 2021
Project: Stability of the Nucleosome Core Particle at High Salt Concentrations
Forrest Bicker, Hunter High School (now Harvey Mudd)Summer 2019, Summer 2020, Summer 2021
Project: Coarse Grained Mapping and Code DevelopmentGithub: https://github.com/forrestbicker/CoarseGrainScrips
Alice MensahMajor: BiochemistryProject: Oncogenic Mutations in the NCPSpring 2022, Summer 2022
Mohammad MoussaMajor: BiochemistryProject: Effect of Mutations in Histone Tails on NCPSummer 2022
Chukwuebuka DikeochaMajor: Computer ScienceProject: C/C++ Code to Calculate Translational Order ParameterSummer 2022
Ekaterina Grebenshchikova Major: ChemistryFall 2021
Tania Rajpersaud (now PhD student)Major: Computer ScienceSpring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, Summer 2021
Project: Atomistic Simulation of Oppositely Charged Polypeptides
Vidhi Patel (now Rutgers Pharmacy)Major: BiochemistryFall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021
Project: Atomistic Simulation of Viroporins
Jennifer ModiMajor: ChemistrySpring 2021
Robert ValmontMajor: ChemistrySpring 2021
Dr. Phu K. TangPhD , CUNY Biochemistry, June 2021Research Fellow, Flatiron Institute, New York, NY
Dr. Kaushik Chakraborty, (2015 - 2019)Schrodinger, India
Dr. Anjela Manandhar (partially supported by Rosemary O' Halloran scholarship, 2014-2018)PhD, CUNY Biochemistry, June 2019Postdoc with Michael L. Klein, Temple University, now Computational Chemist, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
Chukwurado UmeakaMajor: Computer ScienceSpring 2018 - Summer 2018, Spring 2019
Gizelle RapistaMajor: Biochemistry, visiting from University of Santo TomasSummer 2018
Vivian Cong, Staten Island Tech (now Columbia)Fall 2018 
Mohamed Al SharifMajor: BiologySummer 2015 - Fall 2017, CUNY CSTEP Program (now Rutgers medical school)
Susannah O'SheaFort Hamilton High School, Brooklyn, STEM teacherSummer 2016, Summer 2017
Myungshim Kang, 2013 - 2018 (partially supported by Rosemary O' Halloran scholarship-2014,2015,2016)Adjunct Assistant Professor at College of Staten IslandUniversity of California Riverside, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009- 2013PhD in Physical Chemistry, 2009, Kansas State University
Michaela Drenscko (recipient of CUNY Dissertation Year scholarship)PhD, CUNY Physics, 2017
Serina HuHunter High SchoolSummer 2015, Summer 2016, Summer 2017 (now Harvard)
Eugene ReznikovStuyvesant High SchoolSummer 2013 (now NYU)
Larisa SolovyovaMajor: Chemistry/PsychologySpring 2014 (graduated)
Mirna AbdelsayedMajor: Psychology/ChemistryFall 2012 - Summer 2013, Spring 2014
Dennis LamMajor: BiochemistryFall 2012 - Spring 2016 (now CUNY Biochemistry PhD student)
Tei MansroMajor: ChemistrySummer 2016, CUNY CRSP Program
Soukaina Chyat Major: ChemistrySummer 2016, CUNY CRSP Program