@ Brown University
ABOUT THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Alexandra obtained her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science an Art, and then her doctoral degree in Molecular Biophysics from The Rockefeller University. She conducted postdoctoral studies in the group of HHMI investigator, Dr. Niko Grigorieff, first at Brandeis University and later at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus as a Damon Runyon Fellow. She is the recipient of a At the Interfaces Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Medical Research Award from The Rhode Island Foundation, a Salomon Faculty Research Award from Brown University, and awards from the German Society of Biochemistry, The International Brain Organization and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. She is excited about structural biology, responses to stress and DNA damage, microtubules and things biochemical.
E-mail: alexandra_deaconescu[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-3215

Alexandra Deaconescu,
B.E., Ph.D.
MEMBERS
Christiane Brugger, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate
E-mail:
christiane_brugger[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-6729
Christiane is a native of Austria, where she obtained both a bachelor's and master's degree in Biotechnology from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Vienna). She then completed her doctoral degree in structural biology at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), where she worked on chromatin remodelers in the group of Thomas Schalch. Her scientific interests in the lab center on the regulation of transcription-repair coupling factors. Christiane is co-author on our papers published in Genes & Development (2019), Protein Science (2021) and Frontiers in Genetics (2022), and a first author on our papers in Nature Communications (2020) and Bio-protocol (2021).
TBA
Postdoctoral Researcher
E-mail: [at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-6729

Coming soon.
Sophia Golub
Undergraduate Researcher
E-mail:
sophia_golub[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401)863-6729

Originally from Woodside, California, Sophia is a sophomore at Brown University planning to concentrate in biochemistry and molecular biology. Sophia plays for the Brown Women’s Water Polo team and is an avid baker and dog-lover. Sophia is focusing on how bacteria adapt to phosphate starvation.
Rebecca Kim
Undergraduate Researcher
E-mail:
rebecca_s_kim[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-6729
Ketan Pamurthy
Undergraduate Researcher
E-mail:
ketan_pamurhty[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-6729

I grew up in both New Jersey and South Korea, and now I am studying for my ScB in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Brown University. I developed an interest in structural biology during a summer internship working in the Tsai Lab at the Baylor College of Medicine. In my free time, I like to swim, draw, and ride my cruiser! I have a strong interest in ClpXP biology.

Coming soon.
Dante Diwan
Research Assistant
E-mail:
dante_diwan[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-6729

A native of Cranston, Rhode Island, Dante is a 2020 graduate from Brandeis University with Bachelor of Science degrees in Biophysics and Neuroscience. Besides being an avid learner in the sciences, Dante loves to explore many diverse topics and has hobbies ranging from playing the clarinet to observing nature. He is also a third-degree black belt in Karate. His current research project in the Deaconescu Laboratory deals with how proteins of prophage origin influence the E. coli stress response.
Megan Johnson
Administrative Assistant
E-mail:
megan_johnson[at]brown.edu
Phone: (401) 863-7446

Megan is invaluable to to the lab and we could not do without her!