Staff
email: varani@uw.edu
Gabriele Varani was born in Italy and obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 1987 from the University of Milan. His fields of interest are biochemistry and physical chemistry. Prof Varani teaches physical chemistry, general chemistry courses, and a seminar in physical chemistry. Prof Varani is also the director of the UW PREP program. Full bio can be found here.
Lab Manager/PREP Admin.
email:pavelitz@uw.edu
Tom is the lab manager and the PREP administrator. He graduated from Kings College Wilkes-Barre Pa, with a B.S. in Biology, The Applied Molecular Biology Program UMBC, Baltimore Md, and the Medical College of Virginia with an M.S. in Biochemistry. Previously he has worked at NCI/FCRF Frederick Md, NIH Bethesda Md, Department of Biochemistry Medical College of Virginia Richmond Va, Yale University Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry New Haven Ct, and the University of Washington Department of Biochemistry. He enjoys fly-fishing, salmon fishing on the Columbia River, cooking, movies, and Civil War-era history in his off-duty hours.
Research Scientist
email: golsen@uw.edu
Greg is a graduate of UW. His training is in NMR and physical chemistry, and he has worked in- or in collaboration with research groups both overseas and in the US, in areas ranging from DNP, homonuclear decoupling, and SPEN to solid-state and solution-state applications in protein-, DNA-, and RNA structure, interactions, and dynamics.
Research Scientist
Email: vidadala82@gmail.com
Venkata is a research scientist with a passion for scientific discovery. Originally from Purushothapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, he brings a wealth of experience to the lab. He earned his Master of Science in Organic Chemistry from Andhra University in 2003 and received his PhD from the University of Hyderabad in 2011. He has a strong background in research, having previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline in the USA, Micro Labs Limited (API) in India, and with Prof. Maly’s research group at the University of Washington. Outside of the lab, Venkata enjoys cooking, movies, and spending quality time with his family.
Post-docs
email: chaubey@uw.edu
Bhawna is a Post-doctoral Scholar in the varani lab. She was born in Varanasi and raised in Delhi, India, where she earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry from Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, and her M.Sc. in Chemistry from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She completed her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and Spectroscopy at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Rajasthan, Jodhpur. During her Ph.D., she developed expertise in modern NMR and selected biophysical techniques, with her research focusing on the interpretation of molecular interactions in solute-solvent, host-guest, and ligand-protein systems employing NMR methods. At UW, her research involves the 3D structure determination of RNA (such as microRNA and flaviviruses) and RNA-small molecule complexes using multidimensional NMR spectroscopy and SAXS.
email: rrreddy@uw.edu
Ravikanth Reddy obtained his Ph.D. in chemical sciences at CSIR-CLRI, Chennai, India. His doctoral research focused into various aspects of modern NMR spectroscopy, including measuring and interpreting data related to Ionic Liquids and Ligand-Protein systems. His postdoctoral research in Varani’s lab, revolves around RNA and RNA-drug interactions. He enjoys reading both fiction and non-fiction, and thought-provoking documentary films. He also likes photography, cooking and Tollywood music.
email: madhanvm@uw.edu
Madhan Kumar is from southern India, Tamil Nadu, where he did his studies in Biochemistry. He obtained his PhD in Molecular Biophysics from the India Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. His doctoral research focused on structure determination and characterization of peptides and proteins from Cone snails using NMR. His current research focuses on the structure and dynamics of various RNA. He enjoys learning new things, hiking, cycling, playing chess, and watching movies.
Graduate students
email: yzhu10@uw.edu
Emma is a PhD student in the group. She grew up in Chongqing, China, and obtained her Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology, China. She then earned a Master’s in Organic Chemistry from the University of Calgary, Canada. After working for a few years in the healthcare industry, she moved to the United States with her family, where her passion for research was re-ignited. She is currently working on the structural and dynamic studies of conserved RNA motifs. In her free time, Emma enjoys exploring good food and nice parks around Seattle when the weather permits, and she loves doing puzzles on rainy days. She also appreciates learning about different cultures while working at the university.