Lab News
Check out our Twitter (@KoutmosLab) for the most up-to-date lab news!
New Rotation Students
Sept 2021
We are excited to have Abby Kelly and Jiameng Zong join us for their rotations during the fall semester!
Summer 2021 Lab Outing
19 Aug 2021
The lab had a blast kayaking down the Huron River, followed by a potluck with burgers and way too many delicious, home-cooked desserts!
Summer Rotation Student
June 2021
We are thrilled to have Amelia Cochran join us for her summer rotation! She is working on the purification of the yeast Pus4 enzyme and in vitro synthesis of the cobalamin riboswitch.
Congratulations to Kip on getting a post doctoral fellowship!
April 2021
Congratulations to Dr. Kip Kaitany for being awarded an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award from the NIH! This award will fund his work as he continues to characterize the enzymology of RNA-modifying proteins.
Congratulations to Dr. Leena Mallik for completing his post doc and accepting a position at the UM Center for Structural Biology!
April 2021
Leena completed her post doctoral research in the Koutmos lab and has accepted a position at the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan. She is continuing to make great use of her skills in x-ray crystallography and cryo-EM to study the three-dimensional structure of proteins.
2021 New Lab Members
April 2021
We are so thrilled to welcome graduate student Ingrid Kilde and undergraduate students Shayna Brotzman, Suada Leskaj, and Nicholas Fuller into the lab! It's so exciting to see our lab family grow!
Spring Presentations Galore!
Apr-May 2021
Sam and Catherine both gave their third-year Chemical Biology seminars to other graduate students in the department and did a phenomenal job! Liz succeeded in both her third-year data meeting and her talk in the Structure Seminar Series! And last, but not least, Meredith gave a wonderful talk in the Structure Seminar Series! It was a busy time with lots of practice presentations, but they all went smoothly.
New Rotation Students
Jan 2021
We are thrilled to have Jacqueline Forson and Hannah Navarrete join us for their first half rotation of the winter semester!
New Paper!
30 Dec 2020
Congratulations to Agnes Karasik and Catherine Wilhelm on their publication in RNA titled "Disease‐associated mutations in mitochondrial precursor tRNAs affect binding, m1R9 methylation and tRNA processing by mtRNase P."
Congratulations to Dr. Vojc Kocman for completing his post doc and accepting a position in Slovenia!
Dec 2020
Vojc completed his post doctoral research in the Koutmos lab and has accepted a position in his home country of Slovenia. He is continuing his work characterizing the three-dimensional structure of nucleotides and synthesizing difficult RNA molecules as a collaborator of the Koutmos lab.
Rustbelt RNA Meeting 2020
23-24 Oct 2020
Because the conference is virtual this year, the entire lab was able to attend the 2020 RRM to learn more about current RNA research.
New Rotation Students
Fall 2020
Although the semester looks a little different due to Covid restrictions, we are happy to have Anna Anders, Aldrex Munsayac, and Ingrid Kilde joining us as rotation students for the Fall semester.
Kip is welcomed back as a post doctoral researcher!
Sept 2020
Kip has decided to stay at UM to complete his post doctoral research in the Koutmos lab, continuing with his investigations into the mechanism of substrate recognition of PRORP.
Meredith crushed her 3rd year committee meeting
20 Aug 2020
Meredith did incredibly well presenting at her third year committee meeting. Markos mentioned he wished he had brought popcorn.
Congratulations to Dr. Kip Kaitany, PhD!
3 Aug 2020
Kip successfully defended his thesis on the characterizing the activity of human protein-only RNase P and earned his PhD today! Congratulations!
2020 New Lab Member
Spring 2020
Steve DeAngelo joined our lab with collaboration in the Cancer Biology Department! We are looking forward to the unique ideas he will bring from this background.
New Paper!
14 Feb 2020
Congratulations to Leena on her publication in ACS Chem Bio from collaborating with the Narayan lab! Read the article "Substrate Promiscuity of a Paralytic Shellfish Toxin Amidinotransferase" here.
Graduating Seniors!
May 2020
Congratulations to Hari Sharma and Harrison Watson, who graduated with their Bachelors Degrees! We're bummed that we can't celebrate with them due to Covid-19, but we look forward to seeing what they do next!
Sam is a PhD candidate!
28 Apr 2020
Congratulations to Sam for passing her candidacy exam about her research on the structure of TRMT1 and TRMT1L methyltransferase enzymes!
Catherine passed her candidacy exam!
24 Jan 2020
Congratulations to Catherine for passing her candidacy exam about her research on the structure and function of ALKBH1!
New Rotation Students
Jan 2020
We're happy to welcome Srijoni Majhi, Yihua Li, and Basila Moochickal into the lab as rotation students during the winter 2020 semester!
Congrats to Markos for getting the NSF Career Award!
15 Dec 2019
We're so excited for Markos to be receiving the NSF Career Award for his lab's proposed work titled "Harnessing Large Protein Conformational Changes to Perform Remarkable Chemical Reactions." Read the abstract here!
Liz is officially a PhD candidate!
8 Dec 2019
Congratulations to Liz for passing her candidacy exam about her research on small molecule drug targeting of riboswitches as antibiotic candidates!
New Paper!
1 Nov 2019
Congratulations to Meredith on her publication in Science! Read the article, "Itaconyl-CoA forms a stable biradical in methylmalonyl-CoA mutase and derails its activity and repair," here, or read an approachable perspective on the research here.
Rustbelt RNA Meeting 2019
25-26 Oct 2019
Markos, Liz, Catherine, and Sam attended the Rustbelt RNA Conference at Case Western Reserve University to learn more about current RNA research through posters and oral presentations. They were joined by members of the Keane and Koutmou labs.
New Rotation Students
Oct 2019
We're happy to welcome Sicong Ma, Steve DeAngelo, and Claire Griffith into the lab as rotation students for the fall 2019 semester!
Liz was accepted into the CBI Training Program!
Sept 2019
Liz's hard work in her research was recognized by the Chemistry Biology Interface Training Program at UMich, through which she will be funded for part of her PhD career and participate in a sabbatical at another institution. To learn more about the CBI program, click here.
2019 New Lab Members
Summer 2019
Liz, Sam, and Catherine joined the lab in the spring and summer of 2019, causing the lab to double in size! We're looking forward to the new research and perspectives they will bring to the group.
Meredith is now a PhD Candidate!
Nov 2018
Congratulations to Meredith for passing her candidacy exam! She presented her research plans to study pseudouridine synthase enzymes using structural information and kinetics characterization.