Welcome to the Conn Lab
We use modern biochemical and biophysical methods to study the structures, interactions and biological functions of biomedically important RNA and protein molecules. Current topics include mechanisms of bacterial antibiotic resistance that arise through ribosomal RNA modification and drug efflux systems, and RNA-mediated regulation of host cell innate immune responses.
Research Highlights
Out now in Nature Communications: in collaboration with Dr. Christine M. Dunham’s group, experimental and computational studies reveal how some aminoglycoside antibiotics can adapt their ribosome binding configuration to partially evade a drug-resistance rRNA modification. Congrats to co-first authors Drs. Debayan Dey and Jacob Mattingly, and everyone else involved! Read more here.
Out now in ACS Infectious Diseases: in collaboration with the Wuest lab at Emory, discovery of the first inhibitors of the aminoglycoside-resistance methyltransferase NpmA. Congrats to first author Dr. Debayan Dey and everyone else involved! Read more here.
July, 2025: BCDB graduate program student Tessa Larsen receives an appointment to the NIH T32-supported Biological Discovery through Chemical Innovation (BDCI) training program. Congrats Tessa! Read more about the BDCI initiative and its training program here.
Out now in Nucleic Acids Research: how ribosomal RNA modification can contribute to the enhanced activity of some ribosome-targeting antibiotics. Congrats to first author Dr. Suparno Nandi and everyone else involved! Read more here.
New work by former graduate student Logan Kavanaugh and undergraduate Shraddha Hariharan defining efflux substrates for the P. aeruginosa MexXY-OprM system. Congrats Logan and Shraddha! Read more here.
Two new reviews led by former graduate student Logan Kavanaugh on the RND efflux pump family and our favorite RND system, MexXY from P. aeruginosa. Great collaborative efforts with Drs. Debayan Dey and Bill Shafer, and Dr. Christine Dunham and her graduate student Megan Hinrichsen. Congrats to all involved! Read more here (MMBR) and here (AAC).
