Graeme Conn, PhD
Professor
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Graeme received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and followed this with postdoctoral research as a Wellcome Trust International Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Graeme was a faculty member at UMIST/The University of Manchester, UK, from 2000 and joined the Department of Biochemistry at Emory in 2008.
Debayan Dey, PhD
Assistant Professor
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Debayan received his Bachelors degree in Physics and Masters degree in Biophysics from Calcutta University, India. He received his Ph.D. in Crystallography and Structural biology from Physics Department of Indian Institute of Science in 2016. After a short postdoctoral work at Indian Institute of Science and Poornaprajna Institute of Scientific Research, India, he joined the Conn lab in June 2017. Deb was supported by a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation postdoctoral fellowship for his work on the P. aeruginosa lysine trimethyltransferase EftM and is continuing this work in parallel with studies of antibiotic resistance arising through rRNA methylation and drug efflux.
Natalia Zelinskaya, PhD
Associate Scientist
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Natalia received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Moscow State University, Russia. She continued as a research scientist at the Institute of Protein Research, Pushchino, Russia, Natalia and was a Royal Society visiting researcher at the University of Reading, UK, and Royal Society/NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Sheffield, UK. In 2008 Natalia became the first Conn lab member at Emory. Her research focuses on antibiotic-resistance rRNA methyltransferases.
Suparno Nandi, PhD (he/his)
Postdoctoral Fellow
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Suparno received his M.Sc. in Biotechnology from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, India, in 2013. After working as a research fellow at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, he joined the Chemistry graduate program at the University of Iowa in 2015. He earned his Ph.D. in 2020 and then joined the Conn lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral fellow, where his goal is to understand the antibiotic resistance mechanism of rRNA methyltransferase enzymes.
Enoch Ayamga
Graduate Student, BCDB Program
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Enoch obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana in 2017. He then pursued a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Environmental Systems from North Carolina A&T State University, where he investigated the effects of plant natural compounds on triple-negative breast cancer. He entered the Biochemistry, Cell, and Developmental Biology Program at Emory University in Fall of 2022 and joined the Conn lab in March 2023. Enoch’s thesis research will focus on the activation of OAS1 by double-stranded RNAs, with the aim of unraveling the molecular mechanisms involved in this process.
Mohamed Barmada (he/his)
Graduate Student, BCDB Program
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Mohamed received his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Master’s in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021. He joined the Biochemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology Graduate Program at Emory in Fall 2022 and later joined the Conn Lab in March 2023. He is currently working on characterizing the properties and functions of intrinsic ribosomal methyltransferases and their association with the antibiotic susceptibility and resistance in bacteria. Mohamed’s research is currently supported by an NIH/ NIAID F31 award.
Mina Henes
Graduate Student, MSTP/ BCDB Program
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Mina completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2018, where he investigated antiviral resistance mechanisms. He joined Emory’s MD/PhD Program in 2020 and after completing the first phase of medical training, joined the BCDB program in 2023. His research in the Conn lab aims to blend computational (e.g. advanced molecular dynamics simulations) with experimental biochemistry, microbiology, and structural biology to deepen our understanding of molecular mechanisms underpinning bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatments.
Tessa Larsen
Graduate Student, BCDB Program
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Tessa Larsen received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry with a minor in Spanish from the University of Utah in the spring of 2024. She joined the Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology program at Emory that fall and joined the Conn lab in March 2025. Her thesis research will use biochemistry, microbiology, and structural biology to investigate efflux pump mechanisms that contribute to antibiotic resistance in gram-negative bacteria. Tessa’s thesis research is currently supported by the NIH T32-supported BDCI training program.
Samuel Moore
Research Specialist
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Samuel completed his B.S. in Biochemistry and M.S. in Chemical Sciences at Kennesaw State University, where he investigated a protein linked to peptidoglycan maintenance in P. aeruginosa. In September 2024, he joined the Conn Lab to aid in uncovering molecular mechanisms inherent to efflux-mediated antibiotic resistance. He intends to unite these efforts with his clinical interests in the future as a physician-scientist.
Alejandro Oviedo (he/his)
Graduate Student, BCDB Program
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Alejandro received his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science in Biochemistry from Texas State University and was part of the South Texas Doctoral Bridge Program. He joined the Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology Program at Emory University in Fall 2020.Alejandro is interested in structural biology and biochemistry. He joined the Conn lab in May 2021 where his thesis research will focus on the structure and mechanism of OAS1/3 activation by cellular and viral non-coding dsRNA.