General 1 — Rosenbaum Lab

Lab: Personnel

Daniel Rosenbaum

Professor and PI
Dan did his graduate training in the Chemistry Department at Harvard University, in the lab of David Liu. Following his Ph.D., he moved to Brian Kobilka’s lab at Stanford University for his postdoc. Dan’s postdoc work revealed the first atomic structures of GPCRs for soluble hormones and neurotransmitters, and he pioneered new techniques of membrane protein engineering that led to molecular structures of many therapeutically important GPCRs. Dan started his lab at UT Southwestern in 2010, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016 and Professor in 2022.

Jie Yin

Instructor
Jie graduated from Wuhan University in China with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. He received his Ph.D. at the Institute of Biophysics in Beijing, where he studied the molecular mechanism of membrane proteins that synthesize lipopolysaccharide and N-glycan. In 2011, Jie joined the Rosenbaum Lab to work on the structure and dynamics of GPCRs in the central nervous system. Jie determined the first crystal structures of the orexin receptors and neurokinin receptor 1, as well as the active state cryo-EM structure of dopamine receptor DRD2. In his spare time, Jie likes reading, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Daniel Kober

Postdoctoral Researcher
Dan did his Ph.D. work at Washington University in St. Louis under the direction of Tom Brett, where he determined the biophysical basis for the effects of disease-linked mutations in the neuroimmune receptor TREM2. He is currently interested in pairing structural and biophysical techniques with cell biology methods to understand the mechanistic basis for the regulation of membrane cholesterol levels by the SREBP pathway. In his spare time, Dan enjoys running the Katy Trail in Dallas.

Karthik Ramesh

Postdoctoral Researcher
Karthik received his Ph.D. from National University of Singapore, where his research focused on the structure-function relationship of serine protease inhibitors and their application in human diseases. He joined the Rosenbaum Lab in 2019 and is studying the mechanism of action of ligands targeting cannabinoid receptors and exploring their therapeutic potential. Outside the lab he enjoys listening to music and a long drive.

Punita Kumari

Postdoctoral Researcher
Punita received her Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. She studied the molecular mechanisms of GPCR-β-arrestin interaction and signaling using a combinatorial approach of multiple biophysical and biochemical assays. In the Rosenbaum Lab, she is engaged in structural characterization of GPCR-effector complexes by cryo-EM. One focus of her research is to elucidate the first high-resolution structure of a GPCR-GRK complex, in order to better understand the molecular basis for GRK regulation of activated GPCRs.

Karen Chapman

Research Associate and Lab Administrator
Karen graduated from UT Arlington in 1990 with a B.S. in Biology and has been at UT Southwestern ever since. She joined the Rosenbaum Lab in 2015 and assists in designing and running assays to validate the function of mutant proteins that are used for X-ray crystallography and Cryo-EM. She also screens small molecules for stimulation of the orexin receptors. She previously worked for Dr. Kent Hamra and Dr. David Garbers developing a system to culture spermatagonial stem cells, which were used to generate transgenic rats and mice. Her first job at UT Southwestern was in the Pharmacology Department under Dr. Elliott Ross, where she gained valuable training in the study of G protein signaling.

Steve Lee

Research Associate
Steve received his B.S. in Biochemistry & Cell Biology from University of California San Diego and his M.S. in Global Medicine from the University of Southern California. He joined the Rosenbaum Lab after years of experience working with antibody engineering for therapeutic and diagnostic applications in the biotech industry. Steve is contributing his knowledge and experience to aid the research projects being conducted on membrane protein mechanisms. In his free time, Steve enjoys spending time with his wife, exploring Dallas, hiking, cooking, and watching movies.