Irina received a M.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science in 1994, and Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2000, both from Tomsk State University, Russia, the latter under the mentorship of Prof. Nina Yevtushenko. Having relocated to the US, Irina eventually arrived at computational biology as the discipline of great importance, great challenges, and great opportunities for scientific discovery using computer science approaches. As a postdoc under the guidance of Prof. Ruben Abagyan at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, she mastered molecular modeling and docking, as well as computational chemistry, bioinformatics, and cheminformatics. Following her transition to UCSD in 2009, she educated herself in experimental biology and pharmacology, which altogether gave her a unique research perspective at the interface of computational and experimental science. The long-standing goal of her work is to elucidate the structural, molecular, and architectural principles of cell signaling. In her leisure time, she enjoys hiking, music, and educated stargazing.

Leila received her PhD in Computational Physical-Chemistry from University of Columbia-Missouri under supervision of Prof. Tommy Sewell in Dec 2018. She then joined National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug abuse as a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow to focus on structural and mechanistic studies of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), mainly cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1). As part of the Kufareva team, she continued working on GPCRs (this time chemokine receptors). In her free time she loves to grow plants, cook (Persian style) and work out.

Kirti obtained her Masters degree in Pharmacology in 2006 from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology (GJUS&T), India. Then she joined Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, India and worked there as a research scientist in the department of Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics until 2014. In 2013, while still in Ranbaxy, she started her Ph.D. to investigate repositioning of medicines for new therapeutic indication as Hedgehog pathway inhibitors using in-silico screening and in-vitro studies. She got trained in in-silico studies and in-vitro experiments while working as a volunteer in Abagyan Lab at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy, La Jolla, CA, under the guidance of Drs. Ruben Abagyan and Irina Kufareva. Since Dec 2017, she has been a member of the Kufareva group, working on projects related to chemokine receptor and Hedgehog pathway; in 2021, she successfully defended her PhD thesis and became a postdoc. In 2021, Kirti moved on to a research [psition in industry. In her spare time, she likes to paint and make useful crafty things. Recently she started a small garden in our balcony which she wants to expand to full kitchen garden.

Ekta obtained her Masters degree in Microbiology in 2003 from Bundelkhand University, India. She moved to San Diego, California in 2015. In 2021, she completed ‘Certificate of Achievement in Biotechnology’ from Miramar Community College, San Diego. She joined the Kufareva Lab in November 2019 as a volunteer Lab Assistant and has been helping the lab with their various projects. In 2022, she became a Staff Research Associate. She acquired an extensive hands-on experience in molecular biology, mammalian cell culture, and pharmacological assays. She then moved on to start her career in industry. In her free time, Ekta enjoys listening to music, painting, and outdoor activities. She is also keen in investing her time with her family and friends.

Tony was born and raised in Sydney, Australia where he received his PhD in Pharmacology from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and the University of New South Wales. In his research career so far, he has been at the interface of computational biology, pharmacology and now structural biology, using both in silico and in vitro techniques to understand the structure-function of GPCRs, particularly orphan and protein-binding receptors and has broad interests in protein-protein interactions. While in the Kufareva lab, he has been supported by an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow and was working on designing and developing various protein scaffolds as pharmacological tools to study chemokine receptor interactions. He enjoys exploring new places, hiking and live music. 

See also: https://twitter.com/tngo715 

Suchi graduated from University of Delhi, Dept. of Botany in 2011 and obtained her Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in Life Sciences in December 2016. She joined Kufareva group as a volunteer in March 2018, and as a postdoc in July 2018. Her research interests solely lie in protein biology, structure, evolution, function and mechanism. Her research project in the Kufareva lab was focused on structural and biophysical studies on heteromeric G protein with their non-canonical modulators. She is passionate about photography. Other than that - experimenting with food and painting at leisure. 

Åge graduated as Master of Pharmacy from the University of Bergen (UiB), Norway in 2008 and received his PhD at the Department of Biomedicine, UiB in 2013. He spent the next four years as a postdoctoral fellow at San Diego Supercomputer Center, UCSD and has now returned to UiB for his second postdoc period. He is currently a visiting scholar in the Kufareva lab. His research field of interest is pharmaceutically relevant computational biology, with a main focus on molecular dynamics simulation methodology. In his spare time, Skjevik enjoys spending time with friends, watching soccer or a good Netflix series, live music, IPA tastings and travel. 

Willow is a third-year undergraduate at MIT majoring in Biology. Her projects during her time at the Kufareva lab (2018-2021) included protein binding pocket structure analysis, phosphoproteomic data analysis, and development of a toolkit for the development of mechanistic cell signaling models. Willow hopes to continue to do research at the intersection between computation and cell, structural, and protein biology. Her hobbies include making and listening to electronic music, traveling, and hiking.

Weijun completed undergraduate studies (B.Sc. Hons. Biochemistry) from the University of Queensland in 2006 (full pay study leave sponsored by Singapore Polytechnic). He then undertook a lecturer position at the School of Chemical and Life Sciences (Singapore Polytechnic) from 2007-13. He received PhD from Institute for Molecular Bioscience, UQ in 2017 and continued his postdoc study at the IMB under the supervision of Prof. David Fairlie. His research interests include computational biology/chemistry, molecular pharmacology and structural biology. As a postdoc in the Kufareva lab, he lifted off the ground the project focused on computational modeling of cell signaling downstream of CCR2. Weijun loves singing, swimming, cooking and travelling.