Biochemistry and Cell Biology Annual Newsletter
Dear Alumni and Friends,
This has been another productive year for Biochemistry and Cell Biology, marked by concurrent faculty searches and successful hires. We are delighted to welcome four new colleagues to our department: Dr. Vish Chandrasekaran, Dr. Julia Rogers, Dr. Jae-Ho Lee, and Dr. Noureddine Hammamouch. Dr. Chandrasekaran performed his postdoctoral research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Dr. Rogers at the Harvard Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry. We are also delighted to welcome Dr. Jae-Ho Lee and Dr. Nour Hamamouch. Both Drs. Lee and Hamamouch started their positions in January 2025. Dr. Lee’s laboratory investigates the impact of ribosome speed on the biogenesis and homeostasis of nascent polypeptides (Co-translational Proteostasis). Dr. Hamamouch serves as the principal lecturer in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, overseeing BIO 202.
As we celebrate the arrival of our new colleagues, we bid farewell to our long-serving
colleague, Dr. Susan Erster, who served as a senior lecturer in Biochemistry and Cell
Biology for 20 years. We extend our heartfelt wishes to Susan in her well-deserved
retirement.
A huge congratulations to Eric Girardi, a graduate student in the Hu lab, who was
selected as the recipient of the Sanford R. Simon Endowed Fellowship in Biochemistry.
We are grateful to Dr. Amy Liao, a former BCB graduate student in Sandy Simon’s lab,
for her generous gift to establish the Fellowship. We extend our warmest congratulations
to the Stony Brook iGEM team, mentored by our own BCB faculty members, Dr. Peter Gergen
and Dr. Kathryn Gunn, who returned with a gold medal from an international competition.
Your support continues to be vital to our department’s success. We express our sincere
gratitude to all our alumni and friends who have contributed to the BCB Endowment
for Excellence in the past year, with special thanks to Sue and Bill Studier and Professor
Erwin London for their generous gifts. We are grateful to Amy Liao PhD ‘93 for establishing
a $1,000,000 Yang Manzhen Endowed Fund. For details, please see the Philanthropy Corner
below. The unwavering support of our alumni and friends is deeply appreciated. The
upcoming academic year promises to be equally exciting, as we are currently in the
midst of two new faculty searches at the assistant professor level. We remain committed
to enhancing Biochemistry and Cell Biology’s strengths and establishing the department
as a supportive and nurturing environment for all our students and colleagues.
Sincerely,
Wali Karzai
Professor and Chair
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Please check out the rest of our newsletter to learn more about the department!