Human REV1 interacts with DHX36 to promote replication and tolerance of G-quadruplex DNA.
Ketkar A, Paxton BC, Zuniga OE, Sewilam RS, Morales M, Schaller J, McCollum RJ, Jackson KE, Lowran K, Paul A, Patel M, Seenivasan S, McCrury M, Al-Anbaky Q, Maddukuri L, Kendrick S, Wu CG, Gunderson JEC, Eoff RL.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2026

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Copy-back RNA synthesis by coronavirus polymerase requires helicase activity and is stimulated by remdesivir and molnupiravir.
Rakib A, Das A, Bera SC, Cnossen J, Robles-Sikisaka R, Diefenbacher MV, America PPB, Klein M, Anderson TK, Marecki JC, Wang B, Bogers E, Feng JY, Bilello JP, Papini FS, Smitskamp Q, Sheahan TP, Arnold JJ, Routh A, Artsimovitch I, Kirchdoerfer RN, Cameron CE, Raney KD, Dulin D.
Sci Adv. 2026

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Acellular normothermic spleen perfusion resolves transcriptional and non-transcriptional mechanisms of steroid immunosuppression.
Callais NA, Welch S, Rainwater RR, Schaller J, Deng S, Azevedo-Pouly A, Burdine MS, Burdine L.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

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DZNep: A Methyltransferase Modulator for Disease Mitigation.
Garg S, Miousse IR.
Environ Mol Mutagen. 2026

Third year Ph.D student Vy Nugyen won first place for her presentation of her poster, “Rnd3 Regulates Lung Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion via Integrin Alpha 5 and Modulation of Lung Cancer Metastasis” at the 10th Biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence (NISBRE) meeting in Rockville, MD.

Vy also presented her research as a poster and short talk at the FASEB Regulation and Function of Small GTPases meeting in Melbourne, FL where she won a $750 travel award.

Vy is mentored by Katie Ryan, Ph.D. Congratulations Vy!

Welcome to our 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) students. These students will spend 10 weeks performing research projects in laboratories across the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department. The students and their mentors are:

• Savea Cunningham – Tudor Moldoveanu, Ph.D.
• Luke Garrett – Robert Eoff, Ph.D.
• Kaylee Francis – Robert Eoff, Ph.D.
• Betty Hu – Joonas Jamsen, Ph.D.
• Clara Park – Eric Enemark, Ph.D.
• Ashley Wallace – Kirk West, Ph.D.
• Jessica Offordum – Sayem Miah, Ph.D.
• Fariha Alam Bushra – Mohammad Rahman, Ph.D.
• Lillie Ballany – Alicia Byrd, Ph.D.

Congratulations to Zihun Zhang, Ph.D. on his successful defense of his dissertation entitled, “The mutant CST6N137D protects against bone damage, but also enhances the immune response in multiple myeloma”. Dr. Zhang was mentored by Fenghuang “Frank” Zhan, M.D., Ph.D. and will continue as a postdoc in the Zhan lab.

Loss of FAM60A disrupts Sin3/HDAC control of the Hippo signaling and promotes oncogenic YAP1 activation.
Miah M, Huda MN, Islam MR, Gerald D, Khator S, Saha A, Alam J, Thornton JL, Gies A, Bauer MA, Stephens KE, Nagalo BM, Rahman MA, Washburn MP, Miah S.
Cell Death Dis. 2026

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Proteostasis sustains T cell differentiation potential and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte function.
Scharping NE, Ge X, Matias MI, Jiang F, Cafferata A, Heeg M, Monell A, Galletti G, Cheung KP, Rock A, Thao N, Shuttleworth SL, Bauer MA, Takehara KK, Ferry A, Quon S, Koss B, Myers SA, Bennett EJ, Goldrath AW.
Cell. 2026

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RNA virus polymerase-helicase coupling enables rapid elongation through duplex RNA.
America PPB, Bera SC, Das A, Anderson TK, Marecki JC, Papini FS, Arnold JJ, Kirchdoerfer RN, Cameron CE, Raney KD, Depken M, Dulin D.
Cell Rep. 2026

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A Novel Model of Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Produces a Clinically Relevant Phenotype in Mice.
Osborn LR, Bishop MG, Rodriguez KA, Redling DM, Duplechain EA, Stephens KE.
Curr Neuropharmacol. 2026

High-resolution metabolic profiling of the effects of early-life stress after peripheral nerve injury.
Rodriguez KA, Bishop MG, Osborn LR, Redling D, Sikes JD, Porter C, Yeruva L, Stephens KE.
J Pain. 2026

Congratulations to Kathy Carlson who received the Staff Excellence Award for Education at the Dean’s Honor Day 2026. Kathy has served as the Education Coordinator for the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department since 2021. She received this award in recognition of her outstanding work ethic and many contributions to the mission and vision of UAMS.

DNA secondary structures in BCL2 and MYC elicit activation-induced cytidine deaminase binding and activity.
McCrury M, Sanchez A, Mangold R, Spears TJ, Doshier C, Buisson R, Miah M, Akdeniz D, Kendrick S.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2026

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Mitochondrial antioxidant enzyme (SOD2) at the crossroads of redox signaling and cancer progression.
Islam MR, Alam R, Islam F, Nagar P, Rahman MA.
Free Radic Res. 2026

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Archaeal and eukaryotic MCM rings sequentially melt DNA for replication initiation.
Rasouli S, Myasnikov A, Enemark EJ.
Nat Commun. 2026

Congratulations to all of the students and postdocs who won awards at UAMS’ 2026 Student Research Day. The Bhuvan Award for outstanding research using Biochemistry is given in honor of former Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department faculty member, Dr. Bhuvanasvaren.

Bhuvan Award recipients:

• Md. Mahbub Hasan, a second year PhD student in the BMCB track mentored by Dr. Mohammad Rahman won 1st place.
• Christian Mitchell, a third year PhD student in the PTET track mentored by Dr. Abdel Fouda won 2nd place.
• Anisha Neupane, a PhD student in the CBP track mentored by Dr. Ryan Allen won 3rd place.

Graduate Student Division award recipients:

• Md. Mahbub Hasan, a PhD student mentored by Dr. Mohammad Rahman won 1st place.
• Sydnye Shuttleworth, a MD/PhD student mentored by Dr. Brian Koss, won 3rd place.

Best Graduate Student Cancer Research awards recipients:

• Sydnye Shuttleworth, a MD/PhD student mentored by Dr. Brian Koss, won 1st place.
• Katherine Cruz, a PhD student mentored by Dr. Brian Koss, won 3rd place.

Postdoc and Housestaff Division award recipient:

Dr. Md Rafikul Islam in Dr. Mohammad Rahman’s lab won 1st place. He also won an award for Innovation from Bioventures.

Professional Student Division award recipients:

• Jed Johnson, a MD student mentored by Dr. Grover Miller.
• Reese Forrest, a MD/PhD student mentored by Dr. Robert Eoff.

3MT award winner:

• Katherine Cruz , a PhD student mentored by Dr. Brian Koss, won 1st place.

Rnd3 regulates lung cancer cell invasion and migration independently of ROCK1 signaling via alpha 5 integrin modulation.
Garcia Garcia N, Nguyen THV, Richey D, Cox EF, Coca Juaristi J, Ashby C, Rodriguez A, Ryan KR.
Life Sci Alliance. 2026

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Proteostasis sustains T cell differentiation potential and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte function.
Scharping NE, Ge X, Matias MI, Jiang F, Cafferata A, Heeg M, Monell A, Galletti G, Cheung KP, Rock A, Thao N, Shuttleworth SL, Bauer MA, Takehara KK, Ferry A, Quon S, Koss B, Myers SA, Bennett EJ, Goldrath AW.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

SUMOylation Protects Endothelial Cell-Expressed Leukocyte-Specific Protein 1 from Ubiquitination-Mediated Proteasomal Degradation and Facilitates Its Nuclear Export.
Hossain M, Huang J, Su Y, Islam MR, Rahman MA, Cayabyab FS, Liu L.
Int J Mol Sci. 2026

Targeting EZH2 Oncogenic Splicing: Decoding the Regulatory Network and Antisense Correction.
Islam MR, Nagar P, McNaughton N, Heeamoni SA, Hasan MM, Kandel S, Tsakiroglou P, Dalton WB, Abdel-Wahab O, Krainer AR, Rahman MA.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

DNA-PKcs controls the cytotoxic T cell response to cancer and transplant allograft through regulating LAT-dependent signaling.
Rainwater RR, Azevedo-Pouly AC, Waldrip ZJ, Hicks BH, Callais NA, Koss B, Storey AJ, Burdine L, Burdine MS.
Cell Rep. 2026