Yizhi Jane Tao, Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Professor of Biosciences, Rice University
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University, 2002
Ph.D., Purdue University, 1999
B.Sc., Peking University, 1992
ytao@rice.edu
(713) 348-4910
Graduate Students
Xiaotong Lu
Ph.D. Candidate
Research: The structure and function of the influenza D matrix protein, a promising therapeutic target responsible for facilitating viral entry, genome release, and budding.
B.S., Jilin University, 2016
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Yu Ouyang
Ph.D. Candidate
Research: The host and assembly mechanism of picobirnavirus, a small bi-segmented double stranded RNA virus suspected to cause diarrhea in children and immunocompromised patients.
B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Boston University, 2017
Research Scientists
Kai Ye
Ph.D. Candidate
Research: The structure and function of the influenza D NS1 and NS2 proteins, which may provide insight towards viral strategies for infection, proliferation and host-directed antagonism.
B.Sc. in Biochemistry, Imperial College London, 2017
Clark Hamor
Ph.D. Candidate
Research: Characterization of the capsid structures, non-structural genes and replication cycles of viruses implicated in coral bleaching and Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease
B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of St. Thomas, Houston, 2019
Hanqiao Chen
Research Technician
Research: Infection mechanism of the Orsay virus mediated by delta and CP-delta proteins.
Ph.D., Huazhong Agricultural University
Will join in October, 2022
Visiting Scholars
Khadija Zahid
Ph.D. Candidate, University of the Punjab
Research: Production of Recombinant Collagen Type 1 in Serum Free Adapted 293T Cell Line Using Ubiquitous Chromatin Opening Element Containing Lentiviral Vector
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Undergraduate Researchers
Pranav Mandyam
Class of 2025
Research: Biochemical and structural characterization of a filamentous dsRNA virus.
Mitchell Han
Class of 2025
Research: Purification and structural analysis of the human astrovirus VP90.
Recent Former Members
Matthew Ykema
Ph.D. (2022)
Research: The structure and protease-dependent maturation process of the human astrovirus, a non-enveloped icosahedral virus that causes severe gastric pathogenesis in infant and elderly populations.
Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands, Bosma Lab, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2015-2016
B.S. in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology and Economics, Arizona State University, 2015
Jim Zhang
BS-MS (2022)
Research: The native-condition structure and entry mechanism of the nematode virus Orsay, the first and only known virus to naturally infect the model organism C. elegans.
B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology,
Rice University, 2022
M.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology,
Rice University, 2022
Allison Wang
BS (2022)
Research: The Purification and Imaging of the Proteins Encoded by CCFV-1, a filamentous shaped dsRNA virus
B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology,
Rice University, 2022
Ying Zhou
Research Scientist
Research: The genetic interactions and pathways within C. elegans that facilitate Orsay viral infection and determine subsequent animal behavior.
Ph.D., Huazhong Agricultural University, 2015
B.Sc., Northeast Agricultural University, 2010
