News

December, 2023 Shupti Shaha has recently joined the lab as a first-year PhD student. Welcome to the team, Shupti!
Fall, 2023 Our lab was interviewed by the university’s press team. Here are the links to the photo and videos (lab interview; Linh’s personal interview). Great job, everyone!
August, 2023 Dodhy successfully defended his MS thesis. Congratulations! Dodhy will get a taste of the biotech industry next. Good luck with the job hunt!
Summer 2023 We received two R01 grants. Thank you, NIH/NIAID, for the enormous support and trust. Congratulations to the team (Jia lab and collaborators)!
May, 2023 Mohammad, Jake, and Xiaofei attended the Cold Spring Harbor Meeting for Retroviruses. Mohammad gave two posters and Jake gave an oral presentation. A very enjoyable conference.
Spring 2023 Linh joined the team as a sophomore biochemistry student. Welcome!
Fall 2023 Ruth joined the team as a BS/MS candidate. Welcome!
Summer 2022 Arianna and Madelyn both defended their Masters degrees successfully. Congratulations! Good luck with your new endeavors in the biotech industry.

Also, we have received one-year funding from the NIH (R56) on the collaborative project of developing cyclic peptide inhibitors against Nef. The research team include Dr. Rudi Fasan’s lab at University of Rochester, Dr. John Guatelli’s lab at UC San Diego, and our lab here at UMass Dartmouth. Thank you, NIH!

Spring, 2022 Fatema joined our group as a PhD student. Welcome, Fatema!
January, 2022 Kequan joined our group last fall as a PhD student. Welcome, Kequan!

Also in fall 2021, we have been awarded a pilot grant by the Pittsburgh Center for HIV Protein Interactions (PCHPI). This is a timely help for the project that Jake and Dodhy are working on. Thank you, PCHPI!

April 22, 2021 Yonghwa won the American Institute of Chemists Graduate Award in Biochemistry! It is a testimony of Yonghwa’s excellence in research and great leadership. Highly deserved, Yonghwa! Big congratulations!
April, 2021 Just learned some excellent news from our former students, Raquel, Tony, and Darious. Congratulations to Raquel on landing a new job and to Tony and Darious for being accepted to medical schools. Keep up the good work and good luck on your exciting new journeys!
April 16, 2021 Yonghwa successfully defended her PhD! Congratulations, Dr. Kwon! Hard work has finally paid off, and Yonghwa is now officially the first-ever PhD produced in the Jia lab. Check out photos taken during our small, pandemic-style celebration for Yonghwa.
Feb 5, 2021 Three new members have joined the lab last fall: Maddie, Ari, and Taonga. Welcome to the team and congrats on starting your new journey in research!
Aug 24, 2020 Our work has just been featured in a News & Views commentary written by experts in the field. Check it out!
Jul 28, 2020 Our paper on the Nef-mediated CD4 downregulation is finally out! Congrats to all authors, which include all current members of the Jia lab. Please go and check the paper out here or here. We also have a blog written about it at the Nature Microbiology Community. Cheers!
Nov 22, 2019 Yonghwa successfully defended her dissertation proposal, and is now laser-focused on the real battle!
Aug 27, 2019 Tony officially graduated for his master degree. Congratulations! Tony was the first graduate student that the lab has ever produced!
Jun, 2019 Jake, Tony, and Xiaofei attended Structural Biology for HIV/AIDS meeting at Bethesda, MD.
May, 2019 Yonghwa and Xiaofei attended the Cold Spring Harbor Meeting for Retroviruses in May 2019.
May, 2019 Jake won the 2019 Chemistry Graduate Teaching Award. Well deserved! Congrats, Jake!
May, 2019 Congratulations to Darius for getting his undergraduate degree!
Mar, 2019 Yonghwa attended the 19th German Exchange Program in Bremen, Germany. It was a highly competitive program organized by the northeast section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) and the German Chemical Society, in which selected students spend a week of time in Germany for conference, tour, and social events. It was a great honor for Yonghwa to be selected as the twelve finalists to participate in such a wonderful event (a trip to Europe, we were all jealous!). Great job, Yonghwa!