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Welcome to Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Julia Promisel Cooper, Chair
As biochemists and molecular geneticists, we are in the midst of an unprecedented time of discovery - our conception of the molecular biology of cells is going from the equivalent of grainy black-and-white to high-resolution technicolor. From deciphering the choreography of transcription complexes, chromosomes and RNA molecules within cells to developing novel approaches to 3D molecular structure determination to understanding how viruses hijack a cell’s machinery and alter its metabolome, the researchers in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics (BMG) are at the forefronts of their fields both conceptually and technologically.
Maximal synergy and depth of thinking require an open, vibrant research environment in which people of all backgrounds thrive. We are passionately devoted to enhancing diversity and upholding uncompromised equity and anti-racism. These principles, along with the close proximity of BMG to other outstanding basic and clinical departments as well as several hospitals, vastly enhance our opportunities for collaboration and translation of paradigm-shifting basic discoveries to the clinic and beyond.
Research Areas
Highlighted Recent Publications
David L. Bentley, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Usman Hyder are authors of the review article, "The Promoter-Proximal Pause: A Decision Point Governing RNA Polymerase II Fate," published in the June 2026 volume of Annual Review of Biochemistry.
Joe Nassour, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Abigail Gillespie are authors of a review article, “Repair pathway choice at dysfunctional telomeres,” published May 7 by Trends in Cell Biology.
Ning Zhao, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, with co-authors, including the first and corresponding authors, from our department published “MicroLive: an image processing toolkit for quantifying live-cell single-molecule microscopy,” on March 30 by Bioinformatics Advances.
Srinivas Ramachandran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Xiaojun Ren, PhD, with the Department of Chemistry at University of Colorado Denver, are corresponding authors of an article, “Self-clustering of three CBX2 molecules drives PRC2 to promote facultative heterochromatinization of Polycomb target genes,” published March 4 by Molecular Cell. Nine co-authors are from our campus or CU Denver.
Angelo D’Alessandro, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Kirk C. Hansen, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, are corresponding authors of a research article, “Multiomic analyses of longitudinal plasma samples identify thromboinflammation endotypes and trajectories in patients with trauma,” published February 11 by Science Translational Medicine. Twenty-five co-authors are from our campus.
Monika Dzieciatkowska, PhD, Senior Instructor; Daniel Stephenson, PhD, Senior Research Associate; and Angelo D’Alessandro, PhD, Professor, all in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, are co-authors of an article, “Choice of lipid supplementation for in vitro erythroid cell culture impacts reticulocyte yield and characteristics,” published January 29 by Scientific Reports.
More Information
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News Announcements
Congratulations to all recent faculty, postdoc, and graduate student awardees!
 | June 2026 John Janetzko has received a Translational Research Scholars Program award! |
 | June 2026 Dawid Zyla has been highlighted in an article from The New York Times! |
.jpg?sfvrsn=da4ac6b4_0) | June 2026 Usman Hyder has received a CLC award! Congratulations! |
 | June 2026 Julie Haines has received an NIH R01 with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Congratulations! |
| May 2026 John Janetzko has received a Boettcher Foundation award! |
 | April 2026 Julie Cooper has received an NIH R01 award! |
 | April 2026 Joe Nassour has received an NIH R21 award! |
 | January 2026 Olivia Rissland has received a grant from The G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers Foundation. |
 | January 2026 Srinivas Ramachandran has received a SPARK OEDIT award! |
 | January 2026 Cat Musselman was highlighted in CUAnschutz Today, Meet the Scientist! |
 | January 2026 JP Ouyang has received an AHA Postdoc Fellowship! |
 | January 2026 Jay Hesselberth has received a VISTA seed grant! |
| January 2026 Olivia Rissland has received a HIE SPARK award! |
| » More News |