Virginia Tech Biochemistry

08/28/2026

Let's Go... Hokies!

🔬 Discovering New Horizons in RNA Biology! 🧬

Join us for our upcoming Biochemistry Department BCHM 5004 Seminar Series on Monday, August 31! We are thrilled to host Pabina Pokharel from the Virginia Tech Department of Biochemistry as she presents her cutting edge research.

Seminar Details
Speaker: Pabina Pokharel (Virginia Tech Biochemistry Department)

Topic: "Targeting cell surface RNA"

Date & Time: Monday, August 31, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Location: Fralin Hall Auditorium

Host: Dr. Wei Sun ([email protected])

How to Join Virtually
Attending remotely? Email Dr. Kylie Allen at [email protected] to request the Zoom link prior to the event.

We look forward to seeing you there! 🧪✨

08/21/2026

Exciting national news for ! 🌟

Dr. Anne M. Brown has been named to the New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2026–28 cohort! 🧪💻

This selective program honors outstanding midcareer researchers for leadership, cross disciplinary innovation, and scientific service. Dr. Brown’s work leverages computational modeling and data science to accelerate drug discovery, tackle neurodegenerative diseases, and train the next generation of scientists.

Congratulations, Dr. Brown! Thank you for leading the way! 🦃✨

Brown, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has been named to the 2026-28 New Voices cohort, recognizing emerging leaders in science, engineering, and medicine.

08/18/2026

🎉 Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry family! 🧪✨

We recently kicked off the new year with a casual welcome event for our new graduate students! It was a great, low-stress evening to break the ice, hang out with senior grad students, and build community.

Between card games, frisbee, and great conversations fueled by plenty of snacks, of course! 🍿🃏🥏it was the perfect way to start the semester.

We’re so excited to have this new cohort join us and can’t wait to see all the amazing research and discoveries ahead! Welcome to VT Biochemistry! 🔬🙌

07/29/2026

Cooper is hard at work purifying and characterizing novel bi-functional enzymes essential for lipid and cofactor biosynthesis in methanogenic archaea.

When asked about his experience, Cooper shared:

"My summer working in the Allen Lab has been very enjoyable! I've gained valuable experience performing hands-on research to further our understanding of methanogens, and the mentorship and support from Dr. Allen and my team have made the lab an exciting place to learn. My favorite thing about biochemistry is getting to solve complex molecular puzzles that deepen our understanding of the world around us."

We’re so proud to have hard working students like Cooper in our department! 👏✨

07/23/2026

Did you catch Dr. Clément Vinauger's research on NBC4 Washington? 📺🦟

New coverage by NBC4 Washington highlights a incredible discovery out of the Department of Biochemistry at Virginia Tech: mosquitoes can be trained in a laboratory setting to love the smell of insect repellent!
Co-authored by Associate Professor Dr. Clément Vinauger and published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the study proves that yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) possess surprising behavioral flexibility. When researchers repeatedly exposed mosquitoes to DEET while feeding, the insects learned to associate the chemical's smell with a meal eventually preferring DEET-treated surfaces over untreated ones!
"What the insect has learned matters just as much as what the chemical does. That, I think, is a paradigm shift." Dr. Clément Vinauger
🎥 Watch the full NBC4 Washington segment and read more here: https://www.nbcwashington.com/video/news/health/mosquitoes-can-be-trained-to-love-the-smell-of-insect-repellent-researchers-say/4123438/

A Virginia Tech lab trained mosquitos to love the smell of DEET, a key ingredient in insect repellent. News4’s Eun Yang explains how this could change the way we protect ourselves against mosquitos.

07/23/2026

🎉 Summer Updates from the Dr. Soumi Ghosh Lab at the Department of Biochemistry! 🧬✨

The SugarGeek Lab has had a productive summer! ☀️

The graduate students, Bernice Owusu and Somaia Abdelmegeed, successfully completed their qualifying exams 🎓 and are now preparing for their first committee meetings.

As we celebrated the graduation of our undergraduate researchers from the 2025–2026 academic year 🎓👏, we also welcomed new biochemistry major undergraduate students Michael Reed and Cid Wyer 🧪, who will continue their research in the lab this fall. We are also excited to host a Blacksburg High School student, Heidi Swartzwelder, this summer 🔬, providing hands-on research experience in protein-carbohydrate interaction.

In the lab, we are pushing forward with the development of mammalian lectin-based probes 🦠 and uncovering exciting new data on how these probes interact with viral glycoproteins from chikungunya virus and influenza virus. These discoveries are giving us fresh insight into how the immune system detects viral glycans. 💡🔬

07/21/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. Richard F. Helm on being named Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry! 🔬✨

This prestigious honor recognizes Dr. Helm’s decades of dedicated service, groundbreaking research, and commitment to teaching and mentorship. From his work in biochemistry and mass spectrometry to his incredible impact on countless students and colleagues, his legacy in our department is truly unmatched. 🧬

Thank you, Dr. Helm, for your years of leadership, discovery, and dedication to our academic community. We wish you all the best in this well deserved new chapter! 👏

https://news.vt.edu/articles/2026/07/helm-emeritus.html

Photo: Richard F. Helm (third from left) assists students with research.

A member of the Virginia Tech community for more than 33 years, Helm made significant contributions to the university through his work in both the laboratory and classroom.

07/20/2026

Front cover status achieved! 📖🎉 ! Congratulations, Dr. Wei Sun’s Lab and their collaborators (Dr. Yifan Cheng's Lab, VT-FST).
Here is the quick jargon-free summary of what we discovered 👇
Think of polycationic films like a tiny protective shield for enzymes (specifically LacZ) against harsh acid stress. We wanted to see what makes this shield stronger: making it thicker, or changing its electrical charge? 🛡️🧪
The team found out that there’s a "protonation depth limit." Translation: past a certain point, making the shield thicker provides little additional protection.
🛑 Instead, the real cheat code is tuning the charge density.
💡⚡ By adjusting the charge, we found an entirely new way to keep these enzymes safe and protected!
🔗 Want to see the cover artwork and check out the full paper https://pubs.rsc.org/nr/article/18/26/13629/1276738/Front-cover
Major shoutout to the team behind this project:
🔬 First Authors: Huida Duan & Junxing Chen
🔬Co-Authors: Felicia Fianu, Wei Sun, & Yifan ChengTech
🇬🇧

https://pubs.rsc.org/nr/article/18/26/13629/1276738/Front-cover

07/08/2026

Transformative. Inspiring. 🔬✨

University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Dennis Dean has spent 40 years mentoring generations of scientists at Virginia Tech. Now, he’s ensuring that future generations have the exact same life changing opportunities in the lab that launched his own career.

For Dr. Dean, this gift reflects a personal philosophy: “It is my dream that every qualified Virginia Tech student will have an opportunity to work in a research laboratory and be paid for doing so.”

We are profoundly grateful for his dedication to our VT students, our department, and the future of undergraduate research and scientific discovery! 🦃💡

Check out some photos over the past few years of UG Researchers!

🔗 Read the full inspiring story at the link in our bio: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2026/07/dean-gift.html

07/06/2026

Campus might slow down in the summer, but the Khan Lab certainly doesn't! 🧪🧫
Sophomore Joe Sapienza is spending the summer learning how protein quality control pathways work in yeast and the vital role ribosomes play in the process. "Ribosomes don't just make proteins in cells; they also ensure that defective proteins are marked for degradation," said Dr. Danish Khan, Assistant Professor of Macromolecular Complexes, who joined our department in December 2025. "Joe has just finished his freshman year, and I'm excited to work with him over the summer.” Joe, who graduated from Blacksburg High School in 2025, is learning essential techniques in molecular biology and biochemistry, using baker's yeast to answer fundamental questions about protein quality control pathways with direct relevance to human health and disease. This foundational work is key to unlocking critical answers tied directly to human health and disease. 🙌 ✨