People

Principal investigator

Todd R Graham, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences with a secondary appointment in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and received his B.S. and Ph.D. at St. Louis University. Todd went on to do a postdoc in Scott Emr’s lab before starting up his own lab at Vanderbilt University.

tr.graham@vanderbilt.edu
CV

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Scientists

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Eugenia M Yazlovitskaya, Ph.D. is a Staff Scientist in the Department of Biological Sciences. She was born and grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine. She received her M.S. in Biophysics from Shevchenko National University and Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Eugenia received Ph.D. in Biochemistry; it was a joint venture of Kansas University Medical Center, KS, USA and Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and was about Protein kinase C signaling in cancer treatment. Eugenia joined Vanderbilt as a junior faculty in 2002 and in 2021, she became a part of the Graham Lab. Outside of research, Eugenia enjoys swimming and traveling. She also considers herself a movie buff.

eugenia.yazlovitskaya@Vanderbilt.Edu   Publications

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Bhawik Kumar Jain, Ph.D. is from Mumbai, India. He received his Ph.D. from ACTREC, Mumbai in Life Sciences. His Ph.D. thesis focused on understanding the Golgi cisternal stacking mechanism in budding yeast Pichia Pastoris. Bhawik joined the Graham Lab in 2019 and exploring the structure function relationship of P4-ATPases. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family, cooking, and playing cricket and tennis.

Bhawik.kumar.k.jain@vanderbilt.edu  ResearchGate

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Graduate Students

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Mariana Jiménez is originally from East Lansing, MI. She received her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology and minor in Music from the University of Michigan in 2018. Mariana joined the Graham lab in the Spring of 2020 to study the importance of P4-ATPase localization, specifically yeast Dnf1 and Dnf2, by determining the recycling and retrograde trafficking pathways traveled by these flippases and exploring the role they may play in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease. Outside of the lab, Mariana enjoys playing the clarinet and participating in water polo as well catching up on Netflix shows.

mariana.jimenez@Vanderbilt.Edu   LinkedIn

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Alexander J Mansueto joined the Graham Lab in 2021, and he is originally from Florham Park, New Jersey. He double-majored in Biology and Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech. His undergraduate research focused on gene therapies in muscular dystrophies. In the Graham Lab, Alex’s work involves the P4-type ATP flippase ATP10D, and how the flipping of ATP10D’s substrate, glucosylceramide, may mitigate components of the metabolic syndrome. In his free time, Alex enjoys playing piano, exercising, and spending time with his lizard Rem.

alexander.j.mansueto@Vanderbilt.Edu

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Briana Markham is originally from Cross Plains, Tennessee, and earned a B.S. in Molecular Biotechnology from Western Kentucky University. After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked at Mayo Clinic, where her research centered on identifying new miRNA-targeted genes involved in mitophagy. Since joining the Graham lab in 2024, she has been investigating the yeast P4-ATPase Neo1, focusing on its role in protein trafficking and PI4P distribution. In her spare time, she enjoys staying active and spending time with her friends and family.

briana.markham@vanderbilt.edu

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Undergraduate Students

Jaileen Wales

 

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Richard Zhang

 

 

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Former Members

• Adriana Norris, Ph.D.
• Deven Gopinath
• Swapneeta Date, Ph.D.
• Isabel Tate
• Joey Lu
• Davia D. Watkins
• Peng Xu, Ph.D.
• Jordan Best, Ph.D.
• Clara Guillem
• Yannan Huang
• Roger Yu
• Mehmet Takar, PhD.
• Bart Roland, PhD.
• Yuantai Wu, PhD.
• Ryan Baldridge, PhD.
• Hannah Hankins, PhD.
• Sam Erlinger
• Nick Diab