The Team
Charles Bou-Nader, PhD
Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator
Department of Biochemistry
Emory University School of Medicine
Charles is interested in all aspects of R-loop biology. His favorite molecules are ribonucleoprotein complexes.

Xia Liu
Research Technical Specialist
Xia was born in Su Zhou, China and graduated with her BS in Biology from the East China Normal University in Shanghai. She has been in Georgia and a part of the Emory University system since 1994.
Learn more about Ms. Liu
Hanh Hoang
Lead Research Specialist
Hanh was born in Vietnam. She lived in Texas for 10 years, where she earned both her bachelor’s and PhD degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington. During her graduate studies, she worked in Biochemistry, focusing on molecular biology, protein expression and purification, enzyme kinetics, protein engineering, and cell culture techniques.
Learn more about Ms. Hoang
Evan Cramer, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Cramer completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Oakland University before moving on to a P.h.D in biochemistry and molecular medicine at West Virginia University. There, he studied the structure and mechanism of catalytic DNA.
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Alexandra Furney
Graduate Student, 2024, Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology (BCDB) program
Alexandra was born and raised in John’s Creek, Georgia. While studying biology and Spanish during her undergraduate career at Georgia College & State University, she found a passion for research investigating the role of regulatory mRNA structures in translation initiation.
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Duc Le
Undergraduate Student, Chemistry and Biology
Duc is a first-generation undergraduate student at Emory University, double majoring in chemistry and biology. He was born in Vietnam and lived there before immigrating to the state of Georgia at the age of 6.
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Serena Min
Undergraduate Student, Biology
Serena is undergraduate student at Emory University, majoring in Biology. She was born in South Korea and lived in Singapore for 5 years. She has developed strong interests in molecular biology and biochemistry. She seeks to explore the mechanism of gene regulation, specifically by R-loops.
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Aaron Pan
Undergraduate Student, Biology and Computer Science
Aaron is an undergraduate student at Emory University, double-majoring in Biology and Computer Science. He was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. He loves research because of the collaboration, the potential far-reaching impacts, and the opportunity to find answers to questions that no one knows the answers to.
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Keita Takahashi
Undergraduate Student, Biology
Keita is an undergraduate student majoring in Biology and minoring in Economics. He was born in Japan, but has lived in America since the age of 6. His general interests in biology include oncology, immunology, genetics, and has recently become interested in chemistry as well.
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Catherine Yahan Yu
Undergraduate Student, Biology
Catherine is an undergraduate student at Oxford College of Emory University double majoring in Biology and Applied Mathematics. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama and lived in Nanjing, China for 10 years. She is interested using both computational and experimental approaches in research.
Learn more about Ms. Yu