Meet the Lab(s)?!?
THE SHAHMORANDERS: THE Sarah Shahmoradian and THE David Sanders Lab(s) cure ALL the diseases! We know all, tell most!
David W. Sanders (Co-PI of Shahmoranders Lab)
Since 2023, David Sanders has been a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern in the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases (CAND) and the O’Donnell Brain Institute (OBI). Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University (advisor: Cliff Brangwynne), where he studied the regulation and (dys)function of protein-RNA networks in cellular organization and RNA homeostasis. Before this, he was a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis (advisor: Marc Diamond). In his PhD work, he determined that different tau protein fibril structures stably replicate to cause distinct neurodegenerative diseases. In 2025, his lab joined forces with Sarah Shahmoradian’s Lab to form an unstoppable entity called THE SHAHMORANDERS! Outside of lab, he enjoys EXTREME METAL, EXTREME WEATHER, running (not extreme), and creative writing. He was born and raised in Kansas City and received a Neurobiology BS from the University of Kansas. He values transparency and clear communication. Hopefully, you do too.
// david.sanders [at] utsouthwestern.edu // DWS curriculum vitae
Sarah Shahmoradian (Co-PI of Shahmoranders Lab)
Most of our research is performed in close collaboration with Sarah’s (more successful) lab. Please see her Lab Website for more complete information on her group! Merging labs is a long process!
In brief: Sarah is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Biophysics in CAND within the OBI at UTSW. Sarah trained in neurobiology as an undergraduate, before pursuing cryo-electron microscopy and tomography (cryo-EM/ET) research in the lab of Wah Chiu at Baylor, where she received her PhD. She then trained as a Roche Postdoctoral Fellow in Henning Stahlberg’s laboratory, where she demonstrated that Lewy pathology in Parkinson’s disease is fundamentally membrane-associated. In 2021, she joined UT Southwestern, where her lab integrates cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy, cryo-electron tomography, and single-particle cryo-EM to structurally define the role of lipid-protein complexes in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases.
// sarah.shahmoradian [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Burak Okumus (Senior Scientist; Co-Advised w/ Sarah)
Trained in physics (i.e., “real science”), Burak has worked extensively on developing new quantitative methods for studying biological systems. For his Ph.D. in Biophysics (UIUC, Taekjip Ha), he developed novel assays for single-molecule FRET microscopy based-on artificial vesicles (liposomes). For his postdoc (Harvard, Paulsson Lab), he combined his imaging expertise with microfluidics to develop platforms to analyze single-cell heterogeneity. After a brief stint in Ibrahim Cisse's lab (MIT), he transitioned to the biotech industry, starting on Next-Generation Sequencing applications (Illumina then ArcherDX) before developing a finger stick blood-testing platform to quantify biomarkers for cardiovascular disease at XCellCure. Burak returned to academia with a short visit to the lab of Alreza Ghanbarpour (WashU) before joining the Shahmoranders at UT Southwestern. Burak is currently developing and optimizing new methods for live cell imaging and cryo-EM/ET applications.
// burak.okumus [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Grigorii Sultanakhmetov (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Grisha is interested in how protein fibrils kill cells. Currently, he is leading the lab’s efforts to develop improved cellular models of TDP-43 pathology in ALS/FTD and myopathies. He was educated in Russia, earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics from Lomonosov Moscow State University. He completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Neuroscience at Tokyo Metropolitan University, where he drew new insights into the regulation of tau phosphorylation. Raised in a city of factories, Izhevsk, but in a family with roots in the countryside, he loves landscapes, farmer work, and wild nature. When not in lab, he enjoys hiking, running, futsal, movies, books, and chess. He also likes to play a Russian social deduction game called Mafia, but it’s way too complicated for David and Sarah to understand.
// grigorii.sultanakhmetov [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Yasmeen Khan
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
Yasmeen is interested in how pathogenic protein fibrils impair membrane biology and trigger innate immune responses. She was educated in Delhi, India, receiving her Bachelor's and Master's in Biochemistry from Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia, then earning a PhD from CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. At CSIR, she characterized the biophysical mechanism by which nucleolin’s RNA-binding domains cooperatively recognize G-quadruplex structures in nucleic acids. As a postdoc, Yasmeen is expanding her in vitro expertise from test tubes to living systems and is leading the lab’s efforts to understand the role of TMEM106B (and now, alpha-synuclein) in the aging brain. Outside of lab, one can find her trying new food, exploring new places, and playing badminton.
// yasmeen.khan [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Shefali Banerjee
(Senior Scientist)
Shefali comes to the lab from the RNA and virology world. She is interested in understanding how aberrant RNA processing contributes to disease, with a particular focus on neurodegenerative diseases. She obtained her PhD from NUS, where she studied how endothelial microRNAs regulate vascular permeability in dengue fever. In her first postdoc, she explored the underlying mechanisms that poxviruses use for cross-species adaptation, finding that viruses acquire adaptive viral RNA pol mutations to regulate their transcriptional output in a species-specific manner. In her second post-doc, she demonstrated that DDX39A/B are selectively required for the splicing of specific pre-mRNAs, despite a high degree of functional redundancy. In the Sanders Lab, she investigates the role of stress granules and mRNA entanglement in health and diseases of aging. Outside of work, Shefali enjoys watching stand-up comedy, listening to Bollywood music, and going on road trips.
// shefalimrinal.banerjee [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Skyler Taylor
(Research Technician II; Co-Advised w/ Sarah)
A Dallas native, Skyler earned her bachelor's degree in Biology at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. In the Shahmoranders Lab—in collaboration with Marc Diamond’s group—Skyler generates new models of protein aggregation in human cortical neurons, microglia, and other cell types derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Her tour-de-force efforts have been critical to the lab’s rapid development of unprecedented, disease-relevant models of Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, ALS-FTD, and inclusion body myositis. Skyler plans to apply to medical school in the next year or so, where she is certain to achieve equal or greater success than what she has already accomplished in the basic sciences.
// Skyler.Taylor [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Haoxing Liang
(PhD Student; Co-advised w/ Sarah)
Haoxing is a second year PhD student in the GDD program at UTSW. He was born in Guangdong and speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese (and his English is stellar, too!). He joined the Shahmoranders Lab to dig into the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases and explore ways to reverse their progression. He’s especially curious about what drives aging in every single cell, and is passionate about creative bioengineering approaches to undo cellular senescence. Outside the lab, Haoxing enjoys authentic food, reading, and running—he clocks over 42.195 authentic km every week (DWS: remind Haoxing to convert to PERFECT US Standard!!!)! His has three big dreams: reunite with his family during Chinese New Year (DONE), become a better scientist (DONE), and finish a marathon (TBD). During his PhD, he strives to graduate on time, live a healthy life, and grow into a better man. (DWS: omg, that is soooooo pure!!!).
// haoxing.liang [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Emma Choo (Data Scientist;
Co-advised w/ Sarah)
Emma received her bachelors degree from University of Washington and then worked at Fred Hutch, where she studied nuclear architecture and membrane stability in micronuclei, applying quantitative methods to relate nuclear structure to chromosomal instability. She then completed her M.S. in Biological Data Science at Arizona State, training in statistical modeling, machine learning, and large datasets, before applying her talents in Ben Tu’s lab (HHMI/ UTSW), where she studied post-transcriptional regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis in neurons. In the Shahmoranders Lab, Emma applies computational/machine-learning approaches to biological imaging and high-dimensional datasets. She is interested in developing deep-learning–based methods for EM data analysis, integrating quantitative modeling with experimental measurements to extract biologically meaningful structure–function relationships.
Yogesh Tak (Postdoctoral Fellow; Co-advised w/ Marc)
Tak is from Rajasthan, India, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences from University of Rajasthan. He then completed his master's degree in Plant Sciences at Delhi University before receiving his PhD from Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research in Bhopal. Here, he identified and characterized amyloid- and amorphous aggregate-remodeling chaperones in yeast and plants. Tak joined Marc Diamond’s lab in 2023, where he led inquiries into how unique tau fibril structures differentially bind RNA cofactors. In late 2025, he transitioned to a co-advised role in the Shahmoranders Lab, where he leads the lab’s never-ending deep-dive into how tau fibrils selectively entrap essential polyanionic RNA-binding proteins to drive neuronal death. When not obsessing over these fascinating electrostatic glues, he enjoys playing flute, travel photography, and spending time with his wonderful family.
// Yogesh.Tak [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
Vaibhav Bommareddy
(MD Student Volunteer)
Vaibhav is a former MD/PhD student at UTSW, who recently switched to the “dark side” (i.e. straight-up MD program). He was born and raised in Houston, TX, and completed a BS degree in Neuroscience at UT Dallas in 2020. He is interested in how misregulation of protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions drive diseases of aging. During his rotation in the Shahmoranders Lab, Vaibhav initiated the lab’s brilliant efforts to integrate optogenetic and proteomic approaches into an improved high-throughput screening platform. He was optimizing this method to discover peptide ligands that toggle PPI network switches, when he got impatient with the PhD process and returned to MD studies semi-full time. Recently, he became bored with poking (respectfully) at cadavers and returned to the lab on a part-time basis to develop new tools to image entangled RNA in living cells. Vaibhav’s hobbies include money, sleeping, and making money. No money yet, Vaibhav! Get dat MD!
// vaibhav.bommareddy [at] utsouthwestern.edu //
YOU?!?
THE SHAHMORANDERS continue to consider applicants AT ALL LEVELS but are primarily interested in recruiting talented AND enthusiastic graduate students enrolled at UT Southwestern. If you are passionate about curiosity-based research at the interface of health and disease, please reach out to David (and/or Sarah) by e-mail and include a paragraph about why you are excited about potentially joining the Shahmoranders Lab! Don’t even think about using ChatGPT. We can (shockingly!) differentiate between genuine enthusiasm and boilerplate spam. :)
ALUMNI (does not include Pre-Shahmoranders)
Michael Jimenez, Staff scientist, 2024-25; Now: STEM teacher in training
Harper Averitt, Undergraduate researcher, 2024-25; Now: Masters student at Baylor University
Srivinya ‘Vinni’ Karusala, Undergraduate researcher, 2024; Now: Undergraduate student at University of Texas at Austin
Rupam Ghosh, Postdoctoral fellow, 2024-25; Now: Postdoctoral Fellow in Fredericks Lab (UTSW)
Lance Hewes, Youth achiever, 2024; Now: Undergraduate student at Northeastern University
Ajay Kota, Youth achiever, 2025; Now: Student at Centennial High School
Jenny Chu, Youth achiever, 2025; Now: Student at Hockaday School of Dallas
Sydnie Metrano, STARS Program, 2025; Now: Student at Ursuline Academy of Dallas