Current Lab Members

Phil Bourne
he/him/his
Principal Investigator
peb6a (at) virginia.edu
https://engineering.virginia.edu/faculty/philip-e-bourne
0000-0002-7618-7292
philip-bourne-b98921
Scholar Citations
@pebourne
Philip_Bourne

Philip E. Bourne is the Founding Dean of the School of Data Science and Professor of Biomedical Engineering. From 2014-2017, Phil was the Associate Director for Data Science at the National Institutes of Health. In this role he led the Big Data to Knowledge Program, coordinating access to and analyzing biomedical research from across the globe and making it available to scientists and researchers. While there, he was also responsible for governance and strategic planning activities for data and knowledge management, and established multiple trainings in data science. He has done exceptional work to make biomedical research accessible, as well as to advance the field of data science. Prior to his time at the NIH, Phil spent 20 years on the faculty at the University of California-San Diego, eventually becoming Associate Vice Chancellor of Innovation and Industrial Alliances. He is a highly respected and oft-cited scholar who brings a wealth of experience to UVA.

Cameron Mura
he/him/his
Senior Scientist
cmura (at) virginia.edu
0000-0001-7985-2561
cmura
Scholar Citations
@seemura
cmura

I’m a Senior Scientist and co-director of the Bourne & Mura Computational Biosciences Lab, based in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia; earlier on, I was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UVA (2008-2018). My scientific background, and most of my research interests, are in the areas of structural biology, molecular biophysics and computational biology, particularly as regards the evolution of RNA-associated ribonucleoprotein assemblies, protein folds, and protein-protein interactions. I’ve also become interested in the data sciences and its attendant approaches (e.g., deep learning and other machine learning paradigms), as applied to the aforementioned scientific domains.

Stella Veretnik
Senior Research Scientist
veretnik (a) sdsc.edu
0000-0002-6222-7281
stella-veretnik-86127388

Stella is a Senior Scientist at Bourne & Mura lab (currently on leave of absence). Trained in Genetics and Molecular Biology with a tinge of Computer Sciences, she is interested in computational approaches to molecular and structural evolution. Her former work includes development of evolutionary profiles of protein sequences, understanding the constrains underlying partitioning protein structures into domains, structural/functional evolution of Sm/lsm gene family and in-depth analysis of Small Beta Barrel fold. She is currently involved in conceptualization, definition and quantification of Urfold – which groups protein (sub)structures with similar Architectures but different Topologies.

Zheng Zhao
he/him/his
Staff Scientist
zz7r (at) virginia.edu
0000-0003-1453-3230
zheng-zhao-b762a8a2
Scholar Citations
@zhengzhao5

Zheng is currently a research scientist in Bourne & Mura Computational Biosciences Lab and interested in method development and applications of computational systems pharmacology. His researches mainly focus on drug design and discovery using the sophisticated and/or in-house computational approaches to contribute to public health through delving into human diseases and commitment to drug discovery. Specifically, his current research includes: (1) Protein-ligand interaction mechanisms using data-driven structural bioinformatics approaches; (2) Enzyme catalytic mechanisms using multi-scale QM/MM strategy; (3) Drug design and discovery using systems pharmacology and chemoinformatics; (4) Mechanisms of drug action (resistance/antiresistance) using computational chemistry and computational system biology methods; (5) Developing cutting-edge data-driven drug design and prediction approaches including machine learning strategy.

Eli Draizen
he/him/his
PhD Candidate
ed4bu (at) virginia.edu
http://edraizen.github.io/
0000-0002-5645-5050
elidraizen
Scholar Citations
@EliDraizen
edraizen

Eli is a PhD Candidate in Phil Bourne and Cameron Mura’s lab. He is interested in structural bioinformatics and machine learning applied to protein evolution and host-pathogen interactions. When he is not in lab, you can find him bikepacking or at a concert.

Abigail Newbury
she/her/hers
Undergraduate Researcher
amn5ye (at) virginia.edu
abigail-newbury-61930b19a
abbynewbury

Abigail is an undergraduate researcher and a student at the University of Virginia majoring in mathematics with a double minor in biology and computer science. In her free time she serves as a volunteer EMT and loves to explore the outdoors.

Mark Bray
he/him/his
REU Student
markbbray17 (at) gmail.com
markbray21

I am a senior studying biomedical engineering and professional writing at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with interests in tissue engineering, medical writing, public health, and healthcare policy, and how technology drives advancement in these fields.

Niraja Bohida
Master's Student Intern
nb4dg (at) virginia.edu
niraja-bohidar-68340292

A research scientist currently pursuing a Master’s in Data Science in order to shift myself towards the bioinformatics field.