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Premila P. Samuel Russell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Chemistry


Education

B.A. in Chemistry, Berea College, Kentucky, 2012
Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Rice University, Texas, 2017

Practice Areas

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Research Interests

Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Biophysics


My research program centers on applying computational chemistry methods to build and simulate atomistic models of human cell environments. These "cells-on-computers" are being built to address the current challenges in characterizing biomolecular "hidden states" that arise from limitations of spatial-temporal resolutions of traditional experiments and in silico methods. My research program further complements the "cells-on-computers" with simple, yet high-throughput, experimental cell-free assays for testing and bench-marking the computational results.

Publications and Media Placements

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  • Samuel Russell, P.P., Maytin, A.K., Rickard, M.M., Russell, M.C., Pogorelov, T.V., and Gruebele, M. (2024) Metastable states in the hinge-bending landscape of an enzyme in an atomistic cytoplasm simulation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 15: 940-946;
  • Samuel Russell, P.P., Alaeen, S., and Pogorelov, T.V. (2023) In-cell dynamics: the next focus of all-atom simulations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 127 (46): 9863–9872;
  • Samuel Russell, P.P., Rickard, M.M., Boob, M., Gruebele, M., and Pogorelov, T.V. (2023) In silico protein dynamics in the human cytoplasm: partial folding, misfolding, fold switching, and non-native interactions. Protein Science 32(11):e4790;
  • Samuel Russell, P.P., Rickard, M.M., Pogorelov, T.V., and Gruebele, M. (2022) Metabolons, quinary structure, and domain motion: enzyme choreography in the cytoplasm. bioRxiv 2022.09.13.507800;
  • Samuel, P.P., and Case, D.A. (2020) Atomistic simulations of heme dissociation pathways in human methemoglobins reveal hidden intermediates. Biochemistry 59: 4093–4107;
  • Samuel, P.P., White, M.A., Ou, W.C., Case, D.A., Phillips, G.N. Jr., and Olson, J.S. (2020) The interplay between molten globules and heme disassociations defines human hemoglobin disassembly;
  • Samuel, P.P., Smith, L.P., Phillips, G.N., Jr., and Olson, J.S. (2015) Apoglobin Stability Is the Major Factor Governing both Cell-free and in Vivo Expression of Holomyoglobin. Journal of Biological Chemistry 290: 23479–23495;
 

Honors and Awards

  • Cooley’s Anemia Foundation Research Fellowship, 2023
  • D.E. Shaw Research Graduate and Postdoc Women’s Fellowship, D.E. Shaw Research, 2021
  • George J. Schroepfer, Jr. Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis in Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Biosciences Department, Rice University, 2018.
  • George J. Schroepfer, Jr. Award for Outstanding Published Research in Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Biosciences Department, Rice University, 2017