Schrader Lab

RNA Systems Biology

The Schrader Lab in the Department of Biological Sciences at Wayne State University is focused on understanding RNA biology in bacterial cells.  Using a systems biology approach we combine biochemistry, genomics, genetics, and cell biology experiments to investigate the mechanisms of mRNA decay and translation.

The Schrader lab is currently recruiting Ph.D. students.  Interested Ph.D. students should apply to the Wayne State graduate programs in biological sciences, chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, computer science, or medical school graduate programs.  Current Ph.D. students should contact professor Schrader to discuss possible projects.

Undergraduate students interested in research please read the instructions here.  Preference is given to undergrads interested in careers in research.  No new undergraduate students are being accepted into the lab currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

News

2024 - Julia was awarded a UROP award

2023 - Our lab got destroyed in a fire around 1am on thanksgiving.  Luckily no one was present or hurt, and our strains and plasmids appear to have survived.  However, all of our equipment was lost.  We will be temporarily relocating to Tamara Hendrickson's lab for the foreseeable future.  

2023 - Aishwarya and Hadi got poster awards at the department retreat! Congrats!

2023 - Imalka successfully defended her PhD!  Congrats!

2023 - Aishwarya, Vidhya, and Kaveendya attend the phage meeting.

2023 - Hiranthi and Vincent have officially joined our lab!

2023 - Aishwarya and Mohammed's paper was accepted to journal of bacteriology, congrats!

2023 - Hiranthi, Vincent, and Vikalp have joined the lab as rotation students, Welcome!

2023  - Vidhya won the WSU grad school's postdoc research award! Congrats!

2022 - Ceyani joined the lab, Welcome!

2022 - Vidhya presented a talk a the RNA society meeting in Boulder!

2022 - Hadi has officially joined the lab, Welcome!

2021 - Imalka won a poster award at the Chemistry Graduate Research symposium!  Congrats!

2021 - Mohammed successfully defended his PhD! Congrats!

2021 - Mohammed's paper was accepted to NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics! Congrats!

2021 - Alisa officially had her last day in the lab before leaving for med school, congrats and good luck!

2021- James successfully defended his PhD! Congrats!

2021 - Aishwarya and Kaveendya officially joined the lab, Welcome!

2021 - Vidhya's review on phase separation in bacterial RNA metabolism was accepted to current opinions in microbiology! Congrats!

2021 - Nisansala accepted a position as an instructor at Wayamba University in Sri Lanka!  Congrats!

2020 - Nisansala's BR-body enrichment paper was accepted to STAR Protocols!  Congrats!

2020 - Mohammed and James' operon annotation paper has been accepted to MRA! Congrats!

2020 - Nisansala's art was selected for the cover of WIRES RNA!  Congrats!

2020 - James won the Bio department's P. Dennis Smith Award!  Congrats!

2020 - Mohammed's paper is available now on bioRxiv!

2020 - James will be giving a talk at the online CAULOCONFERENCE V3 on 4/27

2020 - Mohammed won a Rumble Fellowship through the grad school, congrats!

2020 - Nisansala's collaborative BR-body review has been accepted to WIRES RNA!

2020 - Nadra's collaborative BR-body paper has been accepted to Molecular Cell!

2020 - The lab has temporarily stopped all wet-lab activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

2019 - Mohammed won a best poster award at our departmental retreat!  Congrats!

2019 - Imalka and Vidhyadhar joined the lab

2019 - James won a GRA award from the biological sciences department!  Congrats!

2019 - Nadra's collaborative BR-body paper has been submitted!

2019 - Mohammed and James generated an updated operon map of C. crescentus RNA transcripts

2019 - James' paper was accepted at mSystems!  Congrats!

2019 - James won a Rumble Fellowship through the grad school, congrats!

2019 - Nadra won a Postdoctoral Trainee Research Award from Wayne State, congrats!

2019 - James' paper has been submitted!

2018 - Mohammed and James passed their oral qualifying exams, congrats!

2018 - James won a graduate teaching award!  Congrats James!

2018 - The lab's first paper has been accepted to Molecular Cell!  Congrats Nadra!

2018 - Nisansala and Alisa joined the lab

2018 - Nadra's paper has been submitted!

2018 - Mohammed and James passed their written qualifying exams!  Congrats!

2018 - Juani Perez Torres and Jose Munoz-Dorado joined us and the Higgs lab for their sabbatical.

2017 - Mohammed, James, and Nadra with 3 of 4 best poster awards at the departmental retreat!

2017 - James awarded best graduate poster at the MI-ASM branch meeting

2017 - Obaidah was awarded a UROP award

2017 - R35 grant funded through NIGMS

2017 - Mohammed and James joined the lab

2015 - Nadra joined the lab

2015 - Schrader lab officially opens

Our Caulobacter integrated genomics paper was cited on Faculty of 1000.

Resources

CauloBrowser: A systems biology resource for Caulobacter crescentus

Experimentally based annotation of the Caulobacter crescentus genome

Absolute protein synthesis resource for Caulobacter crescentus