People
Postdoctoral Research Associates
Jayamini Harasgama
Md Motiar Rahman
Graduate Students
Michael Richter
Ilze Kumpina
Brandon Tessier
Sara Farshineh Saei
Undergraduate Students
Justin Applegate
Justin Lok
Binghamton University Department of Chemistry
May 8, 2024
Ilze receives Fellowship: Ilze receives Provost Dissertation Fellowship. Congrats Ilze!
March 20, 2024
Invited Lecture: Eriks delivered an invited talk "Amide-Modified Oligonucleotides for Chemical Control of Functional RNAs" at Oligonucleotide & Peptide Therapeutics Conference (TIDES Asia), Kyoto, Japan
March 11, 2024
Invited Lecture: Eriks delivered an invited talk "Sequence Selective Recognition of Double-Stranded RNA by Cationic Nucleobase and Backbone-Modified Peptide Nucleic Acids" at Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
February 29, 2024
Invited Lecture: Eriks delivered an invited talk "Amide-Modified RNA: Using Protein Backbone to Modulate Function of RNA" at Special FIBER International Summit for Nucleic Acids (S-FISNA), Konan University, Kobe, Japan
February 5, 2024
Paper published: Chandan and Michael published a paper
Synthesis and Properties of RNA Modified with Cationic Amine Internucleoside Linkage
in ACS Chemical Biology. Congrats Chandan and Michael!
For more information...
February 3, 2024
Paper published: Ilze and Mohammed published an invited paper
Comparison of 2-Aminopyridine and 4-Thiopseudisocytosine PNA Nucleobases for Hoogsteen Recognition of Guanosine in RNA
in ACS Omega. Congrats Ilze and Mohammed!
For more information...
January 22, 2024
New Project funded! Our group has renewed the Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA R35 GM130207, $2,109,000 for 5 years) from the
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to support our entire research portfolio on Chemical Approaches
to Control the Function of Regulatory RNAs.
January 12, 2024
Paper published: Martins (Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis), James (Elizabethtown College) and Eriks published a Feature Article
Triplex-forming peptide nucleic acids as emerging ligands to modulate structure and function of complex RNAs
in Chemical Communications.
For more information...
November 17, 2023
Paper published: Our group in collaboration with colleagues from Elizabethtown College and Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, published an invited paper
Synthesis of 2-Aminopyridine-Modified Peptide Nucleic Acids
in Synlett. Congrats Ilze, Brandon, Sara, and Chris!
For more information...
October 19, 2023
Invited Lecture: Eriks delivered an invited talk "Amide-Modified Oligonucleotides for Chemical Control of Functional RNAs" at Advances in Noncanonical Nucleic Acids, (ANNA 2023) Maribor, Slovenia
August 30, 2023
Paper published: Brandon, in collaboration with colleagues from Elizabethtown College and Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, published a paper
Improved Triplex-Forming Isoorotamide PNA Nucleobases for A-U Recognition of RNA Duplexes
in Chemistry – A European Journal. Congrats Brandon!
For more information...
July 24, 2023
Invited Lecture: Eriks delivered an invited talk "Sequence Selective Recognition of Double-Stranded RNA by Cationic Nucleobase and Backbone-Modified Peptide Nucleic Acids" at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
June 25-30, 2023
Conference particiation: Ilze, Michael, Sara, Brandon, Jayamini, and Motiar presented posters at the Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Oligonucleotides Gordon Research Conference in Newport. Sara and Brandon won the Best Poster Awards. Congrats Sara and Brandon!
June 15, 2023
Paper published: Ilze, in collaboration with colleagues from Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, published a paper
Nucleobase and Linker Modification for Triple-Helical Recognition of Pyrimidines in RNA Using Peptide Nucleic Acids
in ChemBioChem. Congrats Ilze!
For more information...
May 10, 2023
Chris graduates with PhD: Chris defended his thesis and graduated with PhD degree from Binghamton University. Congrats Chris!
May 8, 2023
Paper published: Chris, Motiar and Vipin published a paper
Triplex-Forming Peptide Nucleic Acid Controls Dynamic Conformations of RNA Bulges
in Journal of the American Chemical Society. Congrats Chris, Motiar and Vipin!
For more information...
March 22, 2023
Chris receives Graduate Student Excellence Award: Chris received the 2023 Binghamton University Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research. Congrats Chris!
March 9, 2023
Invited Lecture: Eriks delivered an invited talk "Amide-Modified Oligonucleotides for Chemical Control of Functional RNAs" at Eli Lilly and Company
December 29, 2022
Paper published: Michael, Julien, Venu, Praveen, Lamorna and Chandan published a paper
Amide Modifications in the Seed Region of the Guide Strand Improve the On-Target Specificity of Short Interfering RNA
in ACS Chemical Biology. Congrats Michael, Julien, Venu, Praveen, Lamorna and Chandan!
For more information...
May 31, 2022
Paper published: Chris, in collaboration with colleagues from Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, published a paper
Extended 2-Guanidyl Pyridine PNA Nucleobase for Triple-Helical Hoogsteen Recognition of Cytosine in Double Stranded RNA
in Chemical Communications. Congrats Chris!
For more information...
May 31, 2022
Paper published: Julien and Chandan published a paper
Optimization of Automated Synthesis of Amide-Linked RNA
in ACS Omega. Congrats Julien and Chandan!
For more information...
February 28, 2022
Paper published: Venu, Praveen and Lamorna published a paper
Amide Internucleoside Linkages Are Well Tolerated in Protospacer Adjacent Motif-Distal Region of CRISPR RNAs
in ACS Chemical Biology. Congrats Venu, Praveen and Lamorna!
For more information...
December 16, 2021
Paper published: Nikita and Ilze published a paper
Cellular uptake of 2-aminopyridine-modified peptide nucleic acids conjugated with cell-penetrating peptides
in Biopolymers. Congrats Nikita and Ilze!
For more information...
November 1, 2021
New Project funded! Our group has received an R21 award from NIAID "Targeting SARS-CoV-2 RNA Pseudoknots Using Triplex-Forming Peptide Nucleic Acids".
For more information...
August 25, 2021
Eriks receives ACS Award: Eriks received the 2021 Melville L. Wolfrom Award from the Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Atlanta. The Award recognizes individuals who have provided outstanding service to the Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry and the field of carbohydrate chemistry.
June 11, 2021
Paper published: Nikita and Diana, in collaboration with colleagues from FIBER, Konan University in Japan, published a paper
Triple-Helical Binding of Peptide Nucleic Acid Inhibits Maturation of Endogenous MicroRNA-197
in ACS Chemical Biology. Congrats Nikita and Diana!
For more information...
June 7, 2021
Paper published: Chris, Nikita and Justin published a paper
The 2-Aminopyridine Nucleobase Improves Triple-Helical Recognition of RNA and DNA When Used Instead of Pseudoisocytosine in Peptide Nucleic Acids
in Biochemistry. Congrats Chris, Nikita and Justin!
For more information...
May 13, 2021
PhD Graduation: Congratulations Nikita and Julien on receiving PhD degrees! Best of luck in your future endeavors!
April 21, 2021
Paper published: Nikita and Justin, in collaboration with colleagues from Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, published a paper
Pyridazine Nucleobase in Triplex-Forming PNA Improves Recognition of Cytosine Interruptions of Polypurine Tracts in RNA
in ACS Chemical Biology. Congrats Nikita and Justin!
For more information...
January 13, 2021
Paper published: Nikita, in collaboration with colleagues from Elizabethtown College and Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, published a paper
Extended Peptide Nucleic Acid Nucleobases Based on Isoorotic Acid for the Recognition of A–U Base Pairs in Double-Stranded RNA
in Chemistry - A European Journal. Congrats Nikita!
For more information...
Jayamini Harasgama
Md Motiar Rahman
Michael Richter
Ilze Kumpina
Brandon Tessier
Sara Farshineh Saei
Justin Applegate
Justin Lok
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© Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
Updated 09/20/2017
By Monika Roznere
Photos: Jonathan Cohen and group members