Lab News

Latest news and updates from the Abrol Lab

Latest Updates

Stay up-to-date with our recent achievements and announcements

Aug 2025

  • Ravi got promoted to the rank of Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
  • Abrol Lab welcomes Victoria Hoang and Alisha Holden to the group.

Jul 2025

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Giselle Muniz to the group.

Jun 2025

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Nicolas Amiri Dehlavi Garcia to the group.

May 2025

  • Congratulations to Caesar and Jennifer for publishing their paper on G protein Selectivity in the Biochemistry journal.

Apr 2025

  • Congratulations to Joseph for receiving the Sandra L. Jewett Scholarship in Biochemistry from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
  • Congratulations to Dylan for receiving the Patricia A. Maloney Student Maloney Student Travel Fund Award from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
  • Congratulations to Matthew for receiving the American Institute of Chemists, Inc. Student Award from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Feb 2025

  • Our collaborative paper with Lali Medina-Kauwe Lab was published in the Nature Nanotechnology journal. It was accompanied by a Press Release by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Three past members from our lab, Romny Sanchez, Erik Serrano, and Simoun Mikhael contributed to it.

Dec 2024

  • Congratulations to Sally for publishing her first paper in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communicationsi journal. It will appear in the January issue of the journal in print and is also available online.

Nov 2024

  • Congratulations to Dylan for winning the 2025 CSUBIOTECH Crellin Pauling Student Teaching Award. It is given to only two students annually selected from all 23 CSU campuses.

June 2024

  • Ravi received a new SuRE (R16) grant from the National Institutes of Health.
  • Ravi received a new POSE Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation.

Oct 2023

  • Please welcome Mohammad Ibrahimi, Matthew Huerta, and Steve Martinez Ramos as new undergraduate students in the group.

Sep 2023

  • Please welcome Beth Allen as a new Biochemistry graduate student in the group. She will be working jointly with Abrol and Crowhurst Labs.
  • Abrol Research Lab Summer 2023 Farewells
  • Left: Joseph, Justina, Isa, Ravi, Caesar, Christian, Sally, Dylan. Right: Lianna, Ravi, Caesar, Charlie, Joseph, Dylan

Jul 2023

  • Congratulations to Caesar for joining the PhD program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at UCSD.
  • Congratulations to Isa for starting in medical school at University of Colorado.
  • Congratulations to Lianna for starting in medical school at Touro University.
  • Congratulations to Justina for starting in dental school in Utah.
  • They all are being missed badly in the lab.
  • Ravi presented Isa's research at the ISMB 2023 conference in Lyon, France.
  • Ravi co-organized the 3DSIG scientific sessions at ISMB 2023 and chaired one of those sessions.
  • Ravi also took part in the BOSC Co-Fest (hackathon) at ISMB 2023.

May 2023

  • Congratulations to Christian for graduating with a BS Biochemistry degree from CSUN. He will continue to do research in the lab.
  • Congratulations to Isa for graduating with an MS Biochemistry degree from CSUN. She will be starting at her medical school in July.

Feb 2023

  • Please welcome Haining Xu as a new student in the group. He is majoring in Biochemistry.

Jan 2023

  • Caesar presented his research project at CSUPERB 2023 symposium in San Jose, California.
  • Ravi presented Christian's project at CSUPERB 2023 symposium in San Jose, California.
  • Christian and Caesar presented their research projects at the GPCR Workshop 2023 in Big Island, Hawaii.

Dec 2022

  • Please welcome Dylan CapittiFenton and Joseph Aceves as a new graduate students in the group.

Sep 2022

  • Ravi received a new grant from the Department of Defense as part of a joint collaboration with Medina-Kauwe lab at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Aug 2022

  • Congratulations to Bridget for publishing her first paper in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communicationsi journal. It will appear in the October issue of the journal in print and is also available online.

July 2022

  • Caesar presented our joint research project with Philippe Youkharibache (NCI) at the ISMB 2022 conference in Madison, Wisconsin.
  • Caesar, Lianna, and Ravi also took part in the Protein Codeathon at ISMB 2022.

May 2022

  • Congratulations to Justina (BS Biochem) and Evelyn (BS Biochem) on their graduation from CSUN!
  • Ravi presented lab's research as an invited talk in the Blood-Brain-Barrier group of the Cancer Biology Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Mar 2022

  • Justina presented her research in the ASPET session of Experimental Biology 2022 conference.
  • Ravi presented lab's research as a plenary talk in the Cancer Biology Program seminar series at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Feb 2022

  • Christian and Caesar presented their research projects at the GPCR Keystone meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • Congratulations to Isa for receiving the Sandra L. Jewett Graduate Scholarship in Biochemistry presented by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Jan 2022

  • Christian and Isa presented their research at the CSUPERB Biotechnology Symposium 2022.

Dec 2021

  • Congratulations to Macoto (BS Comp. Sci) and Caesar (BS Biochem) on their graduation from CSUN!

Oct 2021

  • Our chapter on Enhanced Conformational Sampling of GPCRs with Erik and Luis as co-authors has been accepted for publication in the Membrane Proteins volume of the Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology series.

Aug 2021

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Anita Shayegh boroujeni as a new member of the group.

Jul 2021

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Charlie Campbell as a new member of the group.
  • Abrol Research Lab Farewell Dinner for Erik, Jennifer, Naneh Macoto, Charlie, Ravi, Christian, Bridget, Sayuri, Erik, Jennifer, Caesar, Simoun, Justina, and Lianna

Jun 2021

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Caesar Tawfeeq as a new member of the group.

May 2021

  • Congratulations to Justina for winning Patricia A. Maloney Student Travel Fund Award that will support her research presentation at the ASBMB 2022 conference.
  • Abrol Lab Get-Together - May 2021
    Front: Macoto, Bridget, Duyen, Sayuri, Justina
    Back: Ravi, Jennifer, Lianna, Christian,Erik

Apr 2021

  • Congratulations to Justina for winning 2nd place in her Poster presentation session at CSUNposium 2021.
  • Christian and Justina presented their research work as posters at the CSUNposium 2021.

Mar 2021

  • Congratulations to Jennifer for being admitted to the Biomedical Science PhD program at the Washington University St. Louis. She will be starting there this Fall.
  • Congratulations to Erik for being admitted to the Biomedical Science PhD program at the University of Colorado. He will be starting there this Fall.
  • Congratulations to Luis for being admitted to the Biophysics and Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD programs at the University of California San Francisco. He will be starting there this Fall.
  • Abrol Lab welcomes Sally Heo as a new member of the group.

Jan 2021

  • Justina presented her research work at the CSUPERB 2021 Symposium.

Oct 2020

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Evelyn Cortez as a new member of the group.

Sep 2020

  • Abrol Lab welcomes David Macoto Ward as a new member of the group.

Aug 2020

  • Ravi got promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry with tenure.
  • Abrol Lab welcomes Isabella Crisostomo as a new member of the group.

Jul 2020

  • Erik and Bridget presented their research work at the virtual international conference ISMB 2020.
  • Ravi presented Bridget's research work as a selected talk at the virtual international conference ISMB 2020.
  • Ravi was the lead organizer of the viralHackathon@ISMB2020. Erik took part in one of the six viralHackathon teams working furiously for 6 days across 7 time zones.

Jun 2020

  • Ravi received a new SCORE grant from the National Institutes of Health.
  • Abrol Lab welcomes Christian Cruz as a new member of the group. He is an NIH Build-Poder Research Fellow at CSUN.

May 2020

  • Abrol Lab Graduates - May 2020 1st row: Erik, Ravi, Jennifer, Lianna 2nd row: Caroline, Justina, Naneh, Thomas 3rd row: Bridget, Rafeed, Romny
  • Congratulations to Sayuri on the accpetance of her first first-author publication in collaboration with Dr. Crowhurst's Lab at CSUN. The paper is titled "The complex role of the N-terminus and acidic residues of HdeA as pH-dependent switches in its chaperone function" and will appear in the September 2020 issue of the journal of Biophysical Chemistry". The paper also made the cover of the journal's issue.
  • Congratulations to Erik Serrano, Lianna Khachikyan, and Naneh Vartan on their graduation from CSUN this semester. We wish them good luck in on their future endeavors.
  • Congratulations to Alex on the acceptance of his first publication from Abrol Lab. The paper is titled "Pseudo-Symmetric Assembly of Protodomains as a Common Denominator in the Evolution of Polytopic Helical Membrane Proteins" and has appeared in the May 2020 issue of Journal of Molecular Evolution. The paper also has the distinction of making the cover of this journal issue:

Feb 2020

  • Abrol Lab welcomes Thomas Parashos to the research group. He is a Build-Poder research student.

Jan 2020

  • Erik presented his research at the CSUPERB 2020 Symposium in Santa Clara, California.
  • Bridget's research was presented at the CSUPERB 2020 Symposium in Santa Clara, California.

Dec 2019

  • Abrol Research Lab Group Lunch and Reunion Dec 2019 (pre-covid)
    Justina, Sayuri, Luis, Jennifer, Erik, Ravi, Nicolas, Bridget, Romny
  • Rafeed presented his research on the conformational signatures of GPCR structures at the Rocky 2019 Bioinformatics Conference in Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado.

Nov 2019

  • Romny successully defended his Masters thesis. Congrats Romny!

Oct 2019

  • Congratulations to Luis on the acceptance of his first publication from Abrol Lab on the G protein selectivity of muscarinic acetylcholine GPCRs. The paper will appear in the special issue on "Computer Simulation of Membrane Receptors" in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Sept 2019

  • Congratulations to Sayuri for her first publication in Abrol Lab for her work on the modeling of a nanoparticle that actively targets chemoresistant cancer cells. Her paper has now appeared online in the Nucleic Acids Research journal.
  • Abrol Lab welcomes four new members this month: Justina Gorgy, Lianna Khachikyan, Nicolas Lutfi, and Naneh Vartan.

Jul 2019

  • Dr. Abrol presented Simoun's research work on Chiral Graphs as a selected talk and poster at the joint Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology / European Conference in Computational Biology meeting that took place in Basel, Switzerland.

Jun 2019

Apr 2019

  • Congratulations to Sayuri for admission to the Department of Medical Biophysics PhD program at University of Southern California.
  • Luis, Jennifer, Erik, and Sayuri presented their research work at the ASBMB 2019 meeting in Orlando, Florida.
  • Jennifer, Erik, and Rafeed presented their research work at the CSUNposium 2019 in Northridge, California.

Mar 2019

  • Luis presented his research work on Muscarinic receptors at the Biophysical Society 2019 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

Feb 2019

  • Congratulations to Simoun on the publication of her first paper! I am sure many more will follow. Simoun's paper has appeared in ChemMedChem.
  • Dr. Abrol presented Luis's research on Muscarinic receptors at the Molecular Pharmacology Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, California.

Jan 2019

  • Caroline, Jennifer, and Luis presented their research at the CSUPERB 2019 Symposium in Gargen Grove, California.

Dec 2018

  • Abrol Research Lab Lunch Dec 2018
    Ravi, Ronelle, Erik, Jennifer, Caroline, Alex, Jessica (adopted by the lab), Luis, Romny

Nov 2018

  • Congratulations to Luis for getting the Biophysical Society 2019 Travel Award to present his research at the Biophysical Society Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland in March 2019.
  • Congratulations to Luis for getting the Fall 2018 CSUPERB Student Travel Grant Award to present his research at the ASBMB Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida in April 2019.
  • Ronelle presented his work on the atypical chemokine receptor ACKR3 at the first 2018 CSU Interdisciplinary Cancer Meeting that took place at CSUN.

May 2018

  • Abrol Research Lab Lunch May 2018
    Back Row (L2R): Bridget, Caroline, Jennifer, Rafeed, Ravi, Erik, Ronelle, Romny
    Front Row (L2R): Sayuri, Alex, Simoun
  • Congratulations to Caroline, Ronelle, Sayuri, Seyed, and Simoun on a well-earned Bachelor's degree!
  • Congratulations to Jennifer for getting the Patricia A. Maloney Student Travel Fund Award!
  • Dr. Abrol got the 2018 Build-Poder Faculty Mentor of the Year Award.

April 2018

  • Caroline, Erik, Jennifer, Luis, Ronelle, Sayuri, and Simoun presented their work at the CSUNposium 2018.
  • Congratulations to Ronelle for winning first place honors for his oral presentation at CSUNposium 2018.
  • Sayuri presented her work on HdeA at the ASBMB meeting in San Diego, CA.
  • Welcome to new group member Rafeed Khleif!

March 2018

  • Abrol Lab at Escape Room (Escaped with 10 seconds left! Whew! Great Team Effort!):

February 2018

  • Dr. Abrol presented his work on GPCR activation landscapes at the GPCR Keystone Meeting in Santa Fe, NM.

January 2018

  • Simoun's and Benjamin's work was presented at CSUPERB Symposiumn in San Jose, CA.

September 2017

  • Group moved to the newly renovated Lab Office (CS 3116). Yay!
  • Let us welcome Romny Sanchez to the group!

May 2017

  • Congratulations to Alex on a well-earned Bachelor's degree!