Shamoo tapped to lead IBB

Shamoo tapped to lead IBB

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News Staff

Yousif Shamoo, associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology, has been tapped to direct Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering.

YOUSIF SHAMOO

Shamoo will replace outgoing IBB director Jennifer West July 1. West, the Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering, is stepping down after three years to become chair of the Department of Bioengineering.

“I have very much enjoyed my work in IBB, including organizing high school outreach programs and undergraduate research opportunities and fostering support for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty,” West said. “I couldn’t be more pleased that Yousif has agreed to take over as director. He’ll do a terrific job.”

Shamoo, a structural biologist, joined Rice in 1998. Shamoo earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1983 and a doctorate in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University in 1988.

Shamoo’s research group uses a combination of biophysical methods, including X-ray crystallography and classical methods from biochemistry, to study a range of subjects. The group has a focus on molecular evolution and antibiotic resistance as well as the proteins of DNA replication and RNA recognition.

“My challenge will be to continue Jennifer’s outstanding work at the IBB,” Shamoo said. “I am looking forward to hearing ideas and thinking about how we can increase interdisciplinary research opportunities and enrich the postdoctoral culture at Rice.”