Ruslan Afasizhev, PhD

Professor, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine

Biography

Ruslan Afasizhev PhD, is a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. With funding from six fellowships including those from FEBS , EMBO, and CNRS-Russian Academy of Sciences Program, he received postdoctoral training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published over 40 papers in the field of Biology and runs a lab where he is broadly interested in molecular mechanisms of RNA processing in Trypanosoma brucei spp. He is a current member of the American Society for Microbiology and the RNA Society.

Publications

  • Published 7/22/2026

    Liu YT, Vacas AF, Jih J, Zhao X, Yu C, Lee JKJ, Suematsu T, Solayman M, Wang H, Wang X, Huang L, Zhang L, Aphasizheva I, Zhou ZH, Aphasizhev R. Structural basis of the RNA-editing cascade in trypanosome mitochondria. Nature. 2026 Jul 22. PMID: 42486989.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/8/2024

    Plaza-Pegueroles A, Aphasizheva I, Aphasizhev R, Fernández-Tornero C, Ruiz FM. The cryo-EM structure of trypanosome 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase provides mechanistic and dynamic insights into its enzymatic function. Structure. 2024 Jul 11; 32(7):930-940.e3. PMID: 38593794.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/7/2023

    Liu S, Wang H, Li X, Zhang F, Lee JKJ, Li Z, Yu C, Hu JJ, Zhao X, Suematsu T, Alvarez-Cabrera AL, Liu Q, Zhang L, Huang L, Aphasizheva I, Aphasizhev R, Zhou ZH. Structural basis of gRNA stabilization and mRNA recognition in trypanosomal RNA editing. Science. 2023 Jul 07; 381(6653):eadg4725. PMID: 37410820.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/29/2023

    Aphasizhev R, Aphasizheva I. A new class of antiparasitic drugs. Science. 2023 Jun 30; 380(6652):1320-1321. PMID: 37384682.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/17/2023

    Silveira d'Almeida G, Casius A, Henderson JC, Knuesel S, Aphasizhev R, Aphasizheva I, Manning AC, Lowe TM, Alfonzo JD. tRNATyr has an unusually short half-life in Trypanosoma brucei. RNA. 2023 Aug; 29(8):1243-1254. PMID: 37197826.

    Read at: PubMed

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Other Positions

  • Professor, Biochemistry & Cell Biology
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, PhD
  • Moscow State University, MS
  • Moscow State University, BA

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