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 10/1/2026

    Vacas AF, Solayman M, Calvo SE, Nguyen K, Lian CG, Rivera KD, Chen MZ, Udeshi ND, Mootha VK, Aphasizhev R, Aphasizheva I. Lineage-specific innovations expand mitochondrial proteomes in kinetoplastids. Mol Cell. 2026 Oct 01; 86(19):4058-4074.e8. PMID: 42822419.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/1/2026

    Solayman M, Liao YT, Calvo SE, Vacas AF, Papanastasiou M, Rivera KD, Mani DR, Boyle BW, Deng FG, Udeshi ND, Mootha VK, Aphasizheva I, Chao LH, Aphasizhev R. Conserved and divergent mitochondrial assemblies in kinetoplastid parasites. Mol Cell. 2026 Oct 01; 86(19):4043-4057.e7. PMID: 42822418.

    Read at: PubMed

  • 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 Sep; 657(8132):821-832. 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

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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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