Premila P. Samuel Russell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Chemistry
Education
B.A. in Chemistry, Berea College, Kentucky, 2012
Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Rice University, Texas, 2017
Practice Areas
For more information, please visit:
Research Interests
Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Biophysics
My research program centers on applying computational chemistry methods to build and
simulate atomistic models of human cell environments. These "cells-on-computers" are
being built to address the current challenges in characterizing biomolecular "hidden
states" that arise from limitations of spatial-temporal resolutions of traditional
experiments and in silico methods. My research program further complements the "cells-on-computers"
with simple, yet high-throughput, experimental cell-free assays for testing and bench-marking
the computational results.
Publications and Media Placements
For a complete list, visit .
- Samuel Russell, P.P., Maytin, A.K., Rickard, M.M., Russell, M.C., Pogorelov, T.V., and Gruebele, M. (2024) Metastable states in the hinge-bending landscape of an enzyme in an atomistic cytoplasm simulation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 15: 940-946;
- Samuel Russell, P.P., Alaeen, S., and Pogorelov, T.V. (2023) In-cell dynamics: the next focus of all-atom simulations. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 127 (46): 9863鈥�9872;
- Samuel Russell, P.P., Rickard, M.M., Boob, M., Gruebele, M., and Pogorelov, T.V. (2023) In silico protein dynamics in the human cytoplasm: partial folding, misfolding, fold switching, and non-native interactions. Protein Science 32(11):e4790;
- Samuel Russell, P.P., Rickard, M.M., Pogorelov, T.V., and Gruebele, M. (2022) Metabolons, quinary structure, and domain motion: enzyme choreography in the cytoplasm. bioRxiv 2022.09.13.507800;
- Samuel, P.P., and Case, D.A. (2020) Atomistic simulations of heme dissociation pathways in human methemoglobins reveal hidden intermediates. Biochemistry 59: 4093鈥�4107;
- Samuel, P.P., White, M.A., Ou, W.C., Case, D.A., Phillips, G.N. Jr., and Olson, J.S. (2020) The interplay between molten globules and heme disassociations defines human hemoglobin disassembly;
- Samuel, P.P., Smith, L.P., Phillips, G.N., Jr., and Olson, J.S. (2015) Apoglobin Stability Is the Major Factor Governing both Cell-free and in Vivo Expression of Holomyoglobin. Journal of Biological Chemistry 290: 23479鈥�23495;
Honors and Awards
- Cooley鈥檚 Anemia Foundation Research Fellowship, 2023
- D.E. Shaw Research Graduate and Postdoc Women鈥檚 Fellowship, D.E. Shaw Research, 2021
- George J. Schroepfer, Jr. Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis in Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Biosciences Department, Rice University, 2018.
- George J. Schroepfer, Jr. Award for Outstanding Published Research in Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Biosciences Department, Rice University, 2017