Hana Jaafari

In May 2024, I graduated with a PhD in Applied Physics from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Under the supervision of Professor Peter G. Wolynes, I used computational methods to explore mechanisms of protein evolution by studying the physical stability and biological function of putative protein elements encoded by pseudogenes and exons.

In May 2017, I graduated with a B.S. in Physics, with minors in Mathematics and Biology, from Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas. During my time at TCU, I worked with Professor Hana Dobrovolny and helped develop analytical models to predict tumor growth over time. I also worked with Professor Zygmunt Gryczynski, helping characterize the fluorescent properties of synthesized Bodipy dyes.

selected publications

Reassessing the Exon-Foldon correspondence using Frustration Analysis

Ezequiel A Galpern, Hana Jaafari, Carlos Bueno, and 2 more authors

Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 2024

Bib

@article{exons2024,
  title = {Reassessing the Exon-Foldon correspondence using Frustration Analysis},
  author = {Galpern, Ezequiel A and Jaafari, Hana and Bueno, Carlos and Wolynes, Peter and Ferreiro, Diego U},
  journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences},
  volume = {121},
  number = {28},
  pages = {e2400151121},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {National Academy of the Sciences}
}

The physical and evolutionary energy landscapes of devolved protein sequences corresponding to pseudogenes

Hana Jaafari, Carlos Bueno, Nicholas Schafer, and 3 more authors

Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 2024

Bib

@article{pseudogenes2024,
  title = {The physical and evolutionary energy landscapes of devolved protein sequences corresponding to pseudogenes},
  author = {Jaafari, Hana and Bueno, Carlos and Schafer, Nicholas and Martin, Jonathan and Morcos, Faruck and Wolynes, Peter},
  journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences},
  volume = {121},
  number = {21},
  pages = {e2322428121},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {National Academy of the Sciences}
}