University of New Mexico-Main Campus · GeneticsMetabolic Interactions Lab
Monica Rosas Lemus · Albuquerque, New Mexico
Research Focus
Dr. Monica Rosas Lemus leads a research lab at the University of New Mexico that focuses on understanding complex metabolic processes, particularly how the methionine cycle interacts with viral infections like coronavirus. The lab studies how metabolic enzyme complexes, called metabolic assemblies, function in cells, especially during infections, and aims to identify new drug targets to inhibit viral replication. Through their work, the lab explores the regulation of these processes and how they can inform the design of targeted therapies for diseases linked to metabolic dysregulations.
methionine cyclecoronavirusRNA cappingmetabolic assembliesviral replicationdrug designcellular metabolismmetabolomicsproteomics
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate how the methionine cycle enzymes interact with coronavirus proteins during infection.
AIM 02Determine the role of metabolic assemblies in facilitating viral RNA capping.
AIM 03Explore the regulation of metabolic pathways in lung epithelial cells during coronavirus infection.
AIM 04Identify potential drug targets within the methionine cycle that can inhibit viral replication.
AIM 05Characterize the structural forms of enzyme complexes involved in metabolic processes.
Skills the Lab Values
proteomicsmetabolomicsstructural biologycell cultureviral infection modelsprotein purificationbioinformaticsmolecular cloningRNA sequencing
Output against the department
Publications61bottom 14% of dept.222nd of 259
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations973bottom 4% of dept.249th of 259
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.