Profile | Utah Valley University

Faculty Member

Dr. Elena Laricheva

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Phone: 801-863-6295
Mail Stop: 179
Curriculum Vitae: Elena Laricheva CV

Biography

EDUCATION
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, MI, USA
PhD, Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, OH, USA
Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics, University of Toledo, OH, USA
MSc & BSc, Department of Chemistry, St Petersburg State University, Russia

TEACHING
At UVU, I teach General Chemistry I and II, Physical Chemistry (I-III: thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, and statistical mechanics), and Biomolecular Modeling & Simulations.

RESEARCH
I use machine learning/deep learning and quantum-chemical calculations to develop predictive models for the properties of 2D materials. Additionally, I employ molecular dynamics simulations and molecular docking techniques to investigate the interactions of proteins with other proteins and drug molecules and to study mechanisms of enzymatic reactions. My most recent research projects include:

1. Aldrin Fisher, Riley Belt, Craig D. Thulin, and Elena N Laricheva. Does tyrosinase or catalase-peroxidase catalyze the conversion of 3-hydroxykynurenine to xanthommatin in Pseudomonas putida. Presented at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in March 2026, Atlanta, GA & Utah Conference for Undergraduate Research @ Weber State University, February 2026, Ogden, Utah.

2. Tessa C. Black, Aldrin Fisher, Elena N. Laricheva, and Craig D. Thulin. Tyrosinase as a possible catalyst of xanthommatin synthesis in Pseudomonas. Presented at The Protein Society 39th Annual Symposium, June 2025, San Francisco, CA.

3. Eugene Leung , William Forbes , Sydney Daynes , Dragui Salazar , and Elena N. Laricheva. HOMO-LUMO energy gap prediction of polyaromatic carbon materials via machine learning. Presented at the American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 2025, San Diego, CA.

4. Matthew A. Williams and Elena N. Laricheva. Improving protein-ligand docking predictions using molecular dynamics simulations and k-means clustering. Presented at the American Chemical Society National

Teaching

CHEM 3300

Biomolecular Modeling and Simulations, Spring 2026

CHEM 1220

Principles of Chemistry II, Spring 2026

CHEM 1220

Principles of Chemistry II, Spring 2026

CHEM 4890R

Undergraduate Research in Chemistry, Spring 2026

CHEM 4890R

Undergraduate Research in Chemistry, Spring 2026

CHEM 4890R

Undergraduate Research in Chemistry, Spring 2026

Presentations

Fisher, Aldrin (Presenter & Author), Belt, Riley (Co-Presenter), Thulin, Craig (Author Only), Laricheva, Elena N (Author Only), 2026 Spring American Chemical Society National Meeting, "Does tyrosinase or catalase-peroxidase catalyze the conversion of 3-hydroxykynurenine to xanthommatin in Pseudomonas putida?", ACS, Atlanta, GA. (March 23, 2026)

Fisher, Aldrin (Presenter & Author), Belt, Riley (Co-Presenter), Thulin, Craig (Author Only), Laricheva, Elena N (Author Only), 2026 Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research, "Identifying the Enzyme Responsible for Xanthommatin Biosynthesis in Pseudomonas Putida", UCUR, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. (February 27, 2026)

Black, Tessa C, Fisher, Aldrin , Laricheva, Elena N, Thulin, Craig D, The Protein Society 39th Annual Symposium, "Tyrosinase as a possible catalyst of xanthommatin synthesis in Pseudomonas", San Francisco, CA. (June, 2025)

Leung, Eugene , Forbes, Williams , Daynes, Sydney , Salazar, Dragui , Laricheva, Elena N, 2025 Spring American Chemical Society National Meeting, "HOMO-LUMO energy gap prediction of polyaromatic carbon materials via machine learning", ACS, San Diego, CA. (March, 2025)

Williams, Matthew A, Laricheva, Elena N, 2024 Spring National Conference on Undergraduate Research, "Enhancing binding free energy prediction by integrating molecular dynamics and k-means clustering into protein-ligand docking", NCUR, Long Beach, CA. (April, 2024)

Nguyen, Minh , Lima, Stella , Laricheva, Elena N, 2024 Spring National Conference on Undergraduate Research, "Exploring the effect of heteroatom doping on optoelectronic properties of nanographynes vs nanographenes", NCUR, Long Beach, CA. (April, 2024)

Scholarly/Creative Works

Laricheva, Elena N, Ilikchyan, Armen , (2023) "Exploring the Effect of Virtual Reality on Learning in General Chemistry Students with Low Visual-Spatial Skills" (vol. 100). J. Chem. Educ. . https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00732

Laricheva, Elena N, Goh, Garrett B, Dickson, Alex , Brooks, III, Charles L, (2015) "pH-dependent transient conformational states control optical properties in cyan fluorescent protein" (Issue: 8, vol. 137). J. Am. Chem. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja509233r

Goh, Garrett , Laricheva, Elena N, Brooks, III, Charles L, (2014) "Uncovering pH-dependent transient states of proteins with buried ionizable residues" (Issue: 24, vol. 136). J. Am. Chem. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja5012564

Laricheva, Elena N, Arora, Karunesh , Knight, Jennifer L, Brooks, III, Charles L, (2013) "Deconstructing activation events in rhodopsin" (Issue: 30, vol. 135). J. Am. Chem. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja4042687

Laricheva, Elena N, Gozem, Samer , Rinaldi, Silvia , Melaccio, Federico , Valentini, Alessio , Olivuci, Massimo , (2012) "Origin of fluorescence in 11-cis locked bovine rhodopsin" (vol. 8). J. Chem. Theory Comput. https://doi.org/10.1021/ct3002514

Grilj, Jakob , Laricheva, Elena N, Olivucci, Massimo , Vauthey, Eric , (2011) "Fluorescence of radical ions in liquid solutions_ Wurster’s Blue as a case study" (vol. 50). Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201100015

Awards

2025 Utah Award for Outstanding Educator at a Primarily Teaching Institution

CHEM 1210

Principles of Chemistry I PP, Spring 2016

CHEM 1225

Principles of Chemistry II Laboratory, Spring 2016

CHEM 1215

Principles of Chemistry I Laboratory, Fall 2015

CHEM 1215

Principles of Chemistry I Laboratory, Fall 2015

CHEM 1225

Principles of Chemistry II Laboratory, Fall 2015

Williams, Matthew A, Laricheva, Elena N, 2024 Spring American Chemical Society National Meeting, "Improving protein-ligand docking predictions using molecular dynamics simulations and k-means clustering", , ACS, New Orleans, LA . (March, 2024)

Thomson, Joshua , Laricheva, Elena N, 2022 Fall American Chemical Society National Meeting, "Predicting the bandgaps of graphene and similar nanostructures using quantum-chemical calculations and machine learning.", , ACS, Chicago, IL . (August, 2022)

Laricheva, Elena N, 2022 Annual Conference of the Utah Academy of Arts and Letters (UASAL), "Incorporating authentic research experiences into an undergraduate course in computational chemistry", , BYU, Provo, UT. (March, 2022)

Smith, Benjamin , Thomson, Joshua , Chicas Aslett , Michelle A, Cluff, Adam , Asper, Mitchell , Jagerson, Lance , Laricheva, Elena N, 2022 Annual Conference of the Utah Academy of Arts and Letters (UASAL), "Investigating the effect of structural changes on optoelectronic properties of benzenoids and their boron nitrogen analogs", , BYU, Provo, UT. (March, 2022)

Laricheva, Elena N, Ilikchyan, Armen , 2021 Fall American Chemical Society National Meeting, "Engaging undergraduate students with virtual reality in both classroom and research", , ACS, Atlanta, GA. (August, 2021)

Laricheva, Elena N, 2021 Fall American Chemical Society National Meeting, "Harvesting LMS data to improve design and delivery of asynchronous chemistry classes for better student engagement", , ACS, Atlanta, GA. (August, 2021)

Laricheva, Elena , Martin, Jordan , Gray, Daniel , 2021 Spring National American Chemical Society Meeting, "Investigating the effect of pH on conformations and binding affinity of the JUNO and IZUMO1 cell surface receptors", , ACS, Virtual. (April, 2021)

Smith, Tim , Gray, Daniel , Barnes, Logan , Ilikchyan, Armen , Laricheva, Elena N, 2019 Spring National Conference for Undergraduate Research , "Development and utilization of virtual reality educational content for use by students of chemistry", , NCUR, Kennesaw State University, GA. (April, 2019)

Chelepis, Iryna , Whiteside, Jared , Laricheva, Elena N, Ilikchyan, Armen , 2019 Spring National Conference for Undergraduate Research, "Exploring the relationship between visual-spatial skills and student performance in chemistry", , NCUR, Kennesaw State University, GA. (April, 2019)

Balmforth, Joshua , Laricheva, Elena N, 2018 Fall American Chemical Society National Meeting, "Probing the mechanism of binding between the sperm and egg cell surface receptors by molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations", , ACS, Boston, MA. (August, 2018)

Laricheva, Elena N, 2018 Spring Intermountain Teaching for Learning Conference, "Integrating computational thinking into chemistry curriculum", , Nevada State College, NV. (March, 2018)

Schapiro, Igor , Melaccio, Federico , Laricheva, Elena N, Olivucci, Massimo , (2011) "Using the computer to understand the chemistry of conical intersections" (vol. 10). Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1039/C0PP00290A