Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences

Graduate Students

Lauren Adams

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Kelleher
• Research Topic: Top-down proteomic characterization of RAS proteoform signatures in cancer

Moneeza Agha

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: McLean
• Research Topic: Functional organization of commissural interneurons mediating left-right alternation at different speeds of locomotion in larval zebrafish

Gloria Alvarado

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Lane
• Research Topic: An investigation of cytokine expression dynamics in individual macrophages during Salmonella infection

Xavier Anderson

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Petersen
• Research Topic: Determining the roles of microtubules in injury response and regeneration

Brooke Angell

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Brickner
• Research Topic: Elucidating the molecular mechanism of transcript buffering

Katherine Berman

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Lucks
• Research Topic: Uncovering intermediate structural motifs and rearrangements in RNA folding pathways of prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems

Jonathan Boucher

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Leonard
• Research Topic: Programmable gene therapy vector tropism and in vivo cell therapy via engineered vesicles

Julianna Bourgeois

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Mirkin

Evan Buechel

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Pinkett
• Research Topic: Investigation of the molecular mechanism regulating Pdr1 transcriptional activity

David Bushhouse

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Lucks
• Research Topic: Sequence and structure features of the Cbe pfl ZTP riboswitch regulate leak, sensitivity, and dynamic range

Delfin Buyco

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Kamat

Eduardo Campos Chávez

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Mondragón
• Research Topic: Structural and biophysical studies of the T-box riboswitch

Matthew Capek

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Gallio
• Research Topic: Investigations into the evolution of nocifensive and thermosensory behavior in insects

Lucas Carter

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Backman
• Research Topic: Interrogating the molecular modulators of chromatin organization via genomic screening

Gabriel Cavin-Meza

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Wignall
• Research Topic: Acentrosomal pole stability and maintenance in Caenorhabditis elegans oocyte meiotic spindles

Nicholas Chamberlain

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Bao

Edric Choi

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Lucks
• Research Topic: Deducing RNA structure and dynamics from quantitative analysis of chemical probing reactivities

Liyushang Chou

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Mirkin
• Research Topic: Developing immunotherapy targeting immune suppression using spherical nucleic acids (SNAs)

Eleanor Clark

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Petersen
• Research Topic: Investigating positional patterning systems of body-wide homeostasis and regeneration

Karlin Compton

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: LaBonne
• Research Topic: The role of H3K4 methylation in formation and maintenance of the vertebrate neural crest

Ely Contreras

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Schmidt
• Research Topic: Melanopsin phototransduction regulates diverse visual behaviors

William Corcoran

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Leonard
• Research Topic: Investigating miniproteins as synthetic receptor binding domains to enable soluble ligand-sensing cell-based therapeutics

Corinne Croslyn

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Blythe

Emily Czajkowski

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Wignall
• Research Topic: Investigating the components of spindle assembly and stability that allow for faithful chromosome segregation in C. elegans and M. musculus

Eleanor Degen

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Blythe
• Research Topic: Spatiotemporal gene regulation by the Bicoid morphogen

Simrita Deol

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Leonard
• Research Topic: Developing next-generation natural killer cell-based therapies through evaluation of tumor targeting strategies, therapeutic outputs, and signal integration strategies

Stephenie Droll

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Bao
• Research Topic: Characterizing two putative tumor suppressors in epidermal homeostasis and cancer progression

Elizabeth Duvall

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Braun
• Research Topic: Temporal network-based analysis using gene coordination and activity level to identify influential networks

Kevin Gallagher

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Carthew
• Research Topic: Morphology directed fate specification during the retinal patterning of Drosophila melanogaster

Tiffany Ge

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Brickner

Natalie Gilbert

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Blythe
• Research Topic: Investigation into the role of chromatin dynamics in IFN-stimulated gene transcription

David Gittin

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Petersen
• Research Topic: Investigating the role of Wnt signaling in planarian antero-posterior polarization and patterning

Brent Groubert

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Brickner

Elias (Qingxu) Guan

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Petersen
• Research Topic: Understanding the regulation and patterning of Wnt genes in Schmidtea mediterranea

Clare Harper

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Lackner
• Research Topic: Uncovering novel roles of MECA in cellular and mitochondrial function

Zhuoling He

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Bozza

Laura Hertz

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Lucks
• Research Topic: Investigating distinct structures within the fluoride riboswitch to understand the dynamic cotranscriptional folding process

Patric Ho

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Bao
• Research Topic: Characterization of GATAD2A-NuRD and its interaction with the BAF complex in regulating epidermal homeostasis

Hannah Horton

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Wignall
• Research Topic: The role of the plus-end directed kinesin KLP-19 in C. elegans oocyte meiosis

Richard Hwang

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Lee
• Research Topic: Investigation of the signals that induce motion sickness

Alexis Jacob

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Brickner
• Research Topic: How nucleoporin-dependent spatial organization of the yeast genome impacts transcription

Kristin Johnson

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: LaBonne
• Research Topic: The role of DNA and histone methylation in the maintenance of pluripotency

Jenna Jouandet

• Entry Year: 2011
• Lab: Gallio
• Research Topic: Higher order processing of temperature and humidity stimuli in the Drosophila brain

Alexandra Karagiaridi

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Pinkett
• Research Topic: Characterizing the complex assemblies and transport mechanism of the non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae ABC Sap transporter

Nolan Kennedy

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Tullman-Ercek
• Research Topic: Investigating three functions of 1,2-propanediol utilization bacterial microcompartment shell proteins

Daniel Kranz

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Klein
• Research Topic: Spatiotemporal characterization of amyloid beta oligomer proteoforms in Alzheimer's disease

Kyle Krueger

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Petersen
• Research Topic: Uncovering deeply-conserved genetic regulators of neoblasts in Hofstenia miamia

Tiffany Kuo

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Backman

Julie Liang

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Tullman-Ercek
• Research Topic: Elucidating the roles of environmental and genetic factors in SPl-1 type three secretion system pathway expression and secretion

Brandon Liauw

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Vafabakhsh
• Research Topic: Dynamic mechanisms of metabotropic glutamate receptor activation and modulation

Andrew Liu

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Carthew
• Research Topic: Growth control of Drosophila melanogaster wings

Sarah Lloyd

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Bao
• Research Topic: Regulation of transcription elongation and termination in epidermal homeostasis

Katherine Lo

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Petersen
• Research Topic: Investigating the role of wound-induced genes in planarian regeneration

Weifeng Lu

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: He

Anika Marand

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Lane
• Research Topic: Investigating the dynamics of two-component system activation in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in response to phagosomal stimuli

Jordy Martinez

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Wignall

Meghan Masotti

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Kozorovitskiy
• Research Topic: Genetically targeted striatal proteomics across development in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder

Ryan McKeown

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Andersen

Karla Medina

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Backman

Andrew Montequin

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: LaBonne
• Research Topic: Patterning the vertebrate neuroectoderm

Nicolas Moya

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Andersen
• Research Topic: The origins of Caenorhabditis briggsae hyperdivergent genomic regions

Juhi Narula

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Wignall
• Research Topic: Investigating the role of a conserved kinase in acentrosomal spindle organization using Caenorhabditis elegans oocytes

Amy Neely

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Bao
• Research Topic: Characterizing the role of nucleoporins in epidermal gene regulation

Tonatiuh Ocampo

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Mirkin

Jun Young (Daniel) Oh

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Dombeck
• Research Topic: Immediate early gene Fos and Arc expression during CA1 place field formation

Brett Palmero

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Tullman-Ercek
• Research Topic: Determining the benefits of violacein pathway encapsulation in the 1,2-propanediol utilization bacterial microcompartment

Krishna Paranandi

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Mirkin
• Research Topic: Spherical nucleic acids as a disease-modifying therapy in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Jungsoo Park

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Mirkin
• Research Topic: Design and use of IDH1-targeting spherical nucleic acids with enhanced gene knockdown efficacy for glioblastoma multiforme

Omar Payán Parra

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Yang
• Research Topic: Studying the formation of long-distance genomic interactions during mouse cerebellar development

Aldeb Perera

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Allada
• Research Topic: Identifying the molecular and cellular basis of sleep homeostasis in the Drosophila mushroom bodies

Emily Pujadas

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Backman
• Research Topic: Genome-wide transcriptional engineering through the regulation of the physical structure of chromatin

Anthony Pulvino

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Amato

Jinkang Qing

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: He

Rebecca Rasmussen

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: O'Halloran/Lucks
• Research Topic: Zur- and zinc-mediated ribosomal protein regulation in Escherichia coli

Michael Ray

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Lackner
• Research Topic: Investigating the molecular mechanisms of organelle inheritance and asymmetric fitness-based organelle partitioning

Reyvin Reyes

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Rosenzweig
• Research Topic: Characterizing biosynthetic enzymes involved in the production of methanobactin

Reese Richardson

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Amaral
• Research Topic: Identifying bias and improving reproducibility in RNA sequencing computational pipelines

Sara Rigney

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: LaBonne
• Research Topic: Understanding the role of cell heterogeneity in pluripotency, lineage restriction and the establishment of neural crest cells

Kristen Rivera

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Pinkett
• Research Topic: Structural and biochemical investigation of the nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae Sap ABC transporter mechanism of selectivity and transport

Erica Rosario

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Lackner
• Research Topic: Investigating the roles membrane properties and architecture have on membrane contact site formation and function

Michael Schamber

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Vafabakhsh
• Research Topic: The activation and sensitivity-tuning of the calcium-sensing receptor

Yannick Schreiber

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Leonard
• Research Topic: Development of tunable microenvironment-responsive CAR-T cells using synthetic gene circuits to enhance potency and safety

Nicolas Scrutton Alvarado

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Yang
• Research Topic: Characterization of a novel neuronal-specific nuclear subcompartment and its mechanism of formation in the mouse cerebellum

Madison Spratt

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Lane
• Research Topic: Characterizing the dynamics of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence expression at the single-cell level

Taojunfeng Su

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Kelleher
• Research Topic: Characterization of IDH1 proteoform signatures in cancer using top-down mass spectrometry-based proteogenomics

Jordan Summers

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Tullman-Ercek

Jack Sumner

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Hartmann
• Research Topic: Pulmonary pressures: identifying lung microbiome structure, function, and dynamics

Bethany Sump

• Entry Year: 2016
• Lab: Brickner
• Research Topic: Mechanisms of epigenetic transcriptional memory in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Anna Talyzina

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: He
• Research Topic: Structural characterization of RNA Polymerase II and RNA Polymerase III transcription initiation using cryo-EM

Elijah Taylor

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Mondragón
• Research Topic: A single-molecule approach to observe domain movement dynamics in type IA topoisomerases

Arielle Thames

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Jewett
• Research Topic: Tolerance, toxins, and titers: interrogating the biology of glycan-mediated immune modulation in three therapeutic spaces

Yiren Tu

• Entry Year: 2021
• Lab: Wang/Vafabakhsh

Frank Tucci

• Entry Year: 2019
• Lab: Rosenzweig
• Research Topic: Investigating the role of the membrane in particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) structure and function

Syed Uddin

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Lee
• Research Topic: Can taste create an illusion of smell?

D. Jake VanBelzen

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Brickner
• Research Topic: The molecular requirements and ubiquity of RNAPII promoter poising in epigenetic transcriptional memory

Citlayi Villaseñor

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Kamat
• Research Topic: Probing the biophysical effects of fatty acids on membrane protein folding, stability, and function

Alex Vogt

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: He
• Research Topic: Biochemical and structural investigation of end processing in NHEJ

Antoineen White

• Entry Year: 2015
• Lab: Lackner
• Research Topic: Investigating how the distinct domains and activities of the membrane contact site protein Num1 contribute to the biological functions of MECA

Brett Wisniewski

• Entry Year: 2017
• Lab: Lackner
• Research Topic: Uncovering novel functions and regulators of the mitochondrial fission protein Dnm1 using cell biological, biochemical, and structural approaches

Bingxian Xu

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Braun
• Research Topic: Unveiling regulatory networks using dynamic circadian gene expression

Feihong Xu

• Entry Year: 2020
• Lab: Amaral
• Research Topic: Severe pneumonia subtyping and prognosis from multi-omics data and electronic health records

Yue Yu

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Lee
• Research Topic: Function of taste in regulating feeding behaviors

Ziyu Zhao

• Entry Year: 2018
• Lab: Yang
• Research Topic: Investigation of the organization and regulation mechanism of megaloops in mouse cerebellum