Our People

To learn more about individual staff members, please click on the links below.

Our People

To learn more about individual staff members, please click on the links below.

EPIC Faculty

The EPIC faculty is a team of dedicated researchers with interests that range from understanding mechanisms of drug resistance in fungal pathogens to fatty acid metabolism in kinetoplastid parasites. We are united in our focus on some of the world’s most troubling and neglected disease-causing organisms.

 

Sourabh Dhingra

Biological Sciences

The overarching goal of the Dhingra lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with pathogenesis and azole drug tolerance in invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. We use molecular, biochemical and cellular approaches as well as murine models to understand the role of ncRNAs in pathobiology and azole drug tolerance of Aspergillus fumigatus.

 

Stephen Dolan

Genetics and Biochemistry

I study microbial interactions in human infections, specifically complex communities formed by multiple species, resulting in polymicrobial infections. My primary research focus is on respiratory infections in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF), where the abnormal mucus makes them susceptible to various bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. Instead of studying a single model organism, I intentionally pursued broad training on multiple co-infecting human pathogens (notably Aspergillus and Pseudomonas). This comprehensive, multisystem approach allows us to unravel the intricate mechanisms of communication between microbes during infection.

 

Zhicheng Dou

Biological Sciences

My research focuses on proteolytic mechanisms during infection by the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

 

Cheryl Ingram-Smith

Genetics and Biochemistry

The overall goal of my research is to provide a better understanding of energy metabolism in the pathogenic protist Entamoeba histolytica.

 

Lukasz Kozubowski

Genetics and Biochemistry

We study a human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans to understand the mechanistic cellular processes used by pathogenic microorganisms to allow survival in the infected host.

 

Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Mechanical Engineering

Our group researches the effect of electric fields on different organisms towards optimizing their lysis, separation, enrichment, and detection in automated sample preparation and point of use diagnostics devices. Our current emphasis is the study of Candida cells. Keywords include microfluidics, dielectrophoresis, microelectrodes, and lab-on-a-chip.

 

Meredith Morris

Genetics and Biochemistry

In the search for new therapeutics, we investigate essential parasite-specific processes, believing that understanding these processes will enable us to specifically target the parasite during treatments while leaving the host relatively unaffected.

 

James Morris

Genetics and Biochemistry

Our group is interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms employed by the African trypanosome to detect glucose availability with a particular focus on identifying unique components for targeting for therapeutics.

 

Kim Paul

Genetics and Biochemistry

My group is interested in the regulation of fatty acid metabolism in the African trypanosome.

 

Emily Rosowski

Biological Sciences

My lab focuses on understanding host-pathogen interactions, using the larval zebrafish as a model host. We are currently studying how innate immune mechanisms control infections with the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus.

 

Anna Seekatz

Biological Sciences

 

Michael Sehorn

Genetics and Biochemistry

My laboratory strives to understand the mechanism of homology-directed repair of DNA double-strand breaks mediated by RAD51 and DMC1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Entamoeba histolytica and humans.

 

Kerry Smith – EPIC Director

Genetics and Biochemistry

My group is interested in the acetate metabolism in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus.

 

Alexis Stamatikos

Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences

 

Lesly Temesvari

Biological Sciences

We seek to understand the virulence functions of secretion, phagocytosis and parasite-host interactions in Entamoeba histolytica.

 

Daniel Whitehead

Chemistry

EPIC-related projects in the Whitehead lab focus on the synthesis of small molecules and conjugates for the development of therapeutic and drug delivery strategies for treating eukaryotic pathogen infections.

 

 

Staff and Research Associates

The staff and research associates make EPIC tick. They keep the labs working and push their own projects forward while serving as mentors to the many students that fill EPIC’s research space.

 

 

Disha Bhattacharjee

Postdoc, Seekatz Lab

 

Nicki Clark-Mount

COBRE project coordinator

 

Jennifer Echesabal-Chen

Postdoc, Stamatikos Lab

 

Vikky FNU

Postdoc, Dou Lab

 

Emily Knight

Postdoc

 

Jillian Milanes

Postdoc, J. Morris Lab

 

Bailey Naples

Lab Technician, Rosowski Lab 

 

Bruce Rafert

Grant and Contract Associate

Professor and Graduate Dean Emeritus

 

Savini Thrikawala

Postdoc, Rosowski Lab

 

Caroline Palmentiero

Lab Manager, J. Morris Lab

 

Anissa Waller Del Valle

Lab Manager, Temesvari Lab

 

Students

Students, both graduate and undergraduate, tackle experiments necessary to solve the tough questions that exist in the field of eukaryotic pathogens research. They are the driving force in the Center.

 

Md Al Amin

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Will Betsill

Graduate Student, K. Smith Lab

 

William Bridges

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Garrett Buzzard

Graduate Student, Sehorn Lab

 

Rodrigo Catalan-Hurtado

Graduate Student, K. Smith Lab

 

Jin Cho

Graduate Student, Ingram-Smith Lab

 

Olivia Cobb Ezzell

Graduate Student, Sehorn Lab

 

Clara Flores

Graduate Student, Seekatz Lab

 

Lynette Goins

Graduate Student, Rosowski Lab

 

Claudia Gonzalez

Graduate Student, Ingram-Smith Lab

 

Will Henry

Graduate Student, Rosowski Lab

 

Kun Huang

Graduate Student, Stamatikos Lab

 

Rajib Islam

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Dalton Kessans

Graduate Student, Dou Lab

 

Melanie Key

Graduate Student, Dou Lab

 

Perry Kezh

Graduate Student, K. Smith Lab

 

Samuel Kwain

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Ryan Marasco

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Stephani Martinez-Barrera

Graduate Student, Kozubowski Lab

 

Sarah McKay

Graduate Student, Rosowski Lab

 

Sophie Millard

Graduate Student, Seektaz Lab

 

Brock Miller

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Monireh Noori

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Lanre Oladosu

Graduate Student, Stamatikos Lab

 

Amarachukwu Onoh

Graduate Student, Sehorn Lab

 

Rony Orobio-Hurtado

Graduate Student, Temesvari Lab

 

Soham Panda

Graduate Student, Whitehead Lab

 

Kristina Parman

Graduate Student, Paul Lab

 

Sabrina Pizarro

Graduate Student, Morris Labs

 

Colm Roster

Graduate Student, J. Morris Lab

 

Joshua Saliutama

Graduate Student, Paul Lab

 

Arohi Singhal

Graduate Student, K. Smith Lab

 

Jack Talledo

Graduate Student, Ingram-Smith Lab

 

Shivam Yadav

Graduate Student, Martinez-Duarte Lab

 

Christine Woelfel-Monsivais

Graduate Student, Seekatz Lab