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University of Rochester

Department of Biology

People

Full Directory

 

A

Abbondanzieri, Elio

  • Research Associate, Meyer

Ablaeva, Julia

  • Technical Associate, Gorbunova/Seluanov

Aloi, Patricia

  • Teaching Lab Manager

Arcoraci, Marianne

  • Undergraduate Program Manager & Curriculum Advisor to UPBM

B

Bellomio, Philip

  • Lab Technician, Bergstralh

Benyajati, Cheeptip

  • Associate Professor
  • Co-Director of UPBM

Interests: Regulation of gene expression during development of Drosophila; Transcription, chromatin structure, and mechanisms of developmental chromatin structure remodeling

Bergstralh, Daniel

  • Assistant Professor

Website

Interests: Epithelial Morphogenesis; Spindle orientation; Cell Division

Bettinger, John

Interests: The biological roles of methionine oxidation

Bi, Xin

  • Professor

Interests: Epigenetic regulation of eukaryotic gene expression; Structural and functional domains of the genome; Chromatin boundary elements; Gene silencing; DNA damage repair and tolerance

Biashad, Seyed Ali

  • Lab Technician, Seluanov

Bickel, Ryan

  • Associate Professor of Instruction

Bissell, Mary

  • Facilities Manager

Brady, Morgan

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Meyer

Brisson, Jennifer

  • Associate Professor

Website

Interests: Evolution of morphology; Molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity; Evolution and development in the pea aphid; The role of epigenetics in polyphenism

C

Cammarota, Christian

Interests: Biological physics and the role of mechanics in tissue development and cell processes

Cefaloni, Eric

Interests: Epigenetic mechanisms driving breast cancer and epithelial to mesenchymal transition

Chang, Ching-Ho

Interests: Population dynamics and molecular mechanism of the Segregation Distortion system in Drosophila melanogaster

Chen, Nancy

  • Assistant Professor

Website

Interests: Population genetics with pedigrees; Contemporary evolution in natural populations; Evolutionary genetics; Conservation genomics; Avian genomics

Clark, Michael

  • Associate Professor of Instruction

Culver, Gloria

  • Professor
  • Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences

Interests: Macromolecular assembly; RNA-protein recognition; Dynamics of RNA folding

Cunningham, Gregory

  • Adjunct Instructor

D

Dao, Thao Kim

Interests: The roles of retinoic acid in shell and embryonic development in the mollusc Ilyanassa

Dawney, Nicole

Interests: TBD

DeBoard, Allyson

  • Undergraduate Course Coordinator

Dias, Tiffany

  • Lab Technician, Fay

Driscoll, Rose

Interests: Evolutionary genetics of phenotypic plasticity in aphids

Dutta, Asmita

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Welte

E

Eickbush, Danna

  • Research Associate, Larracuente/Eickbush

Eickbush, Thomas H

  • Mercer Brugler Distinguished Teaching Professor

Interests: Molecular biology and evolution ; Integration of retrotransposable elements; Origin and evolution of mobile elements; Regulation of mRNA genes

Emmanuele, Josie

  • Master's Student

Interests: TBD

Emmrich, Stephan

  • Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Gorbunova

F

Fay, Justin

  • Associate Professor

Website

Interests: Evolution of gene regulation; Comparative genomics and domestication; Disease consequences of human evolution

Febles, Cathleen

  • Stockroom Clerk

Fien, Kristin

  • Senior Accountant

Finegan, Tara

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Bergstralh

Firsanov, Denis

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Seluanov

Forkpah, Cordelia

  • Lab Technician, Werren

Fry, James D

  • Associate Professor

Interests: Genetics of ecological adaptation in Drosophila; Evolutionary effects of deleterious mutations; Quantitative-genetic theory and methodology

Fu, Dragony

  • Assistant Professor

Website

Interests: RNA modification and translation regulation; Neurodevelopmental disorders linked to RNA function; Biochemistry and molecular biology

G

Ghaemmaghami, Sina

  • Associate Professor
  • Director of Undergraduate Research in the College

Website

Interests: Protein folding and degradation; Neurodegenerative diseases and aging; Prion biology; Proteomics

Gigas, Jonathan

Interests: Biochemistry and function of human Sirtuin-6 in cancer and aging

Goldfarb, David S

  • Professor

Interests: Molecular cell biology of the nucleus

Gorbunova, Vera

  • Doris Johns Cherry Professor
  • Co-director Rochester Aging Research Center

Website

Interests: Mechanisms of aging; Comparative biology of aging; Comparative biology of aging; DNA repair and genomic instability; Anticancer therapy

Gorovsky, Martin A

  • Rush Rhees Professor Emeritus

Gregory, Lauren

Interests: Investigation of the proximate basis of the aphid wing polyphenism

Gu, Ningyang

Interests: Using microinjection, FISH, and single-particle tracking to understand the intranuclear movement of plasmids

H

Hammelman, Rachel

  • Lab Technician, Brisson

Hattman, Stanley M

  • Professor Emeritus

Hemmer, Lucas

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Larracuente

Hinkle, David C.

  • Professor Emeritus

Holz, Jonathan

  • Associate Professor of Instruction

Huo, Jinlong

  • Visiting Scientist, Bi

Hutti, Chuck

Interests: Using genome wide CRISPR screens to identify genes involved in prion tolerance and its mechanisms

J

Jaenike, John

  • Professor
  • On sabbatical until January 2020

Interests: Ecology and evolution of host-parasite interactions; Sex chromosome meiotic drive; Wolbachia as male killers and causes of reproductive isolation in Drosophila; Ecology of mycophagous Drosophila

Jencik, Brian

  • Lab Technician, Welte

Jones, Shaun

  • Lab Technician, Culver/Ghaemmaghami/Larracuente

K

Keister, Jennifer

  • Lab Technician, Brisson

Keltz, Roxanne

  • Lab Technician, Culver

Kilwein, Marcus

Interests: Embryonic lipid utilization in Drosophila

Kovelakuntla, Vamsi

Interests: Bacterially-mediated fabrication of artificial nacre

L

Lambert, J. David

  • Associate Professor

Website

Interests: The evolution of developmental mechanisms; Early patterning in molluscs and related groups; Cytoskeletal basis of asymmetric cell divisions; Evolution of novel phenotypes

Landry, Cynthia

  • Graduate Coordinator

Larracuente, Amanda

  • Assistant Professor

Website

Interests: Evolutionary genetics and genomics; Intragenomic conflict and the evolution of selfish DNA; Evolutionary and functional genomics of satellite DNA; Sex chromosome and dot chromosome evolution in Drosophila

Lawrence, Deborah

  • Front Office Secretary

Lawson, Hannah

Interests: Developmental timing of sex-specific maturation of the C. elegans nervous system

Lee, Songeun

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Lentini, Jenna

Interests: Identification of the damaged RNA transcriptome and surveillance pathways

Lewis, Aaron

  • Facilities Assistant

Lindley, Sean

Interests: TBD

Lindsay, Matthew

  • Lab Technician, Larracuente

Liu, Xiaomi

  • Master's Student

Interests: TBD

Liu, Fangzhou

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brisson

Longan, Emery

Interests: Genetic constraints on adaptation and their role in the evolution of domestication associated traits in the Saccharomyces yeasts

Lyon, Hiram

  • Technical Associate, Culver

M

Macoretta, Nicholas

Interests: TBD

Martinez, Jovany

  • Master's Student

Interests: TBD

Meyer, Anne S.

  • Associate Professor

Website

Interests: Synthetic biology; 3D printing of bacteria; Engineering of bacteria to produce biomaterials; Survival strategies of bacteria; Organization of bacterial DNA

Miller, John

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Miller, James

  • Technical Associate, Fay

Minckley, Robert L.

  • Professor of Instruction

Website

Interests: Ecology and evolution of host breadth in bees; Community structure of desert bees; Conservation biology of pollinators

Muirhead, Christina

  • Technical Associate, Presgraves

Murphy, Patrick J.

  • Assistant Professor

Website

Interests: Regulation of vertebrate gene transcription in vivo; Epigenetics and chromatin; Zebrafish genetics and genomics; Developmental cell state transitions; Bioinformatics

N

Naganathan, Anusha

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Culver

Navarro, Beatriz

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Larracuente/Presgraves

Neville, Kathryn

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

O

Olmsted, Joanna B.

  • Dean Emerita of the School of Arts and Sciences

Orr, H. Allen

  • University Professor
  • Shirley Cox Kearns Professor

Website

Interests: Genetics of speciation in Drosophila; Genetics and theory of adaptation; Population genetics

P

Palardy, Fiona

  • Data Entry Clerk

Parish, Kate

  • Leave of Absence

Interests: TBD

Perrin, Lindsey

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Phromsiri, Pakinee

Interests: Mechanisms and consequences of histone buffering in the early Drosophila embryo

Portman, Douglas

  • Associate Professor

Website

Interests: Genetics of development and behavior in C. elegans; Neural cell fate specification; Sex differences in neural circuit function; Sexual dimorphism in developmental patterning

Presgraves, Danielle

  • Assistant Professor of Instruction
  • Associate Director for Student Affairs

Presgraves, Daven C.

  • Dean's Professor

Website

Interests: Evolutionary genetics ; Speciation genetics; Molecular population genetics; Selfish gene complexes

Putrelo, Julie

  • Lab Technician, Welte

R

Ramos, Jillian

Interests: Determining the cellular targets and function of human KIAA1456, a putative tRNA methyltransferase enzyme

Ren, Yue

Interests: The role of PCNA in silent chromatin

Rezazadeh, Sarallah

Interests: DNA repair in cancer and aging

Rossow, Lisa

  • Finance Assistant

Rybak, Brenna

  • Department Administrator

Rzatkiewicz, Thomas

  • Lab Technician, Presgraves

S

Saleh Ziabari, Omid

Interests: The parallel evolution of wings in aphids

Sellix, Michelle

  • Staff Accountant

Seluanov, Andrei

  • Professor

Website

Interests: Molecular and cell biology; Tumor suppressor mechanisms in log-lived rodents the Naked Mole-Rat and Eastern Grey Squirrel; Mammalian Sirt proteins in regulation of stress response during aging; Anti-cancer mechanisms in whales

Shannon, Regina

  • Purchasing Agent

Sherlock, Marcella (Marcie)

  • Undergraduate Secretary

Sia, Elaine

  • Professor and Chair
  • Co-Director of UPBM

Interests: Molecular biology and genetics; Mutagenesis and repair of the mitochondrial genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Sidor, Lynn

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Simon, Matthew

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Gorbunova

Sproul, John

  • Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Larracuente

Stein, Alexis

  • Assistant Professor of Instruction

Stephenson, Roxan

Interests: The structure and function of the protein Jabba in Drosophila melanogaster embryos

Stewart, Chad

  • IT Specialist

Summers, Jeremy

Interests: The demographic and genetic effects of habitat fragmentation and degradation on the Florida Scrub-Jay

Sun, Yu

Interests: Define RNA regulation for next generation using both dry and wet approaches

Swovick, Kyle

Interests: Protein turnover and aging

T

Tahir, Imran

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Tan, Ruiyue

Interests: Analyze protein synthesis and translation pausing base on mass spectrometry

Thomalla, Jonathon

  • Lab Technician, Welte

Tolibzoda, Fara

Interests: Investigation of biochemical contributors of health in long-living animals and their role in aging associated neurodegeneration

Tombline, Gregory

  • Research Associate, Seluanov/Gorbunova

U

Uy, J. Albert C.

  • Associate Professor
  • Coming January 2020!

Website

Interests: Evolutionary Ecology; Behavioral Ecology; Evolutionary Genetics; Speciation; Conservation

Uy, Floria Mora Kepfer

  • Assistant Professor of Instruction
    Research Assistant Professor
  • Coming January 2020!

Website

Interests: Evolution of cooperation; Neuroethology; Host-parasite interactions; Behavioral Ecology; Conservation

W

Walker, Ethan

Interests: Interrogation of protein folding and homeostasis using high-throughput methodology

Walker, Tyler

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Walunjkar, Nilima

Interests: Causes and consequences of thermal divergence in Saccharomyces species

Wang, Wei

  • Master's Student

Interests: TBD

Watkins, Lyndsay

  • Lab Technician, Fu

Wei, Xiaolu

Interests: Molecular mechanism of Segregation Distorter in Drosophila melanogaster using a combination of genomic, cytological, and molecular approaches

Welte, Michael

  • Professor
  • On sabbatical until July 2020

Website

Interests: Cell and developmental biology ; Intracellular trafficking of proteins, RNAs, and organelles ; Regulation of motor-driven transport ; Cell biology of lipid droplets ; Lipid droplets in protein sequestration and innate immunity

Werren, John H.

  • Nathaniel & Helen Wisch Professor of Biology
  • On sabbatical until January 2020

Website

Interests: Evolutionary genetics; Microbial-host interactions with emphasis on Wolbachia in arthropods, genetics of speciation and evolution of development; Genetics, genomics and evolution of Parasitoids (e.g. Nasonia and relatives); The role of "selfish" or "parasitic" DNA in evolution

White, Roger

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Wnuk, Hayley

Interests: Integration of metabolic and sexual state of the nervous system regulates behavior of C. elegans

Wright , Lori

  • Technical Associate, Presgraves

Y

Yang, Sifan

  • First Year PhD Student

Interests: TBD

Yao, Yixue

  • Master's Student

Interests: TBD

Z

Zacher, Maxwell

Interests: Genetic mechanisms underlying longevity and cancer resistance in the bowhead whale

Zhang, Kejia

Interests: Molecular functions of tRNA methyltransferase in neuronal development

Zhang, Zhihui

Interests: Anti-aging and anti-cancer effects of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid

Zhang, Rui

Interests: TBD

Zhang, Jiarui

  • Master's Student

Interests: TBD

Zhao, Yang

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Gorbunova

Zhu, Mingyi

Interests: RNA secondary structure prediction