PhD Alumni

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: Fall 2017

Graduated: Summer 2025

Research Advisor: Donata Vercelli

Dissertation: Mechanisms of Asthma Protection by Microbial Agents

Research Topic: The genetics and epigenetics of the development of asthma in early life.

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: Fall 2014

Entered the Program: Fall 2022

Graduated: Summer 2025

Advisor: Xiaoxiao Sun's 

Dissertation: Computational Tools and Bioinformatics Pipelines for Analyzing Time-Course RNA-Seq Data in Notch-mediated Liver Fibrosis Reversibility

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: Fall 2019

Research Advisor: Keith Maggert

Research Topic: "Epigenetic regulation and sequence variation of Ribosomal DNA"

mokelly@arizona.edu

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: ABBS Fall 2019; Genetics Spring 2020

Research Advisor: Henk Granzier

Research Topic: Gene discovery in and therapy development for inherited myopathies

Email: esmatkarimi@email.arizona.edu

Year entered the Phd. Program: Fall 2019

Research Advisor: Ryan Gutenkunst

Research Topic: Machine learning approaches for inference of demography and natural selection

Email: lnt@email.arizona.edu

Lab web page: https://gutengroup.mcb.arizona.edu/

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: Fall 2018

Research Advisor: Nathan Ellis

Research Topic: Mechanisms of cancer development in APC mutation-negative CRC

Email: barisk@email.arizona.edu

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: Fall 2019

Research Advisor:  Dr. Michael Worobey

Research Topic: Viral evolution and how the immune history (antigenic imprinting) impacts the outcome of a reexposure to an antigenically distinct virus

Email: gquirk@email.arizona.edu

Research Interests: 

Year entered the Ph.D. Program: Fall 2019

Research Advisor: Melanie Culver

Research Topic: Population Genomics and Viromics of at-risk Felids and Ungulates

Email: nataliermercer@email.arizona.edu

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Postdoctoral Research Associate with the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Dissertation: "Identifying the Genetic Basis of Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS)"

Advisor: Dr. Christina Laukaitis

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Assistant Professor of Law at Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University, White Plains, New York

Dissertation: "The Use of Conservation Genomics To Inform Law and Policy"

Advisor: Melanie Culver 

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Technician, Experimental Therapies, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida

Dissertation: “Understanding SCN8A and Voltage-Gated Sodium Channelopathies”

Advisor: Michael Hammer

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Post-doctoral Fellow in Department of Plant Sciences with Bentley Fane at University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Dissertation: "Structure/Function investigation of the bacteriophage φX174's DNA piloting protein"

Advisor: Bentley Fane

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Staff Bioinformatics Engineer at Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah.

Dissertation: “Genomic Insights: Comparative Genomics in the Big Data Age”

Advisor: Eric H Lyons

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Staff Scientist, University of Arizona Genetics Core, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Dissertation: “Genetics of Epilepsy”

Advisor: Michael Hammer

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Research Associate, Division of Biomedical Science and Biochemistry, Commonwealth, Scientific, and Industrial Research Organization, Canberra, Australia.

Dissertation: “Conservation Genetics and Epigenetics of Pronghorn, Antilocapra Americana”

Advisor: Melanie Culver

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Postdoctoral fellow with Andres Moreno Estrada at Laboratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Irapuato, Guanajuato, México

Dissertation: “Inferring Demographic History of Admixed Human Populations with SNP Array Data”

Advisor: Joseph Watkins

WHERE THEY ARE NOW 

Assistant Professor, Center for Human ID and Microbiology, Immunology & Genetics at The University of North Texas

Dissertation: "On the neutralome of great apes and nearest neighbor search in metric spaces"

Advisor: Michael Hammer

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Data Scientist, Oracle Cancer Research Cloud, Boston, Massachusetts

Dissertation: “A Systems Approach for Dissecting Integrated Signaling Pathways: TORC1 and Ras/PKA Regulation of Glucose Induced Growth Control in S. cerevisiae”

Advisor: Andrew Capaldi

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Genome Science at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Frederick, Maryland.

Dissertation: “Complex Gene Expression and Interplay of the UL136 Protein Isoforms Influence Human Cytomegalovirus Persistence”

Advisor: Felicia Goodrum

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida

Dissertation: “Conservation Genomics of the Endangered Mexican Wolf and De Novo SNP Marker Development in Pumas Using Next-Generation Sequencing”

Advisor: Melanie Culver

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Resident at University of Florida Health Division of Hematology and Oncology

Dissertation: “HUGL and the Role of Polarity in Breast Cancer”

Advisor: Joyce A Schroeder

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Staff Scientist, in connection with Irwin Bernstein at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington

Dissertation: “Understanding EGFR Modification, Trafficking, and the Importance of its Juxtamembrane Domain in Cancer”

Advisor: Joyce Schroeder

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Research Scientist in The Parham Lab at Stanford University, Stanford, California

Dissertation: “Radiation and Immunity in the Context of Cytomegalovirus and Aging”

Advisor: Janko Nikolich-Zugich

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Biomarker Operations Project Manager, Genentech,  South San Francisco, California.

Dissertation: “Transportation Regulation: Control of Expression in Drosophila Melanogaster and Consequences of Disregulation in Human Cells”

Advisors: Giovanni Bosco and Vicki Chandler

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Biostatistician/Bioinformatician at the Center for Precision Medicine Research, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Dissertation: “Predictive Modeling for Complex Traits: Normal Human Pigmentation Variation”

Advisor: Murray H Brilliant

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Lecturer, Department of Biology, Gonzaga University,  Spokane, Washington

Dissertation: “Condensin II Regulation and Function in Polyploid and Female Meiotic Cells in Drosophila  Melanogaster”

Advisor: Giovanni Bosco

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Science, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona

Dissertation: “Population Genetics and Genomics of Coccidioides Immitis and Coccidides Posadasii”

Advisor: Steve Rounsley

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Program Manager, Mitochondrial Disorders, GeneDx,  Gaithersburg, Maryland

Dissertation: “Functional Characterization of an Allergy-Associated Regulatory Variant at the Human IL13 Locus”

Advisor: Donata Vercelli

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Roche Ventana. Tucson, AZ

Dissertation: “The Regulation of Th2 Cytokine Genes: Functional and Comparative Genomic Analysis”

Advisor: Donata Vercelli

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Team Leader, Health Care Provider Organization, AllofUs Program, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

Dissertation: “Genetics of Major Depressive Disorder in Treatment Resistance and Tryptophan Depletion”

Advisor: Robert P Erikson

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Medical oncologist at the Burzynski Clinic, Houston, Texas.

Dissertation: “Analysis of the Mouse p100H Mutation: Implications for Two Disease Related Genes: P and Sox6”

Advisor: Murray H Brilliant

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Dissertation: “Early Responses to Oxidative Stress in Heart Cells: Signals from the Cell Membrane to the Nucleus and Beyond”

Advisor: Qin M Chen

sdickinson@azcc.arizona.edu

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Research Associate, Center for Toxicology, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Arizona, Tucson,  Arizona.

Dissertation: “Oxidation and Reduction of Inorganic Arsenic in Mammalian Systems”

Advisor: Roy R Parker

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Science, University at Buffalo

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Dissertation: “Phylogenetic Relationships of Files in the Family Drosophilae Inferred by Combined  Analysis of Molecular and Morphological Data Sets”

Advisor: Margaret G Kidwell

pmo43@cornell.edu

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

Senior Director at Exelixis, Alameda, California

Dissertation: 

“Physical and Genetic Mapping on Mouse Proximal Chromosome 18”

Advisor: Robert P Erikson

scjhsu@gmail.com