The Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics is proud to have an amazing group of graduate students. Below, you can meet some of our graduate students and see why they decided to pursue a graduate education in microbiology.
Ph.D. Students:
Name: Damilare Ajagbe
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Fathepure Lab
Hometown: Ibadan, Nigeria
"Microbiome and Bioremediation of Oil-Contaminated Hypersaline Environments"
Name: Imam Taskin Alam
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Beckmann Lab
Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh
“I am studying the microbiome involved in the formation and oxidation of the greenhouse gas methane in hypersaline environment to unveil how they impact the global biogeochemical processes.”
Name: Ramee Grace Aranda
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Hadwiger Lab
Hometown: Eva, Oklahoma
"Our lab studies cellular signalling and signal transduction in the soil-dwelling social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. My project investigates the functional regions of the atypical MAPK Erk2 through chimeragenesis. This research will give insight into the function of atypical MAPKs in human immune cells and other orthologs."
Name: Savannah Beakley
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Wozniak Lab
Hometown:
Name: Brittney Conn
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Wozniak Lab
Hometown:
Name: Noopur Dasgupta
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Lutter Lab
Hometown: Mumbai, India
"My overall research focuses on C. trachomatis manipulation of host kinases."
Name: Rosalie Dohmen
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Hoff Lab
Hometown: Dordrecht, The Netherlands
"I am reconstructing ancestral proteins to uncover protein structure-function relationships by using the photoactive yellow protein as a model system."
Name: Sudhir Doranga
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Conway Lab
Hometown: Syangja, Nepal
"My interest lies in understanding the mechanisms of competition between microorganisms in nature"
Name: Saher Fatima
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Hadwiger Lab
Hometown:
Name: Rebekkah Friske
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Prade Lab
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
"I am currently researching fungal extracellular vesicles (EVs) and trying to determine what triggers EV release in filamentous fungi, as well as the genes and proteins that regulate the mechanisms of action for fungal extracellular vesicles, including how they originate in the cell, how they cross the cell wall, and their overall purpose when reaching the extracellular space."
Name: Samikshya Giri
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Beckmann Lab
Hometown: Dang, Nepal
"Currently, I am working on anaerobic isoprene degradation in different environments."
Name: Christopher Hamm
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Cabeen Lab
Hometown: San Jose, California
“I study how bacteria are able to sense stress in their environment, and then mount an appropriate response in order to survive encountering those stressors.”
Name: Brenden Heise
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: French Lab
Hometown:
Name: Christian Holcomb
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Lutter Lab
Hometown:
Name: Kenzie Hull
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Patrauchan Lab
Hometown: Yukon, Oklahoma
"I research calcium signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa."
Name: Clark Jett
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Burnap Lab
Hometown: Kersey, Colorado
"I research carbon concentrating mechanisms in Cyanobacteria."
Name: Mamie Kannon
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Mitra Lab
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
"My research in Dr. Mitra’s lab involves studying iron acquisition in Pseudomonas aeruginosa."
Name: Rabindra Khadka
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Cabeen Lab
Hometown: Dhangadhi, Nepal
Name: Deepali Luthra
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Lutter Lab
Hometown: Ludhiana, Punjab, India
“Researching to unravel the mysteries of interactions of the pathogen with host cells stimulates curiosity in me, to learn more about the intricate pathogenesis of a disease."
Name: Suman Maharjan
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Morgenstein Lab
Hometown:
Name: Chelsea Murphy
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Youssef Lab
Hometown: Allen, Texas
"My research focuses on leveraging a variety of bioinformatic techniques to investigate the ecological distribution, metabolism, physiology, and phylogeny of both unusual as well as novel organisms found in the environment."
Name: Ayesha Nair
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Wozniak Lab
Hometown: Mumbai, India
Name: Benjamin Nelson
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Wozniak Lab
Hometown:
Name: Somalisa Pan
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Cabeen Lab
Hometown: Asanol, West Bengal, India
"It was during my undergraduate studies, I fell in love with Microbiology as a subject. I was fascinated by the fact that things that we can’t even see with our naked eyes, can have such a huge impact on our lives. Keeping aside all the industrial applications of Microbiology, microbes in general play an important role in all sorts of disease development; some of them curable, while some of them incurable. Thus, studying them at the molecular level, to understand their physiology and pave a way towards finding a therapeutic cure triggers my interest as a graduate student."
Name: Carrie Pratt
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Elshahed Lab
Hometown: Kollweiler, Germany
“I am working to isolate and characterize novel anaerobic fungal strains from herbivore digestive tracts."
Name: Tarosha Salpadoru
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Patrauchan Lab
Hometown: Colombo, Sri Lanka
"I am interested in uncovering calcium-induced antibiotic resistance mechanisms in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. By studying these mechanisms, I hope to discover novel antimicrobial targets to help combat diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria."
Name: Ross Walker
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Burnap Lab
Hometown:
Name: Archana Yadav
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Elshahed Lab
Hometown: Janakpur, Nepal
"I am working to uncover the metabolic and evolutionary aspects of different uncultured microbes using bioinformatics and genomic techniques. Its fascinating to know how every microorganism has a role in environment they thrive in."
Name: Amal Yahya
Program: Ph.D. Student
Lab: Cabeen Lab
Hometown: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
"I have always been an inquisitive child and "why" was my favorite word! Microbiology fascinates me because it never fails to fuel my curiosity to learn more..."
Research Masters Students:
Name: Reygan Braga
Program: Research Masters Student
Lab: Patrauchan Lab
Hometown:
Name: Jacob Burch-Konda
Program: Research Masters Student
Lab: Patrauchan Lab
Hometown:
Name: C. Ryan Hahn
Program: Research Masters Student
Lab: Youssef Lab
Hometown: Trabuco Canyon, California
“I work within Zodletone Spring to uncover metabolic and evolutionary aspects of unknown microbes using bioinformatics. I aim to understand what role each microbe plays in their environment.”
Name: Adrienne Jones
Program: Research Masters Student
Lab: Youssef Lab
Hometown: Ponca City, Oklahoma
"I am currently studying anaerobic gut fungi across many herbivores, but primarily across a lifespan of temporal calves. I do this using a variety of bioinformatic techniques to discover and understand the role that novel organisms have in animal gut mycobiomes."
Name: Casey Meili
Program: Research Masters Student
Lab: Youssef Lab
Hometown: Centennial, Colorado
"I am studying anaerobic gut fungi in herbivorous animals using bioinformatics in hopes of discovering novel AGF genera and understanding the evolutionary history of these genera. I am also interested in what factors contribute to gut mycobiome diversity between different herbivore species."
Accelerated Masters Students:
Name: Samantha Burdick
Program: Accelerated Masters Student
Lab:
Hometown:
Name: Macy Carder
Program: Accelerated Masters Student
Lab:
Hometown:
Name: Aaron Faulk
Program: Accelerated Masters Student
Lab: Cabeen Lab
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Name: Abbi Meek
Program: Accelerated Masters Student
Lab: Lutter Lab
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas