Alumni - MGM Graduate Program

NAME DISSERTATION MENTOR DEGREE YEAR POST-GRADUATE POSITION

2021

       
Sylvester, Kayla "Interrogating Host-Parasite Dynamics During Plasmodium Liver Stage Infection" Derbyshire PhD 2021  
McMillan, Hannah "Bacterial Extracellular Vesicles and the Plant Immune Response" Kuehn PhD 2021  
Bethke, Jonathan "The Cost and Benefit of Horizontal Gene Transfer" You PhD 2021  
Iskarpatyoti, Jason "Metabolic Regulation of Mast Cell Regranulation" Abraham PhD 2021 Postdoc at Duke
Jenks, Jennifer "Rational Vaccine Design Against Cytomegalovirus" Permar PhD 2021  
Holmes, Zack “Dietary Manipulation of Metabolic Function in the Human Gut Microbiome” David PhD 2021  
Singh, Tulika "Maternal B Cell and Antibody Responses to Zika Virus for Design of Immune Interventions in Pregnancy" Permar PhD 2021  
Antonia, Alex "Understanding Mechanisms and Pathogen Diversity of 
Leishmania- Mediated CXCL10 Suppression"
Ko MD/PhD 2021 Internal medicine residency at Duke
Detter, Matt "Investigating the Pathogenesis and Response to Therapy of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations using Transgenic Murine Models" Marchuk MD/PhD 2021 Internal medicine residency at UPenn
Gibbs, Kyle "Natural Genetic Variants in Humans and Salmonellae 
Underlie Variable Infection Outcomes" 
Ko PhD 2021 IRACDA postdoc at Tufts
Stantial, Nicole "Stabilization of Topoisomerase 2 Mutants Initiates the Formation of Duplications in DNA” Jinks-Robertson PhD 2021  

2020

       
Zhang, Albert "Using C. elegans as a model to study glial development" Yan PhD 2020  
McFadden, Mike "Characterizing novel molecular regulators of antiviral gene expression" Horner PhD 2020 Postdoc at University of Michigan
Harding, Al "Viral- and host-targeted interventions to improve influenza disease outcomes" Heaton PhD 2020 Postdoc at MIT
Brown, Hannah "Fungal Membrane pH-sensing: 
How Cryptococcus avoids being basic"
Alspaugh PhD 2020 Postdoc at Harvard Medical school 
Chang, Zanetta “On Mechanisms of Resistance in the Human Fungal Pathogen Mucor circinelloides ” Heitman MD/PhD 2020  
Dumm, Rebekah “Non-lytic clearance of influenza B virus as a host defense mechanism” Heaton PhD 2020 Postdoc at UPenn
Lu, Kuan-Yi "Plasmodium falciparum Chaperones and Stress Response" Derbyshire PhD 2020 Postdoc at Duke
Choe, Ha Na "Estrogen’s Impact on the Specialized Transcriptome, Brain, and Vocal Learning Behavior of a Sexually Dimorphic Songbird" Matsunami PhD 2020  
Hughes, Kelly "Fates of HIV-infected renal epithelial cells following virus acquisition from infected macrophages" Klotman PhD 2020  

2019

       
Roder, Allison “New Insights into Hepatitis C Virus Assembly and Envelopment” Horner PhD 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow, NIAID
Moreno, Angelo "Exploring the interface between therapeutically relevant polymers and the immune system" Sullenger* PhD 2019  
Pianalto, Kaila “Responses to Antifungal and Alkaline pH Stress in Human Fungal Pathogens” Alspaugh* PhD 2019

Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept of Biology, Glass laboratory, UC-Berkley

Murdoch, Caitlin “Mechanisms Underlying Commensal Microbiota Colonization of the Intestine and Effects on Innate Immunity” Rawls PhD 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Eric Skaar, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University
Passer, Andrew “Diversity of Species and Sexual Reproduction in the Fungal Genus Cryptococcus” Heitman PhD 2019 Regulatory Coordinator, Duke University Medical Center
Hu, Serene “Concentration-dependent recruitment of mammalian odorant receptors” Matsunami PhD 2019  
Espenschied, Ted “Chemical and Microbial
Regulation of Epithelial 
Homeostasis and Innate Immunity”
Rawls PhD 2019 Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Thad Stappenbeck, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
Messinger, Joshua “Understanding Molecular Heterogeneity
During EBV Latency”
Luftig PhD 2019  
Gokhale, Nandan “RNA Modifications Go Viral” Horner PhD 2019 Postdoc at Univ of WA
Vazquez, Christine “Novel mechanisms of innate immune regulation by hepatitis C virus” Horner PhD 2019 Postdoc at UPenn
Mosaheb, Mubeen “Genetically Stable Poliovirus Vectors Activate Dendritic Cells and Prime Antitumor CD8 T Cell Immunity” Gromeier* PhD 2019  
Esoda, Caitlin “Aminopeptidase-Dependent Modulation of Bacterial Biofilms by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Outer Membrane Vesicles” Kuehn* PhD 2019  

2018

       
Chen, Po-Han “Metabolic Regulation of 
Kelch-like Proteins Through 
O-glycosylation”
Chi PhD 2018 Postdoc at Yale
Finethy, Ryan "Interferon-inducible GTPases as positive and negative regulators of inflammasomes" Coers PhD 2018 Postdoc at Duke
Arifuzzaman, Mohammad “Cooption of Innate Immune Cells in Promoting and Combating Infections” Abraham* PhD 2018  
Walton, Ross “Activation and Subversion of MDA5-Dependent Immune Responses by the Engineered Oncolytic Poliovirus PVSRIPO” Gromeier* PhD 2018  
Martinez, David “Maternal Env-specific IgG Responses in HIV-infected Women” Permar* PhD 2018 Postdoc at UNC-CH
McNulty, Shannon “Genomic and Epigenomic Attributes of Alpha Satellite Underlying Function Within the Human Centromere Region” Sullivan PhD 2018 Postdoc at UNC-CH
Posfai, Dora “Elucidating Plasmodium liver stage biology through transcriptomic approaches” Derbyshire* PhD 2018  
Jaslow, Sarah "The Salmonella Effector SarA Activates STAT3 to Promote an Anti-Inflammatory Response and Increase Virulence"
 
Ko PhD 2018  
Campos, Rafael "Ribosomal proteins RPLP1 and RPLP2 are host factors critically required for flavivirus
infectivity by promoting efficient viral translation elongation"
Garcia-Blanco* PhD 2018  
Lai, Helen "Regulation of Morphogenetic Events in Saccharomyces cerevisiae" Lew* PhD 2018  
Renshaw, Hilary "Myosin V Function and Regulation in the Morphogenesis of Aspergillus Fumigatus" Steinbach* PhD 2018  
Nelson, Cody "Defining the role of antibodies in protection against cytomegalovirus acquisition and congenital disease for rational vaccine design" Permar* PhD 2018  
Mefferd, Adam "HIV-1 as a Target for the Cas9 DNA Editing Enzyme and the Development of Novel sgRNA Expression Technology" Cullen PhD 2018  
Bryant, Jeffrey "Regulation of HIF-1α during Hypoxia by DAP5-Induced Translation of PHD2" Gromeier* PhD 2018  
Tay, Matthew "Fc-Dependent Antibody Functions against HIV-1" Tomaras* PhD 2018  
Piro, Anthony "The Role of Human Guanylate Binding Proteins in Host Defense and Inflammation" Coers PhD 2018  
Hafez, Amy "Establishment of oncogene-induced senescence by the host DNA damage response after EBV infection" Luftig PhD 2018  
Esher, Shannon "Fungal Cell Wall Remodeling Directos Host Immune Recognition" Alspaugh* PhD 2018  
Walton, Eric "Cell Wall Lipids Promoting Host Angiogenesis During Mycobacterial Infection" Tobin PhD 2018  

2017

       
Shumansky, Kara   Sullenger* MS 2017 Pfizer
Alvarez, Monica "Human Genetic Variation in VAC14 Alters Susceptibility to Pathogenic Infections" Ko PhD 2017 Duke
Kleinstein, Sarah "Human Genomics of Complex Trait Severity" Goldstein* PhD 2017 Columbia
Saelens, Joseph "Genomic, genetic, and functional interrogation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis outbreak strains" Tobin PhD 2017 Postdoc, at Duke, Medicine - ID
Poling, Brigid "The Epstein-Barr Virus-encoded BHRF1 miRNAs Regulate Viral Gene Expression in Cis" Cullen PhD 2017 Artech Information Systems
Snavely, Emily "Functional Characterization of Type II Secretion in Chlamydia" Valdivia PhD 2017 Postdoc at Wadsworth Center, Albany, NY
Carpenter, Victoria "The C. trachomatis effector protein TepP hijacks host cell signaling pathways to promote bacterial survival during infection" Valdivia PhD 2017 Medical School
Mitchell, Caitlyn   Silver MS 2017 Genetic Counseling Graduate Student at University of South Carolina
Schmidt, Elyse "The Role of Irgm1 In Mitochondrial Dynamics and Metabolism" Taylor* PhD 2017 PreScouter Global Scholar
Feeley, Eric "The role of Galectic 3 in pathogen sensing and cell autonomous defense" Coers PhD 2017 Field Application Scientist, Gyros Protein Technologies
Cao, Xiou "Neuronal Regulation of the Innate Immune Response in Caenorhabditis elegans" Aballay PhD 2017 Postdoc at Stanford
Homa, Nicholas "Virus-Host Interactions during Epstein-Barr Virus Latent Infection of B cells" Luftig PhD 2017 Nuventra Pharma Sciences
Sharma, Ruchira "Olfactory receptor accessory proteins play crucial roles in receptor function and gene choice" Matsunami PhD 2017 Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF
Levitt, Brandt "Drug Development in Dengue Virus and Molecular Epidemiology of Malaria in Western Kenya" Chi and Taylor* PhD 2017 Research Analyst, UNC
Vargas-Muñiz, José "Septins' Role in Morphogenesis, Development, and Pathogenesis of the Human Fungal Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus" Steinbach* PhD 2017 Postdoc at UNC-CH

2016

       
Nicholson, Cindo "The development and application of a method to quantitatively identify RNA binding sites, and whole transcript targets of RNA binding proteins" Keene PhD 2016 Postdoc, IRTA Fellow at NIEHS
Barrows, Nicholas "Characterization of host factors and anti-viral compounds for diverse mosquito-borne flavivurses" Garcia-Blanco* PhD 2016 Postdoc, Univ of Texas
Ang, Weixingladys "Mechanisms of rush desensitization in mast cells" Abraham* PhD 2016 Postdoc Research Fellow, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Landau, Dustin "Multiple Approaches to Novel GSD Ia Therapies" Koeberl* PhD 2016 Research Associate, Quintiles
Price, Alexander "Temporal Regulation of LMP1 and Apoptosis Resistance After Primary EBV" Luftig PhD 2016 Postdoc, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Zhao, Ying "Physical and genetic analysis of the CUP1 tandem array in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae" Petes PhD 2016 JD Candidate, Northwestern Law School
Baxter, Ryan   Valdivia MS 2016 Research Assistant, Univ of CO
Woods, Benjamin "Mechanisms of Cdc42 polarization in yeast" Lew* PhD 2016 Postdoc, UNC-CH
Zhou, Ting "Transcriptome and Functional Analysis of Carotid Body Glomus Cells" Matsunami PhD 2016 Postdoc, Duke
Rempe, Katherine "Insights into nonpilus adhesin functionality and the molecular determinants of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzaecolonization" St. Geme* PhD 2016 Clinical Research, Actelion Pharmaceuticals
Starr, Kimberly "The genetic and molecular basis for Kingella kingaeencapsulation and capsule diversity" St. Geme* PhD 2016 Clinical Microbiology and Public Health Fellow at University of Washington
Brown, Mike "Antineoplastic Cytotoxicity and Immune Adjuvancy of Recominant Oncolytic Poliovirus" Gromeier* PhD 2016 Postdoc Associate, Duke
Lu, Yi-Fan "Functional Evaluation of Causal Mutations Identified in Human Genetic Studies" Goldstein PhD 2016 Postdoc Research Scientist at Columbia University

2015

       
Pilla-Moffett, Danielle "Mechanisms by Which Guanylate Binding Proteins Target Pathogen Vacuoles and Promote Caspase-11 Dependent Pyroptosis" Coers PhD 2015 Project Management, Regulatory Affairs at Nuventra Pharma Sciences
Frank, Christopher "Chromatin Accessibility Dynamics Underlying Development and Disease" Crawford* PhD 2015 Scientist, Element Genomics in Durham, NC
Cho, Jang Eun (Lisa) "Topoisomerase 1-dependent Mutagenesis in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae"
Jinks-Robertson PhD 2015 Postdoc, Duke
Kokes, Marcela "Mechanisms of ChlamydiaManipulation of Host Cell Biology Revealed Through Genetic Approaches" Valdivia PhD 2015 HHMI Postdoc, at Stanford
Kang, Dong "EBV BART microRNAs target pro-apoptotic and anti-Wnt signaling genes to promote cell survival and proliferation" Cullen PhD 2015 Business consultant, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting Group, Japan
Smith, Kristen Jurcic "Examining Mycobacterial Interactions with Host Cellular Pathways" Lee* PhD 2015 Technical Director at LabCorp
Perley, Casey "Mycobacterium tubercolosissurface-binding antibodies alter early infection events" Frothingham* PhD 2015 Postdoc, US Army Medical Research, Infectious Diseases
Miao, Yuxuan "Mechanisms of Bacterial Expulsion as a Cell Autonomous Defense Strategy In the Bladder Epithelium" Abraham* PhD 2015 Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow at Rockefeller University
Whisnant, Adam "Interactions of Mammalian Retroviruses with Cellular MicroRNA Biogenesis and Effector Pathways: Cullen PhD 2015 Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at Universität Würzburg

2014

       
Tamika Payne   Tomaras* PhD 2014 Microbiologist/ Interdisciplinary Risk Assessor, USDA
Krupp, Deidre   Gregory* PhD 2014 Postdoc, Oregon Health & Science University

2013

       
Bowen, Samantha   Abraham* PhD 2013 Director of Operations at Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development
MacDonald, Ian   Kuehn* PhD 2013 Postdoc Research Associate, 
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Mobley, Yuvon   Abraham* PhD 2013 Medical Affairs Manager at Assurex Health
Prest (Hoefs), Tiffany   Seed* PhD 2013 Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Colorado Boulder
Traver, Maria   Taylor* PhD 2013 Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

2012

       
Frahm, Marc   Ferrari/Tomaras* PhD 2012 Equity Research Associate at Cowen and Company
Kulp, Adam   Kuehn* PhD 2012 Scientist, Micronature in Morgantown, WV
Mitchel, Kat   Jinks-Robertson PhD 2012 Genetics Development Scientist at Invitae
Nikitin, Pavel   Luftig PhD 2012 Senior Scientist at Bioverativ
Porsch, Eric A.   St. Geme* PhD 2012 Research Associate II at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Shveygert, Mayya   Gromeier* PhD 2012 Senior Writing Associate, AMGEN
Kotula, Jonathan   Sullenger* PhD 2012 Senior Scientist, Caribou Bisciences, Berkeley, CA

2011

       
Bateman, Stacey   Seed* PhD 2011 Research Scholar
Chutkan, Halima   Kuehn* PhD 2011 Medical Writer, Whitsell Innovations
Jorgensen, Ine   Valdivia PhD 2011 Researcher, Oslo Univ. Hospital in Riskshospitalet Oslo, Norway

2010

       
Byrnes, Edmond   Heitman PhD 2010 Chief, Public Liaision Group National Institutes of Health, NINR, Bethesda, MD
Chen, Julia (Ling-Yu)   Chi PhD 2010 Scientist, San Francisco Bay Area
Findley, Keisha   Heitman PhD 2010 Scientist, FDA
Jin, Cong   Abraham* PhD 2010 Associate Professor
China CDC
Kim, Jong Wook   Nevins PhD 2010 Post-Doctoral Fellow
Hahn Lab
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Lee, Phoebe S.   Petes PhD 2010 Trigent Solutions, Chantilly, VA
Mudrak, Ben "Secretion and lipopolysaccharide binding of heat-labile enterotoxin" Kuehn* PhD 2010 Communication Manager, Research Square
Saunders, Kevin   Tomaras* PhD 2010 Assistant Professor of Surgery, Duke
Walters, Robert   Gromier* PhD 2010 Research Associate, U of Colorado, Boulder

2009

       
Cocchiaro, Jordan   Valdivia PhD 2009 Program Manager, DHVI
Miller, Heather B.   Garcia-Blanco PhD 2009 Assistant Professor in Chemistry, High Point, NC
Sessions, October   Garcia-Blanco PhD 2009 Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Sheets, Amanda "Cha-Cha-Cha: Variable adhesive activity of the Haemophilus cryptic genospecies trimeric autotransporter Cha" St. Geme* PhD 2009 Associate Director, Drug Development (Microbiologist) - Cempra Pharmaceuticals
Sena (Spesock), April   Pickup PhD 2009 Director of Technical Development at Seqirus, Liverpool UK
Tekippe, Mickey   Aballay PhD 2009 Duke University Medical School
Vignola, Mark   Valdivia PhD 2009 Director, Investor Relations at Intercept Pharmaceuticals

2008

       
Chen, Shao-Yin "Identification and functional characterization of erythrocyte microRNAs" Chi PhD 2008 Medical Science Liaison at Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.
Hsueh, Yen-Ping "Sex in Cryptococcus: Signaling, mating-type locus evolution and gene silencing" Heitman PhD 2008 Post-Doctoral Fellow
Sternberg Lab 
California Institute of Technology
Natalizio, Barbara "Examination of the role of the carboxyl-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II in coupling transcription to mRNA splicing" Garcia-Blanco PhD 2008 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at National Science Foundation
Reedy, Jennifer "Sexual reproduction and signal transduction in the Candida species complex" Heitman PhD 2008 Assistant in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital; Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Song, Jeongmin "Toll like receptor 4-mediated immune responses in the bladder epithelium" Abraham* PhD 2008 Assistant Professor at Cornell University
Styer (Vignola), Katie Letitia "Using genetic analysis and the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans to identify bacterial virulence factors and innate immune defenses against pathogens" Aballay PhD 2008 Associate at McKinsey & Company
Umbach, Jennifer Lin "Analysis of the interaction between viruses, miRNAs and RNAi pathway" Cullen PhD 2008 Associate Director, Marketing at Orexo AB

2007

       
Bishop, Brian Lee "Regulated exocytosis of E. coli from infected bladder epithelial cells" Abraham* PhD 2007 Senior Manager, Regulatory Affairs at Emergent BioSolutions
Hall, Charles Robert "The contribution of horizontal gene transfer to the evolution fungi" Dietrich PhD 2007 Scientist II at Dupont Industrial Biosciences
Kadyrova, Lyudmila Yurievna "Using nucleic acids to repair β-globin gene mutations" Wharton PhD 2007 Research Associate
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Lynch, Heather Elizabeth "Poxvirus-mediated activation of NF-B" Pickup PhD 2007 Shared Resource Laboratory Manager at Duke Human Vaccine Institute
Mauger, David Michael "Regulation of the alternative splicing of FGFR2 in epithelial cells" Garcia-Blanco PhD 2007 Scientist, Molecular Biology & Informatics at Moderna Therapeutics
Valley, Cory M. "Genomic analysis of chromatin organization on mammalian X chromosomes" Willard PhD 2007 Law School, University of Maryland

2006

       
Baraniak, Andrew Paul "Fox proteins mediate epithelial-specific fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 exon choice" Cullen PhD 2006 Technology Specialist for Biotechnical and Medical Patients
Fish & Richardson
Bray, Steven Matthew "Analysis of a putative pheromone receptor sub-family within the Drosophila gustatory receptor gene family" Amrein PhD 2006 Scientist, Eli Lilly and Company
Campbell, Stephanie Ann "Exploiting cell type-specific translational control for cancer treatment" Gromeier* PhD 2006 Medical Science Liaison
Novartis Vaccines
de Sessions, Paola Florez "CIS and TRANS-acting factors in enteroviral propagation" Gromeier* PhD 2006 National University of Singapore
Doehle, Brian Paul "APOBEC3-mediated intrinsic immunity to retroviral infection" Cullen PhD 2006 Scientist, Gilead Sciences
Merrill, Melinda Kay "Attentuation of PV-Ripo neurovirulence at the level of translation initiation" Gromeier* PhD 2006 Medical Science Liaison
Biogen
Song, Yan "Localization and translational regulation of NANOS mRNA in Drosophila embryos" Amrein PhD 2006 Principal Investigator, Peking University

2005

       
Dufresne, Andrew Thomas "Immunogenicity and neruopathogenesis of human Enterovirus C" Gromeier* PhD 2005 Associate at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP
Duncan, Matthew Jason "Pathogenesis of UTIs" Abraham* PhD 2005 Engineered Products, S2n
Hall, Allison Haberstroh "RNA interference as a potential therapy: Examining silencing of HPV oncogenes and the behavior of modified siRNAs" Pickup PhD 2005 Assistant Professor,
Department of Pathology
Duke University
Zhang, Zhihong "The experimental and comparative study of functional elements in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome" Dietrich PhD 2005 Illumina

2004

       
Blankenship, Jill R. "Lessons from a pathogen: Calcineurin in Candida albicans" Heitman PhD 2004 Assistant Professor, U of Nebraska, Omaha
Lu, Shihua "RNA biogenesis: Lessons from mRNA and miRNA" Cullen PhD 2004 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Yi, Rui "Nuclear RNA export: From messenger RNA to microRNA" Cullen PhD 2004 Associate Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder