2012 Graduates

Bradley Yates
Directed Evolution of a Fluorogen-Activating Single Chain Antibody for Function and Enhanced Brightness in the Cytoplasm
Advisor: Peter Berget

Kaitlyn Dykstra
Yip1A Structures the Endoplasmic Reticulum
Advisor: Tina Lee
Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Robert Tarran's Laboratory, UNC Chapel Hill

Kalin Vasilev
Novel Biosensor System for Reporting Membrane Protein Proximity and Cell Surface Contacts in Living Cells
Advisor: Jonathan Jarvik
Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University

Qi Yan
FAP Based New Applications for Super-resolution Imaging and Quantification of Receptor Trafficking
Advisor: Marcel Bruchez
Scientist at Sharp Edge Labs

Brenna McCauley, Ph.D.
Gene Regulatory Network Changes Associated with the Evolution of a Novel Cell Population in Sea Urchin Embryos
Advisor: Veronica Hinman

Kristen Yankura, Ph.D.
Mechanisms of Ectodermal Patterning in a Dipleurula-like Sea Star Larva and the Evolutionary Origins of Centralized Nervous Systems
Advisor: Veronica Hinman
Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Elissa Hallem's Laboratory, UCLA

Jing Wen, Ph.D.
Experience-dependent Plasticity of Layer 2/3 Circuits in Developing Somatosensory Neocortex
Advisor: Alison Barth
Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Nathan Urban's Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University

Elmer Ker, Ph.D.
Monitoring and Engineering of the Stem Cell Microenvironment: Inkjet Printing of Growth Factors onto Novel Scaffolds for Controlling Musculoskeletal Stem Cell Differentiation and Alignment and Development of a Computer Vision-based System to Characterize Stem Cell Growth
Advisor: Phil Campbell
Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Yunzhi Peter Yang's Laboratory, Stanford University

2011 Graduates

Jeanne Morin-Leisk, Ph.D.
Mechanistic Insights into ER Network Branching by the Large GTPase Atlastin

Advisor: Tina Lee
Postdoctoral Fellow at Jenny Hinshaw's Laboratory, National Institutes of Health characterizing the structures, activities and mechanisms of the proteins in the dynamin superfamily of large GTPases

Nina Senutovitch, Ph.D.
Isolation and Characterization of Fluoromodules
Advisor: Peter Berget

John Holleran, Ph.D.
Fluorescence Platform Development for Detection of Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Trafficking
Advisor: Jonathan Jarvik
Dr. Simon Watkins' Laboratory, Center for Biologic Imaging, University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Pay Frizzell's Laboratory at Children's Hospital in  Pittsburgh

Shantanu Ganguly, Ph.D.
Analysis of Cell-cell Signaling in C. albicans Biofilms
Advisor: Aaron Mitchell
Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Aaron Mitchell's Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University

Melissa Witzberger Krajcovic, Ph.D.
Investigating the Role of Myosin II During the Cell Shape Changes of Ventral Furrow Formation
Advisor: Jon Minden
Adjunct Faculty at Grove City College teaching genetics

Shu Ying Kwan, Ph.D.
The Flip Side of Osteoimmunity: Crosstalk Between Stem Cells, BMP-2 and Innate Immune Cells, and the Control of Osteoblastogenesis
Advisor: Phil Campbell

Michael Chen, Ph.D.
Regulation of Non-Exonic Recursive Splicing in Drosophila melanogaster
Advisor: Javier Lopez

Maureen E. StolzeR, Ph.D.
Phylogenetic Inference for Multidomain Proteins
Advisor: Dannie Durand

Smita Yadav, Ph.D.
Mechanistic and Functional Aspects in Positioning of the Golgi Apparatus in Mammalian Cells
Advisor: Adam Linstedt

Parker H. Mills, Ph.D.
Computational Methods for Enhancing Sensitivity to MRI Cell-tracking Agents
Advisor: Eric Ahrens

Corey Flynn,  Ph.D.
Molecular Correlates of Visual System Development
Advisor: Justin Crowley

Tara Sharma, Ph.D.
Analysis of a Developmental Gene Regulatory Network in the Sea Urchin Embryo During Normal and Regulative Development
Advisor: Charles Ettensohn

Ken Hovis, Ph.D.
Analysis of Functional Circuitry and the Effect of Activity Across Development in the Mouse Accessory Olfactory System
Advisor: Nathan Urban

Bistra Iordanova, Ph.D.
Ferritin-based Reporter Genes for Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Brain
Advisor: Eric Ahrens
Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Eric Ahrens's Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon Univesity

Deepak Kadayakkara, Ph.D.
Advances in ¹⁹F Cellular MRI to Study Inflammation and Cancer
Advisor: Eric Ahrens
Postdoctoral Fellow at Levitsky Laboratory, Department of Oncology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine

2010 Graduates

Brett Benedetti, Ph.D.
Experience-dependent Plasticity and Development of Neocortical Columnar Circuits
Advisor: Alison Barth
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Fishell Lab, New York University

Mengning Zhou, Ph.D.
On the Function of the Tumor Suppressor APC Gene Product using Drosophila melanogaster as a Model System
Advisor: Brooke McCartney

Connor Murphy, Ph.D.
Optimization of Guanine Quadruplex-targeted Peptide Nucleic Acids
Advisor: Bruce Armitage

Panagiotis Papasaikas, Ph.D.
Computational and Functional Analyses of Splicing Regulation
Advisors: A. Javier Lopez and Russell Schwartz
Postdoctoral Fellow at Valcarcel Lab, Department de Regulacion Genica, the Centre de Regulacio Genomica

Aarti Sahasranaman, Ph.D.
Understanding Principles of Ribosome Biogenesis by Focusing on One Step in Assembly of 60S Ribosomal Subunits in Yeast
Advisor: John Woolford
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dr. John Woolford's Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University

Debrup Sengupta, Ph.D.
Mechanism of GRASP65 Mediated Organelle Tethering and its Regulation
Advisor: Adam Linstedt
Postdoctoral Fellow at Department of Immunobiology, Yale University

Sonal Shruti, Ph.D.
Activity-Induced Gain-of-Function in BK Channels and Beta4-Dependent Regulation of Channel Trafficking
Advisor: Alison Barth
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Marder Laboratory, Brandeis University

2009 Graduates

Kaustubh Sinha, Ph.D.
Biochemical and Biophysical Studies of Human Glutathione Transferases
Advisor: Gordon Rule
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Jen-Jacobson Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh

Sandra Zimmerman, Ph.D.
Regulation of Cell Shape by the Canonical Wnt Pathway
Advisor: Brooke McCartney
Postdoctoral Fellow at Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington

Rebecca Webb, Ph.D.
Cytoskeletal Organization in the Drosophila Syncytical Embryo
Advisor: Brooke McCartney
Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown

2008 Graduates

Tamara Berdyyeva, Ph.D.
Neuronal Representation of Ordinal Position in Monkey Frontal Cortex
Advisor: Carl Olson
Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Salk Institute

Timothy Feinstein, Ph.D.
A New Model For Feedback Between Ribbon Structure of the Golgi Apparatus and Mitotic Cell Cycle Progression
Advisor: Adam Linstedt
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Vilardaga Lab, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Anupam Goyal, Ph.D.
Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton in Drosophila Ventral Furrow Formation
Advisor: Jonathan Minden
Student in the MBA Program at Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University

Yusong Guo, Ph.D.
Role of Vesicle Coat Machinery in Golgi Homeostasis and Organization
Advisor: Adam Linstedt
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University

Vikrant Kapoor, Ph.D.
Timing and Reliability of Activity in the Main Olfactory Bulb
Advisor: Nathan Urban
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University

Krishnan Padmanabhan, Ph.D.
The Role of Spontaneous Retinal Activity in the Anatomical Development of Early Visual Circuits
Advisor: Justin Crowley
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University

Lan Tang, Ph.D.
Protein-protein Interactions and their Functions in Ribosome Biogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Advisor: John Woolford
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University

Jingyu Zhang, Ph.D.
Physical and Functional Interactions Among Factors Required for One Step in Assembly of 60S Ribosomal Subunits in Yeast
Advisor: John Woolford
Cell Biologist at GE Global Research Center