Graduate Students
Graduate students from six of the eight programs offered by the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences conduct research in the Department of Biology. The department also supports graduate students from the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), a joint effort between Georgia Tech, Laney Graduate School, and the Emory School of Medicine, and we support graduate students from the Emory Department of Physics and the Emory School of Public Health.
- BCDB: Biochemistry, Cell, and Developmental Biology
- BME: Biomedical Engineering
- CB: Cancer Biology
- GMB: Genetics and Molecular Biology
- MMG: Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
- NS: Neuroscience
- Physics: Physics/Biological Physics
- PBEE: Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
- RPH: Rollins School of Public Health
Julia De Amorim
Email: julia.amorim@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Corbett
Research Interests: Julia is a Ph.D. candidate in the Biochemistry, Cell, and Developmental Biology (BCDB) program. Her research focuses on mechanisms of RNA turnover/processing and how these mechanisms are important in DNA damage repair.
Jordan Goldy
Email: jnels36@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Corbett
Research Interests: Jordan's interests include understanding the role of Nab2, a conserved RNA-binding protein, in regulating neurodevelopment and whole-body metabolism. For her dissertation, she is investigating the role of Nab2 in regulating mRNA transcripts critical for proper metabolic function.
Lydia Gutema
Email: lgutema@emory.edu
Advisor: Jitendra Thakur
Research Interests: xxx
Carly Lancaster
Email: carly.laurel.lancaster@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Corbett, Ken Moberg
Research Interests: Carly’s Research interests focus on understanding the role of a conserved RNA binding protein, Nab2, in neurodevelopment and neurodevelopmental disease. Her dissertation will uncover mechanisms by which Nab2 regulates splicing of RhoGEF trio isoforms to govern axon development.
Maria Sterrett
Email: maria.carson.sterrett@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Corbett
Research Interests: xxx
Ziben Zhou
Email: ziben.zhou@emory.edu
Advisor: David Gorkin
Research Interests: xxx
Dakshitha B Anandakumar
Email: dananda@emory.edu
Advisor: Robert Liu
Research Interests: I am interested in understanding how the brain processes sounds that are meaningful to us versus those that don’t hold any behavioral significance. My dissertation focuses on plasticity in the auditory cortex for learned sounds that come to drive natural behaviors.
Lisa Meyer-Baese
Email: lisa.meyer-baese@emory.edu
Advisor: Dieter Jaeger
Research Interests: My project combines wide-field voltage imaging with fMRI to study brain dynamics in awake-behaving mice.
Sean O'Connell
Email: smoconn@emory.edu
Advisor: Sam Sober
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Matthew Williams
Email: mwil275@emory.edu
Advisor: Sam Sober
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Kyle Thomas
Email: kthom88@emory.edu
Advisor: Sam Sober
Research Interests: Kyle’s research focuses on understanding how coordination in muscle commands, at the scale of motor units, contributes to the flexible control of locomotion.
Alexander Gulka
Email: alexander.gulka@emory.edu
Advisor: David Gorkin
Research Interests: The BRG1/BRM-associated factors (BAF) chromatin remodeling complexes play a critical role in the regulation of transcriptional programs through their function in establishing accessible chromatin at cis-regulatory elements (cREs). I am interested in the mechanisms and molecular features that govern recruitment of BAF to these cREs in cell-type and stimulus-specific manners. Additionally, I hope to elucidate mechanisms by which mutations in BAF subunits lead to dysfunction and/or mislocalization of these complexes, with a specific focus on interrogating BAF mutations associated with human neurodevelopmental disease.
Lauren Hodkinson
Email: lauren.jessica.hodkinson@emory.edu
Advisor: Leila Rieder
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Dylan Holder 
Email: dylan.harris.holder@emory.edu
Advisor: Roger Deal
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Ellen Krall
Email: ellen.grace.krall@emory.edu
Advisor: Roger Deal
Research Interests: I'm broadly interested in understanding the dynamics of DNA packaging in plants and how this packaging is modulated in response to internal and external signals. I'm currently investigating how histone variant H2A.Z is targeted in the genome of model plant organism Arabidopsis thaliana by protein MBD9.
Yonina Loskove
Email: yonina.loskove@emory.edu
Advisor: David Gorkin
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Olivia Morrison
Email: olivia.morrison@emory.edu
Advisor: Jitendra Thakur
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Thomas O'Haren
Email: thomas.edward.o'haren@emory.edu
Advisor: Leila Rieder
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Brianna Silver
Email: brianna.silver@emory.edu
Advisor: Roger Deal
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Courtney Willett
Email: courtney.grace.willett@emory.edu
Advisor: Roger Deal
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Amber Coats
Email: amber.nicole.coats@emory.edu
Advisor: Katia Koelle
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Brandon Berryhill
Email: berryh@emory.edu
Advisor: Bruce Levin
Research Interests: Brandon's research focuses on understanding the population and evolutionary dynamics of bacteriophage and their bacterial hosts. His dissertation will focus on the joint action of bacteriophage, antibiotics, and the innate immune system
Sena Agezo
Email: sena.agezo@emory.edu
Advisors: Robert Liu, Gordon Berman
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Hymavathy Balasubramanian
Email: hbalas2@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Benjamin Dykstra
Email: bdykstr@emory.edu
Advisor: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Michael Hess
Email: mhess3@emory.edu
Advisor: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Jennifer Isaac
Email: jsisaac@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Jarildy Javier
Email: jarildy.javier@emory.edu
Advisors: Malavika Murugan, Larry Young
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Taylor Kahl
Email: taylor.marissa.kahl@emory.edu
Advisor: Dieter Jaeger
Research Interests: I’m a computational neuroscientist specializing in biophysically detailed neuronal modeling. My research interests are in understanding movement control, movement disorders, and movement rehabilitation. Currently, I am modeling the activity of L5b pyramidal neurons in motor cortex during movement execution, and analyzing how these neurons integrate inputs from the motor thalamus and other movement-related areas, in normal and Parkinsonian conditions.
Andrea Pack
Email: andrea.r.pack@emory.edu
Advisor: Sam Sober
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Leila May Pascual
Email: leila.may.pascual@emory.edu
Advisor: Sam Sober
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Maha Rashid
Email: maha.haseeb.rashid@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Yunmiao Wang
Email: yunmiao.wang@emory.edu
Advisor: Dieter Jaeger
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Kofi Vordzorgbe
Email: jvordzo@emory.edu
Advisor: Sam Sober
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Carmen Alvarez
Email: carmen.alvarez@emory.edu
Advisor: Nic Vega
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
KM Barnett
Email: kmbarn4@emory.edu
Advisor: Dave Civitello
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Lynda Bradley
Email: lynda.michele.bradley@emory.edu
Advisor: Dave Civitello, Lance A. Waller
Research Interests: The effect of resource pulses on host-parasite dynamics
Jason Chen
Email: jason.chen2@emory.edu
Advisors: Nic Vega, Nicole Gerardo
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Marissa Duckett
Email: mducket@emory.edu
Advisors: Nic Vega, Nicole Gerardo
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Mackenzie Hoogshagen
Email: mackenzie.hoogshagen@emory.edu
Advisors: Japp de Roode, David Civitello
Research Interests: My research focuses on chemical ecology and energy budget modeling. I am interested in understanding how climate change may alter host-parasite interactions, and I use monarch butterflies, their milkweed plants and their protozoan parasites as a model system.
Mitchell Kendzel
Email: mitchell.kendzel@emory.edu
Advisors: Jaap de Roode, Lance A. Waller
Research Interests: Mitchell’s research focuses on movement ecology and sensory biology. His dissertation will use computer simulations and the monarch butterfly as a model system to study how an animal’s navigation strategy influences their used migratory pathways to inform conservation efforts.
Michelle McCauley
Email: michelle.anne.mccauley@emory.edu
Advisor: Levi Morran
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Sandra Mendiola
Email: sandra.mendiola@emory.edu
Advisors: Nicole Gerardo, Dave Civitello
Research Interests: Insect-microbe interactions and their effects on vector competence
Xorla Ocloo
Email: xorla.seyram.ocloo@emory.edu
Advisor: Dave Civitello, Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec
Research Interests: Xorla’s research broadly focuses on the interconnected relationship between society and ecosystems. Her current work involves sustainable rice-farming practices in northern Senegal using a multifaceted aquatic plant.
Yeongseon Park
Email: yeongseon.park@emory.edu
Advisor: Katia Koelle
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Nadia Raytselis
Email: nraytse@emory.edu
Advisor: Dave Civitello
Research Interests: Nadia's research focuses on the ecology of complex life cycle parasites. In her work, she uses both empirical and theoretical methods across ecological scales. Her dissertation will determine the ecological plausibility of fish as a secondary intermediate host of Guinea Worm Disease (GWD), specifically assessing the role of fish predation and its potential contrasting effects on GWD transmission. This work will elucidate the importance of fish in GW transmission in endemic countries, allowing for improved eradication efforts and an expansion of our understanding of the eradication of complex life cycle parasites.
Jacoby Robinson
Email: jacoby.robinson@emory.edu
Advisor: Nicole Gerardo
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Ananya Saha
Email: asaha33@emory.edu
Advisor: Katia Koelle
Research Interests:
Kelsey Shaw
Email: kelsey.erin.shaw@emory.edu
Advisor: Dave Civitello
Research Interests: I am interested in host-parasite interactions across scales and eco-immunology. I am currently studying the impact of host traits and community composition on the transmission of schistosomes, the causative agent of the Neglected Tropical Disease schistosomiasis.
Emily Smith
Email: ebsmit4@emory.edu
Advisor: Levi Morran
Research Interests:
Kanishk Jain
Email: kanishk.jain@emory.edu
Advisors: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Kanishk’s research focuses on creating mathematical representations of free behavior in animals using tools from physics, mathematics and deep learning. He uses these quantitative, multi-timescale descriptions to understand neural underpinnings of behavior.
Rajpreet Kaur
Email: rajpreet.kaur@emory.edu
Advisors: Gordon Berman
Research Interests:
