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
- IMP: Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis
- MMG: Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
- NS: Neuroscience
- Physics: Physics/Biological Physics
- PBEE: Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
- RPH: Rollins School of Public Health
Jordan Goldy
Email: jnels36@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Corbett and Kenneth Moberg
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.
Ziben Zhou
Email: ziben.zhou@emory.edu
Advisor: David Gorkin
Research Interests: Ziben's research focuses on finding out the molecular mechanism that regulates the function of the ncBAF complex, a subtype of the well-known chromatin remodeling BAF complex. In the Gorkin lab, they primarily use genomic assays including Single-Cell RNA seq and ATAC-seq to assess the phenotypes after we knock out genes of interest in the ncBAF complex.
Tod Butenschon
Email: tod.butenschon@emory.edu
Advisor: Leila Rieder
Research Interests: Tod is interested in how the phase separated histone locus body (HLB) is specifically targeted to the histone genes through the critical scaffolding protein multi sex combs (Mxc). This large and very disordered protein is required for HLB assembly and organismal viability, but it is not clear how Mxc actually finds the locus. Tod aims to characterize the protein and chromatin interactions which facilitate Mxc's highly specific localization.
Betty Duan
Email: elizabeth.duan@emory.edu
Advisor: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Betty is analyzing the behavioral dynamics of C. elegans aging using computational methods. Worms under different genetic and environmental conditions have different lifespans, and Betty aims to identify whether and how behavioral aging patterns differ across these conditions.
Sisi Falcone
Email: sierra.falcone@emory.edu
Advisor: Leila Rieder
Research Interests: Histone genes are commonly clustered within the genomes of numerous species. Sisi is interested in how the organization of histone genes contributes to their regulation. I use the model systems Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila virilis to probe histone gene expression patterns within and between clusters throughout development.
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). Alex is interested in the mechanisms and molecular features that govern recruitment of BAF to these cREs in cell-type and stimulus-specific manners. Additionally, he hopes 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.
Alex won the 2023-2024 GDBBS TATTO Teaching Award for his demonstration of excellence in teaching.
Yonina Loskove
Email: yonina.loskove@emory.edu
Advisor: David Gorkin
Research Interests: XXXXXXX
Thomas O'Haren
Email: thomas.edward.o'haren@emory.edu
Advisor: Leila Rieder
Research Interests: Thomas is interested in how epigenetic marks initiate and maintain transcriptional regulation of genes necessary for proper embryonic development. The Rieder lab uses the canonical histone genes, which are bound by a suite of factors called the histone locus body, in the model system Drosophila melanogaster to investigate these processes.
Nicole Roos
Email: nicole.roos@emory.edu
Advisor: Leila Rieder
Research Interests: Nicole is interested in understanding cancer genetics, epigenetics, and mechanisms of DNA repair/regulation. Her most recent studies focus on how studying mutations in a chromatin remodeling protein called ATRX affect chromatin regulation and ATRX protein function.
Brianna Silver
Email: brianna.silver@emory.edu
Advisor: Roger Deal
Research Interests: Bri studies the role of the histone variant H2A.Z in the modulation of transcription in both stress and developmental contexts in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. By leveraging the inherent plasticity and responsiveness of plants, she induces transcriptional changes with the addition of exogenous hormones and/or environmental alterations, and studies the ability for genes to be turned on or off in the presence or absence of H2A.Z, its related chromatin remodelers, and post-translational modifications. H2A.Z is a highly conserved and indispensable histone variant across eukaryotic evolution, with ~80% sequence conservation shared between Arabidopsis and humans. Because of this, the results of her experiments not only provide important information for how plants respond to stress (an ever-growing need during climate change to ensure food security), but also may shed insight on how H2A.Z works more generally across eukaryotes, with relevancy to human disease such as cancer, where it is known to be commonly overexpressed.
Amber Coats
Email: amber.nicole.coats@emory.edu
Advisor: Katia Koelle
Research Interests: Amber is interested in how viruses evolve in response to selective pressures put in place by to the immune system. Her dissertation project focuses on the role that epistasis plays in human coronavirus evolution and incorporates approaches such as phylogenetic analyses, protein structural modeling, and mathematical modeling. She is currently a trainee in the Infectious Disease Across Scales Training Program at Emory University, and part of her dissertation work incorporates linking infectious disease evolution between within-host and between-host scales.
Hymavathy Balasubramanian
Email: hbalas2@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan
Research Interests: In the lab, Hyma is working towards identifying the extent of shared and distinct representations of social and non-social reward processing present in the reward circuitry and the computations that underlie communication between such representations.
Megan Bishop
Email: megan.bishop@emory.edu
Advisor: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Megan is interested in quantifying the behavioral repertoires of various species to better understand what subtle behavioral differences can tell us about neural evolution.
Yen Ju Chen
Email: yen.ju.chen@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Devineni
Research Interests: Yen Ju's research explores how neural circuit process and integrate information to guide behavior. She focuses on understanding the circuit and signaling mechanisms underlying decision making in Drosophila.
Benjamin Dykstra
Email: bdykstr@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan and Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Benjamin studies the neural substates of social recognition in mouse models. Specifically, he uses cellular resolution calcium imaging and novel computational techniques to determine how familiarity information is encoded and transformed from the hippocampus to the lateral septum.
Abi Grassler
Email: abi.grassler@emory.edu
Advisor: Samuel Sober and Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Currently, Abi’s research investigates patterns of activity in multifunctional muscles during the execution of functionally distinct behaviors.
Michael Hess
Email: mhess3@emory.edu
Advisor: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Michael uses data-driven modeling approaches to evaluate the dynamical stability of the neuromuscular control underlying adaptive locomotion in animals. Using these models, he investigates how perturbations and dysfunctions in neural circuits of flies, mice, and humans contribute to locomotor stabilization mechanisms.
Jarildy Javier
Email: jarildy.javier@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan
Research Interests: Jarildy's thesis work is focused on using calcium imaging to understanding the neural substrates underlying pair bonding behavior in the prairie vole.
Sonia Karkare 
Email: skarkar@emory.edu
Advisor: Malavika Murugan
Research Interests: Sonia is interested in understanding reward-related behaviors and processing in the lateral septum, a subcortical region that has been implicated in a wide range of social and nonsocial behaviors.
Lauren Lang 
Email: lauren.lang@emory.edu
Advisor: Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Lauren is interested in the pursuing research that helps determine the etiology of mental illnesses. Until this lofty goal can be realized, she hopes to identify more effective targets for treating distressing symptoms, to determine methodologies for more effective patient-drug matching, and to develop novel interventions. She wishes to bring a patient-centered approach to her research, prioritizing the needs and wishes of the patients themselves.
Elle McCall 
Email: eleanor.mccall@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Devineni
Research Interests: Elle is interested in understanding the neural circuit mechanisms of sensory processing and behavior. Her research investigates how flies integrate taste signals from different organs to make feeding decisions.
Aranis Muniz Perez 
Email: aranis.muniz.perez@emory.edu
Advisor: David Gorkin
Research Interests: Aranis is interested in utilizing hiPSC models of the brain to understand how dysfunctions in epigenetic machinery contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders.
Leila May Pascual
Email: leila.may.pascual@emory.edu
Advisor: Samuel Sober
Research Interests: Leila studies how the motor system develops patterns of activity to execute reliable and precise skilled behaviors. She combines in vivo electrophysiology recordings with information theoretic tools to understand how neural patterns are reshaped across song acquisition in juvenile Bengalese finches.
Marco Pena Garcia
Email: marco.pena.garcia@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Devineni and Gordon Berman
Research Interests: Marco is interested in the single neuron dynamics underlying higher cognitive processes such as memory and decision making.
Trinity Pruitt
Email: trinity.pruitt@emory.edu
Advisor: Anita Devineni
Research Interests: Trinity's research interests focus on understanding sensory processing and how it influences flexible behavior. Specifically, she uses Drosophila as a model system to understand how and where aversive tastes modulate feeding in the sugar-PER circuit.
Margarita Sison 
Email: margarita.sison@emory.edu
Advisor: Samuel Sober
Research Interests: Currently, Margarita's research focuses on identifying the role of different spinal interneuron populations in flexible motor control. Specifically, she applies quantitative methods to study how different interneuron populations in the spinal cord that generate rhythmic patterns of muscle activity shape locomotion across varying environments.
Kofi Vordzorgbe
Email: jvordzo@emory.edu
Advisor: Samuel Sober
Research Interests: Kofi’s research interest primarily rests in understanding how the brain organizes its neural signals in the control of behavior and in cognitive processes. Understanding these processes in the healthy state can shed light on the bases of the diverse symptoms that arise in the event of neurological diseases.
Andrew Cameron
Email: andrew.cameron@emory.edu
Advisor: Nic Vega and Levi Morran
Research Interests: Andrew's research explores the ecology and evolution of host-symbiont interactions using the model nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans.
Gabe DuBose
Email: james.gabriel.amor.dubose@emory.edu
Advisor: Levi Morran
Research Interests:
Cora Hirst
Email: cora.virginia.hirst@emory.edu
Advisor: Antia Rustom and Daniel Weissman
Research Interests:
Mackenzie Hoogshagen
Email: mackenzie.hoogshagen@emory.edu
Advisors: Japp de Roode and David Civitello
Research Interests: Mackenzie's research focuses on chemical ecology and energy budget modeling. She is interested in understanding how climate change may alter host-parasite interactions, and she uses monarch butterflies, their milkweed plants and their protozoan parasites as a model system.
Ben Lukubye 
Email: ben.lukubye@emory.edu
Advisors: Dave Civitello
Research Interests: Ben is interested in understanding the biology and population structure dynamics of both hosts and parasites causing neglected tropical diseases like schistosomiasis on different scales and how these structures affect disease transmission and efficacy of control strategies at both spatial and temporal scales.
Alison Pagalilauan
Email: alison.pagalilauan@emory.edu
Advisor: Nicole Gerardo
Research Interests:
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.
Andrew Sieben
Email: andrew.j.sieben@emory.edu
Advisor: Dave Civitello
Research Interests: Andrew studies the socio-ecology of schistosomiasis using ecological theory, mathematical models, field experiments, and qualitative research methods. He is currently investigating ecologically based interventions that simultaneously reduce schistosomiasis transmission risk while improving water quality for community use in Tanzania.e lab and has been working on understanding T cell driven selection of Influenza A virus.
Emily Smith
Email: ebsmit4@emory.edu
Advisor: Levi Morran
Research Interests: Emily researches mating system evolution, the evolution of sex, host-parasite coevolution, co-infection.
Elizabeth Somsen
Email: elizabeth.somsen@emory.edu
Advisor: Katia Koelle
Research Interests: Elizabeth is interested in the ecology and evolution of viruses, especially pandemic influenza virus. Her research focuses on integrating mathematical and computational approaches with laboratory experiments to improve pandemic risk assessment.
Derek Wu
Email: derek.wu2@emory.edu
Advisor: Nicole Gerardo
Research Interests: Derek studies host-microbe and microbial ecology using a mutualistic model system consisting of squash bugs and their Caballeronia gut symbionts. Derek uses experimental evolution approaches to assess the relevance of bacterial phenotypes for microbe-microbe competition and host benefit.