Program Trainees
The M&I Training Program is comprised of research trainees across the Microbiology and Immunology department promoting excellence in scientific investigation. The program complements the training received by each graduate student and postdoctoral scholar in the department.
2025-26
Andrea Carroll
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Leonor García-Bayona
- Interest: autoimmunity and uncovering how plasmids shape microbial ecology in the gut
Jonathan Castro
Rotating Graduate Student
Beverly Fu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: KC Huang
- Interest: deploying chemical biology expertise to the structure and function of the small intestinal microbiota
Jeff Hsiao, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Research: investigating host-pathogen interactions that restrict or promote Salmonella intracellular replication in human macrophages
Kevin Jiang
Rotating Graduate Student
Luis Lopez
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Prasanna Jagannathan
- Interest: Malaria, immune tolerance, parasitology, autoimmunity, neglected diseases, and research in resource limited settings
Sayde Perry
Graduate Student
- Advisors: Ami Bhatt and Leonor García-Bayona
- Interest: understanding what makes highly prevalent mobile genetic elements so successful, particularly in context of the gut microbiome
Kate Schubert, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Leonor García-Bayona
- Research: microbial genetics and working to characterize novel plasmids that naturally circulate in the human intestinal microbiota
Aayushi Shah
Rotating Graduate Student
2024-25
Jasmine Arunachalam
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Jennifer Bando
- Interest: the regulation of immunoglobulin gamma (IgG) transport in neonatal mice
Andrea Carroll
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Leonor García-Bayona
- Interest: autoimmunity and uncovering how plasmids shape microbial ecology in the gut
Luis Lopez
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Prasanna Jagannathan
- Interest: Malaria, immune tolerance, parasitology, autoimmunity, neglected diseases, and research in resource limited settings
Kate Miller
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Manuel Amieva
- Interest: investigating the origins and dynamics of H. pylori genome plasticity and the role of mobile genetic elements in virulence
Sayde Perry
Graduate Student
- Advisors: Ami Bhatt and Leonor García-Bayona
- Interest: understanding what makes highly prevalent mobile genetic elements so successful, particularly in context of the gut microbiome
Anita Reddy, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Justin Sonnenburg
- Interest: investigating microbiome response to inflammation and defining the small molecule mediators of these interactions
Amara Thind, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Elizabeth Egan
- Interest: investigating host-pathogen interactions between Plasmodium falciparum and human erythrocytes
Miles Tuncel
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Christine Jacobs-Wagner
- Interest: the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, and the cell biology of the unique glycolipids it incorporates into its membrane
2023-24
Jasmine Arunachalam
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Jennifer Bando
- Interest: the regulation of immunoglobulin gamma (IgG) transport in neonatal mice
Anushweta Asthana, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Peter Jackson
- Research: ciliary mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry in airway epithelial cells
Emma Esterman
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Jan Carette
- Interest: the molecular mechanisms by which proteins in the galectin family influence enterovirus infection
Elysse Grossi-Soyster
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Peter Sarnow (primary), David Schneider (co-mentor)
- Interest: virus-derived circular RNA molecules and their potential contributions to viral pathogenesis
Emma Guiberson, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Justin Sonnenburg
- Research: investigating mechanisms of microbiota-host interaction using mass spectrometry
Savannah Lewis
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Prasanna Jagannathan
- Interest: development of natural immunity to malaria in individuals living in endemic areas
Melissa Steele-Ogus, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Ellen Yeh
- Research: diatoms of the genus Epithemia, a model for understanding endosymbiotic organellogenesis
Miles Tuncel
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Christine Jacobs-Wagner
- Interest: the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, and the cell biology of the unique glycolipids it incorporates into its membrane
2022-23
Allison Dupzyk, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Jan Carette
- Research: adeno-associated virus (AAV) entry and AAV viral trafficking throughout the host cell
Elisa Caffrey
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Justin Sonnenburg
- Interest: gut-brain-axis, food fermentation and food-gut microbiome-host interactions
Elysse Grossi-Soyster
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Peter Sarnow (primary), David Schneider (co-mentor)
- Interest: virus-derived circular RNA molecules and their potential contributions to viral pathogenesis
Youlim Kim
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Manuel Amieva
- Interest: Helicobacter pylori colonization and migration in the gastric epithelium
Savannah Lewis
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Prasanna Jagannathan
- Interest: development of natural immunity to malaria in individuals living in endemic areas
Nicole Tanenbaum
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Jan Carette
- Interest: identifying enterovirus host factors and characterizing the mechanism by which they promote infection
Benjamin Wang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Research: mechanisms of Salmonella persistence within macrophages in systemic mouse tissues
Lily Xu
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Jan Carette and Wah Chiu
- Interest: the intersection of virology and structural biology, using single-particle cryo-EM to investigate viral processes in flaviviruses
2021-22
Elisa Caffrey
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Justin Sonnenburg
- Interest: gut-brain-axis, food fermentation and food-gut microbiome-host interactions
Mary DeFeo
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Dylan Dodd
- Interest: host and microbial factors that affect heparan sulfate levels and neutrophil antifungal activity in vulvovaginal candidiasis
Isabel Delwel
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Erin Mordecai
- Interest: evolution and host virus interactions of positive RNA viruses
Elysse Grossi-Soyster
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Peter Sarnow (primary), David Schneider (co-mentor)
- Interest: virus-derived circular RNA molecules and their potential contributions to viral pathogenesis
Youlim Kim
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Manuel Amieva
- Interest: Helicobacter pylori colonization and migration in the gastric epithelium
Joy McKenna, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Research: focus on how bacterial pathogens, such as Salmonella and Shigella, interact with our cells to cause disease
Matt Olm, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Justin Sonnenburg
- Research: the human microbiome and fine-scale microbial population genetics
Benjamin Wang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Research: mechanisms of Salmonella persistence within macrophages in systemic mouse tissues
Lily Xu
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Jan Carette and Wah Chiu
- Interest: the intersection of virology and structural biology, using single-particle cryo-EM to investigate viral processes in flaviviruses
2020-21
Alicja Cygan
Graduate Student
- Advisor: John Boothroyd
- Interest: proteins at the parasitophorous vacuole membrane of Toxoplasma gondii
Mary DeFeo
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Dylan Dodd
- Interest: host and microbial factors that affect heparan sulfate levels and neutrophil antifungal activity in vulvovaginal candidiasis
Isabel Delwel
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Erin Mordecai
- Interest: evolution and host virus interactions of positive RNA viruses
Oscar Diaz
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Interest: immune signaling and the bile acid landscape during Salmonella Typhimurium Infecto
Leah Guthrie, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Justin Sonnenburg
- Research: deciphering microbial hydroxycinnamate metabolism and impact on uremic illness
Meagan Hamblin
Graduate Student
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Interest: Salmonella enterica serovarspecific molecular host interactions
Alma Mendoza
Graduate Student
- Advisor: John Boothroyd
- Interest: translocation of folded proteins across the parasitophorous vacuole membrane
Krystal Thomas-White, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
- Advisor: Denise Monack
- Research: mechanisms of microbiome-host interactions
Kimberly Vasquez
Graduate Student
- Advisor: KC Huang
- Research: colonization dynamics and evolution within the mammalian host