People

People

Grand Poo-Bahs 

Margaret McFall-Ngai, Ph.D.

Margaret McFall-Ngai is a Professor and Director at the Carnegie Institution for Science
Lab Website

Dr. McFall-Ngai is interested in understanding the role of beneficial bacteria in health using the squid-vibrio model.

Edward G. Ruby, Ph.D.

Ned Ruby is a Professor in the Carnegie Institution for Science
Lab Website

Dr. Ruby is interested in the delivery of small-molecule signals in symbiosis, and in comparative symbiont genomics. 

Poo-Bahs 

(in alphabetical order)

Anne Dunn, Ph.D.

Anne Dunn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology at the University of Oklahoma. 
Lab website

Dr. Dunn studies bacterial physiology and how different energy flow pathways impact the growth and survival of bacteria both inside and outside of the host.

Pat M. Fidopiastis, Ph.D.

Pat Fidopiastis is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. 
Lab website

Dr. Fidopiastis studies different aspects of Vibrio fischeri genetics and physiology.

Jamie S. Foster, Ph.D.

Jamie Foster is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science located at the University of Florida, Space Life Science Lab
Lab website

Dr. Foster examines the impact of environmental stress, such as microgravity, on host-microbe interactions.

Mark Mandel, Ph.D.

Mark Mandel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
Lab website

Dr. Mandel studies bacterial colonization and host-microbe colonization specificity using genetic and comparative genomic approaches.

Tim Miyashiro, Ph.D.

Tim Miyashiro is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the Pennsylvania State University
Lab website

Dr. Miyashiro examines mechanisms of intercellular interactions of bacterial symbionts.

Michele K. Nishiguchi, Ph.D.

Dr. Nishiguchi is a Regents Professor, Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and the University of California, Merced. She is an evolutionary biologist interested in symbiosis!
Lab website

Dr. Nishiguchi examines the mechanisms and evolutionary processes that are fundamental for establishing how bacteria affect the population structure, life history, and molecular specificity in symbiotic associations, and how these associations can be used to examine modes of infection and pathogenicity between animals, bacteria, and the communities/habitats where they are located.  

Spencer V. Nyholm, Ph.D.

Spencer Nyholm is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut.
Lab website

Role of the immune system in the squid-vibrio association; defensive symbioses in cephalopods; symbiosis and development

Alecia Septer, Ph.D.

Alecia Septer is an Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lab website

Dr. Septer studies interbacterial competition, type VI secretion systems, gene regulation, and genome evolution.

Oleg Simakov, Ph.D.

Oleg Simakov is an Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Evolution and Development at the University of Vienna, Austria. 
Lab website

Evolution of metazoan genome architecture, in particular the regulatory impact of genome expansion and genomic rearrangements in cephalopods.

Eric V. Stabb, Ph.D.

Eric Stabb is a Professor and Head of the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Lab website

Vibrio fischeri pheromone-mediated signaling, peptidoglycan, physiology, and genetics.

Karen L. Visick, Ph.D.

Karen Visick is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology on the Health Sciences Campus of Loyola University Chicago. Lab website
Lab website

Dr. Visick studies mechanisms underlying symbiotic biofilm formation and dispersal and host-microbe signal transduction.