PhD Alumni

Petar Michael Pajic, PhD
Defense Date: January 3, 2025 
Advisor: Dr. Omer Gokcumen
Thesis Title: Mucins provide insights into mechanisms of functional evolution
Current position: Post Doctoral Fellow, University at Buffalo

Emily Carroll, PhD
Defense: July 17, 2024
Advisor: Dr. Zhen Wang
Thesis Title: Identification of genes involved in digoxin biosynthesis in the foxglove plant, Digitalis lanata
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher, Wang Lab

Steven Fleck, PhD
Defense: June 28, 2024
Advisor: Dr. Victor Albert
Thesis Title: Constructing and Exploring High-Quality Genomes: Evolutionary Dynamics in Diverse Plant Lineages
Current position: Post Doctoral Fellow, University at Buffalo

Emily Mehle, PhD
Defense Date: July 23, 2024
Advisor: Dr. Denise Ferkey
Thesis Title: Natural Variation in Wild Isolate C. elegans Aversive Behavior
Current position: 

Savannah Sojka, PhD
Defense Date: June 18, 2024
Advisor: Dr. Denise Ferkey
Thesis Title: An Extensive Gap Junction Neural Network Modulates C. elegans Aversive Behavior
Current Position: Associate Professor at Rochester General College of Health Careers

Flavio da Silva Coelho, PhD
Defense: May 7, 2024
Advisor: Lindqvist
Thesis title: “Uncovering mammalian evolution in Alexander Archipelago, southeast Alaska, through paleogenomics
Current position: Postdoctoral fellow at Trent University

Kelsey Swinter, PhD
Defense: December 15, 2023
Advisor: Gunawardena
Thesis title: "The effect of Huntington's disease on mitochondria morphology and function”
Current position: Daemen University

Nathan Backenstose, PhD
Defense: September 22, 2023
Advisor: Krabbenhoft
Thesis title: "Evolutionary history and genomic architecture of species radiations: An examination of polyploid Coregonus species (Salmonidae) in the Laurentian Great Lakes”
Current position: Postdoctoral fellow with Drs. Mark Christie and Catherine Searle, Purdue University

Indu Raghavan, PhD
Defense: July 10, 2023
Advisor: Z. Wang
Thesis title: "Bioengineering Escherichia coli to produce plant terpenes"

Chen Gong, PhD
Defense: May 5, 2023
Advisor: Koudelka
Thesis title: “RNA Methylase in Stx-Phage: A Secret Weapon Regulates Spontaneous Induction and Virulence by Preventing Shiga Toxin Backfire”

Crystal Tomlin, PhD
Defense: May 2, 2023
Advisor: Lindqvist
Thesis title: “Tracing Histories of Polyploidy, Admixture, and Diversification in Plant Radiations at the Genomic Scale”
Current position: Postdoctoral fellow, University at Buffalo, Dept. Biomedical Informatics

Ansuman Sahoo, PhD
Defense: April 28, 2023
Advisor: Walker
Thesis title: “Dynamic Phosphorylation of RNA Helicase EIF4A Guides Molecular Responses to Cell Cycle Transitions and Glucose Removal”
Current position: Postdoctoral fellow, Merck

Minakshi Mukherjee, PhD
Defense: February 16, 2023
Advisor: Zhen Wang
Thesis title: ““Bio-engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the production of terpenoids"
Current position: Developmental Specialist, Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, University of Rochester

Ying Liu, PhD
Defense: December 16, 2022
Advisor: Koudelka
Thesis title: "“Carbohydrates of Lipopolysaccharide: Acanthamoeba castellanii Predation Determinant and Bacterial Defense Strategy”

Maggie Postolache, PhD
Defense: November 3, 2022
Advisor: Xu-Friedman
Thesis title: "Effects of Aging on the Responses of Units in the Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus of Mice In Vivo”

Guolei Zhao, PhD
Defense: August 2, 2022
Advisor: Rusche
Thesis title: “Characterization of two regulators with opposite effects on hyphal growth of Candida albicans"
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan with Teresa O'Meara

Matthew Vandermeulen, PhD
Defense: March 1, 2022
Advisor: Cullen
Thesis title: "The examination of signaling pathway gene by environment interactions in the regulation of filamentous growth”
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow with Paul Cullen, UB

Thomas “TJ" Krzystek, PhD
Defense: February 18, 2022
Advisor: Gunawardena
Thesis title: "Elucidating neuronal functions of huntingtin-endomembrane transport complexes”
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital with Dr. Zhigang He

Nicole Wong, PhD
Defense: January 11, 2022
Advisor: Xu-Friedman
Thesis title: "Signaling mechanisms of activity-dependent changes at auditory nerve synapses”
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow with Gina Turrigiano at Brandeis University

Pavan Patel, PhD
Defense: January 4, 2022
Advisor: Stephan Free, PhD
Thesis title: "Characterization of the four major Neurospora crassa glycosyl hydrolase family enzymes involved in cell wall biogenesis”
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at NIH

Aditi Chaubey, PhD
Defense: October 25, 2021
Advisor: Ferkey
Thesis title: "Aversive circuits: Modes and means of modulation in Caenorhabditis elegans”
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Michael Feigin, Roswell Park

Haniam Maria, PhD
Defense: August 6, 2021
Advisor: Rusche
Thesis title: "Role of a non-duplicated DNA replication protein in origin specification and epigenetic gene silencing in budding yeast”
Placement: Scientist, QIAGEN

Zander Bowitch, PhD
Defense: March 26, 2021
Advisor: Ferkey
Thesis title: "Examining the effect of protein arginine methylation on G protein-coupled receptor signaling and protein-protein interactions with modulators of D2 signaling”

Courtney Szyjka, PhD
Defense: January 26, 2021
Advisor: Gollnick
Thesis Title: “Investigating additional roles of the trp RNA-binding attenuation protein (TRAP) in transcriptional regulation of the trp operon in Bacillus subtilis.
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow with Eric Strobel, UB

Aditi Prabhakar, PhD
Defense: December 16, 2020
Advisor: Cullen
Thesis title: “Spatial and Temporal Regulation of MAP Kinase Pathways and the Impact on Intrinsic Polarity Establishment”
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow with William Mair, Harvard School of Public Health

Chris Rupert, PhD
Defense: July 21, 2020
Advisor: Rusche
Thesis title: "A role for the deacetylase Hst1 in carbon source dependent filamentation in the pathogenic yeast C. parapsilosis”
Placement: postdoctoral fellow, Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Rupkatha Banerjee, PhD
Defense: July 6, 2020
Advisor: Gunawardena
Thesis title: "Regulation of molecular motors by glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) and presenilin (PS) during axonal transport”
Placement: Postdoctoral associate in the lab of Ronald Davis at Scripps Research, Florida.

Heather Williams, PhD
Defense: April 14, 2020
Advisor: Dittmar
Thesis title: "From microbiota to macroecology: Three levels of purple martin ecology"
Placement: Clinical Assistant Professor, UB

Shaunna Phipps, PhD
Defense: February 27, 2020
Advisor: Bisson
Thesis title: The role of sodium transport in salt tolerance in two species of Chara.
Position: Lecturer, UB Department of Biological Sciences

Skyler Resendez, PhD
Defense: January 8, 2020
Advisor: Gokcumen
Thesis title: "Identifying and Analyzing Human Genetic Variation through a Key Example in the Growth Hormone Receptor Gene”

Debarghya Dutta Banik, PhD
Defense: December 3, 2019
Advisor: Medler
Thesis title: “Function of TRPM4 and PLCbeta3 in Taste Cell Signaling”
Position: Postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University

Ozgur Taskent, PhD
Defense: July 26, 2019
Advisor: Gokcumen
Thesis title: “A Genetic Record of Admixture Between Humans and Ancient Hominins”

Richoo Bijoo Davis, PhD
Defense: May 13, 2019
Advisor: Yu
Thesis title: "Protein Arginine Methylation Facilitates Environmental Adaptation in Budding Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae"
Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow at the UB Department of Physics with Dr. Priya Banerjee

Jacky Chow, PhD
Defense date: January 20, 2019
Advisor: Cullen
Thesis title: "Exploring the role of signaling networks in regulating fungal foraging responses"
Placement: Scientist 2, Agenus; Postdoctoral Fellow, Roswell Park Cancer Center with Dr. Jason Muhitch

Yen-Lung Onta Lin, PhD
Defense date: January 9, 2019
Advisor: Gokcumen
Thesis title: "In search of the adaptive roles of genomic structural variants in the human genome"
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at University of Chicago with Luis Barreiro

Rachel Bowman, PhD
Defense date: November 1, 2018
Advisor: Gollnick
Thesis title: "The Role of the Triphosphatase Domain of the Vaccinia Capping Enzyme During Early Gene Transcription Termination."
Placement: Senior scientist at Frontier Science and Technology, Amherst, NY

Dianxiong Zou, PhD
Defense date: October 30, 2018
Advisor: Hennessey
Thesis title: "Characterization of a Seven-transmembrane Protein and a Putative Ligand with Respect to Behavior and Iron Uptake in Tetrahymena thermophila"
Placement: Postdoctoral fellow at Texas A&M