Recent PhD Graduates
Congratulations to our PhD alums!
2019-2020 PhD Graduates
Chris Rupert
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”
Current position: postdoctoral fellow, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Rupkatha Banerjee
Defense: July 6, 2020
Advisor: Gunawardena
Thesis title: "Regulation of molecular motors by glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) and presenilin (PS) during axonal transport”
Current position: Postdoctoral associate in the lab of Ronald Davis at Scripps Research, Florida.
Heather Williams
Defense: April 14, 2020
Advisor: Dittmar
Thesis title: "From microbiota to macroecology: Three levels of purple martin ecology"
Shaunna Phipps
Defense: February 27, 2020
Advisor: Bisson
Thesis title: The role of sodium transport in salt tolerance in two species of Chara.
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”
2018-2019 PhD Graduates
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: Postdoctoral Fellow at 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
2017-2018 PhD Graduates
 | Sukanya Basu, PhD Defense: August 17, 2018 Advisor: Paul Cullen Thesis: "The role of polarity proteins in regulating MAP kinase pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Position: Postdoc with Drs. Erik Knudsen and Agnieszka Witkiewicz at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. |
 | Kimberly Farr, PhD Defense: July 27, 2018 Thesis: "The Influence of Genomic Organization on the Diversity of Angiosperms" Advisor: Bisson |
 | Xiaowen Zhuang, PhD Defense: July 16, 2018 Thesis: "Activity-dependent changes at the auditory nerve synapse" Advisor: Xu-Friedman Position: Postdoctoral fellow at Texas A&M University |
 | Duo (Erica) Xu, PhD |
 | Joe White, PhD Defense: February 1, 2018 Thesis: "Identification of Potential HTT-Rab Axonal Transport Complexes" Advisor: Gunawardena Position: Postdoc with Dr. Albert LaSpada at Duke University |
 | Yankun Gao, PhD Defense: January 8, 2018 Thesis: "The Role of WT1 and BASP1 in the Development and Maintenance of the Posterior Tase Field" Advisor: Medler, Roberts Position: Enrolled in data science program at University of Rochester |
 | Bhavana Muddukrishna, PhDDefense: November 17, 2017 Thesis: “Dissecting a Role for Protein Arginine Methylation in pre-mRNA Splicing” |
 | Ashleigh Hanner, PhD Defense: August 4, 2017 Thesis: “The Yeast Heterochromatin Protein Sir3 Evolved in the AAA+ Base Subdomain after Subfunctionalization” Advisor: Rusche Position: Postdoc with Dr. Myung Hee Park at NIH, Inst Dental & Craniofacial Medicine |
 | Christopher Mure, PhDDefense: July 24, 2017Thesis: “The rbcL mRNA binding protein RLSB is a bundle-sheath-specific, positive regulator of rbcL gene expression in C4 Plants”Advisor: Berry |
 | Kristen Humphrey, PhDDefense: June 19, 2017Thesis: “Sirtuin deacetylases couple nutrient availability to gene expression” Advisor: Rusche Position: Postdoc, Roswell Park Cancer Institute |