Recent PhD Graduates

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.

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”

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