Select Graduate Student Profiles

Ian Mills
Faculty Advisor: Kevin Culligan
Research Topic: The role of RPA1 subunit paralogs on the repair of double stranded DNA breaks in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Ashley Sterpka

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Xuanmao Chen
Research Topic: Astrocytic Primary Cilia

Mona Karbalivand
Faculty Advisor: Sherine Elsawa
Research Topic: Characterization of MLL1 role as an effector of TLR-MyD88 induced gene expression in Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) cancer

Jonathan Sreter
Advisor: Dr. Krisztina Varga
Research Topic: Protein Structure and Function- Antifreeze Proteins

Erik Swanson
Faculty Advisor: Louis Tisa
Research Topic: Bioremediation of dioxin-like compounds by Frankia and the actinorhizal symbiosis

Ryan Wilmot
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Louis Tisa
Research Topic: I'm studying the transcriptome of Blastococcus, rock-dwelling bacteria, during their primary colonization on a variety of rock surfaces. 

Jennifer Calawa
Faculty Advisor: Cheryl Whistler
Research Topic: Evolution of beneficial symbiosis using the Vibrio fischeri model system and increasing utility value in learning microbiology for undergraduate nursing students

Megan Worth
Faculty Advisor: Louis Tisa
Research Topic: Studying the possible impacts of environmental stress on the typical specificity observed during the actinorhizal symbiosis, as well as on the community composition within the resulting nodules

Sydney Birch
Faculty Advisor: Dr. David Plachetzki
Research Topic: Investigating Sensory Integration and Settlement Responses to Sensory Stimuli in the Hydrozoans Ectopleura crocea and Hydra vulgaris

Haley Nolen
Faculty Advisor: Anissa Poleatewich
Research Topic: Assessment of molecular relationships among Peronospora variabilis isolates in New Hampshire and investigation of the Chenopodium microbiome for sources of beneficial microbes for use in space agriculture

Richa Gupta
Faculty Advisor: Rick Cote
Research Topic: Allosteric regulation of PDE6 induced by binding of Pg and cGMP