People

Michael S. Werner

Principal Investigator

Education and work experience:

  • Post-doc: The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology; Department of Integrative Evolutionary Biology (Tübingen, Germany)

  • PhD: Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, The University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

  • B.S.: Molecular Biology, Minor in Chemistry: Stetson University (DeLand, FL)

email: michael.werner@utah.edu

Julie Jung

Postdoc

Education and work experience:

  • PhD: Biology, Boston University

  • M.S.: Biology, Boston University

  • B.S.: Biology & Environmental Science (Honors), Williams College (Williamstown MA)

email: julie.jung@utah.edu


Publications:

  • Warkentin K.M., J. Jung, J.G. McDaniel. 2021. “Research approaches in mechanosensory-cued hatching and the iterative development of playback methods for red-eyed treefrog embryos.” Chapter 8, in: P.S.M. Hill, V. Mazzoni, N. Stritih Peljhan, M. Virant-Doberlet, A. Wessel (Eds.). Animal Signals and Communication (series). Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp xx-xx (in press).

  • Jung J., S.J. Serrano-Rojasu, K.M. Warkentin. 2020. “Multimodal mechanosensing for escapehatching decisions of red-eyed treefrogs.” Journal of Experimental Biology.

* Media coverage in Inside JEB. Cover image for Volume 223, Issue 24.

  • Jung J., S.J. Kimu, S.P. Ariasu, J.G. McDaniel, K.M.Warkentin. 2019. “How do red-eyed treefrog embryos detect snake attacks? Assessing the role of vestibular mechanoreception.” Journal of Experimental Biology. Full text.

*Media coverage in Inside JEB. Short list for JEB’s 2019 Outstanding Paper Prize.

  • Warkentin K.M., J. Jung, L.A. Rueda Solano, J.G. McDaniel. 2019. “Ontogeny of escapehatching decisions: discrimination among vibrational cues changes developmentally as predicted from costs of sampling and false alarms.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 73:51.

  • Warkentin K.M., J. Cuccaro-Diazu, B.A. Guell, J. Jung, S.J. Kimu, K.L. Cohen. 2017. “Developmental onset of the escape-hatching response in red-eyed treefrogs depends on cue type.” Animal Behaviour. 129:103-112.

Shelley Reich

PhD candidate

Education and work experience:

  • M.S.: Biology, Walla Walla University (Walla Walla, WA)

  • B.S.: Biology, Andrews University (Berrien Springs, MI)

*J.N. Andrews Honors Scholar, summa cum laude

  • Project Coordinator: North Fork John Day Watershed Council

email: shelley.reich@utah.edu

Publications:

  • Cooper, J. C., Lukacs, A., Reich, S., Schauer, T., Imhof, A., Phadnis, N., & Larracuente, A. M. (2019). Altered Localization of Hybrid Incompatibility Proteins in Drosophila. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 36(8), 1783–1792.

Thomas King

PhD candidate

Education and work experience:

  • Lab technician at the University of Utah in Nitin Phadnis's lab, School of Biological Sciences

  • B.A.: Biochemistry (Honors) & English, magna cum laude, Bowdoin College (Brunswick, ME)


email: thomas.king@utah.edu

Publications:

  • King TD, Leonard CJ, Cooper JC, Nguyen S, Joyce EF, Phadnis N. (2019) Recurrent losses and rapid evolution of the condensin II complex in insects. Molecular Biology and Evolution 36(10) 2195-2204.

  • King TD, Johnson JE, Bateman JR. (2019) Position effects influence transvection in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 213(4) 1289-1299. (Highlighted in Genetics Spotlight 2019)

Audrey Brown

PhD candidate

Education and work experience:

  • H.B.S. in Biology, minor in Mathematics, Magna Cum Laude, University of Utah

  • Mentor and curriculum development for the ACCESS Scholars program

  • REU project award, Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, 2018

  • Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Scholar award (UROP), University of Utah

  • AChemS Award for Undergraduate Research, Association for Chemoreception Sciences, 2020.

email: audrey.brown@utah.edu

Publications:

  • Burton S.D., Brown A., Eiting T.P., Youngstrom I.A., Rust T.C., Schmuker M., Wachowiak M. 2022. Mapping odorant sensitivities reveals a sparse but structured representation of olfactory chemical space by sensory input to the mouse olfactory bulb. eLife, 2022; 11:e80470.


Madelyn Purnell

PhD candidate

Education and work experience:

  • BS: Bioinformatics (Honors), Brigham Young University, Minor in Computer Science


email: madelyn.purnell@utah.edu

Publications:

  • Purnell, Madelyn G., et al. "Complete Genome Sequences of Five SO-1-Like Siphoviridae Bacteriophages That Infect Enterobacteriales." Microbiology Resource Announcements 11.4 (2022): e01224-21.

  • Purnell, Madelyn. "Sequencing the Guts out of COVID-19; The Evolution Behind the COVID-19 Pandemic." (2022).


Samantha (Sam) Nestel

Undergraduate

  • University of Utah - Honors program

  • ACCESS student: Spring 2021

  • Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP): Spring 2022

Benjamin Natividad

Undergraduate

  • University of Utah

  • Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP): Spring 2021, Spring 2022

  • Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Club

  • University of Utah Model United Nations

Hannah F. Lee

Undergraduate

  • University of Utah

  • Member of Marching Utes

Laika

Education and work experience:

  • Chicago Canine Academy (Chicago, IL)

  • Accomplishments: listed 'first dog in space'

Lab Alumni

  • Tobias Loschko; Current position: Technician at the Max Planck Institute of Biology (Tübingen, Germany)