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:
Julie Jung, Diego Fernandez, Carie Frantz, Michael S Werner. Toxic elements in benthic lacustrine sediments of Utah’s Great Salt Lake following a historic low in elevation. Front. Soil Sci., 12 September 2024. Volume 4 - 2024 | [manuscript link]
Jung Julie, Loschko Tobias, Reich Shelley, Rassoul-Agha Maxim and Werner Michael S. 2024. Newly identified nematodes from the Great Salt Lake are associated with microbialites and specially adapted to hypersaline conditions. Proc. R. Soc. B.2912023265320232653
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:
Jung Julie, Loschko Tobias, Reich Shelley, Rassoul-Agha Maxim and Werner Michael S. 2024. Newly identified nematodes from the Great Salt Lake are associated with microbialites and specially adapted to hypersaline conditions. Proc. R. Soc. B.2912023265320232653
Werner, M.S., Loschko, T., King, Reich, S., et al. Histone 4 lysine 5/12 acetylation enables developmental plasticity of Pristionchus mouth form. Nat Commun 14, 2095 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37734-z
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:
Werner, M.S., Loschko, T., King, Reich, S., et al. Histone 4 lysine 5/12 acetylation enables developmental plasticity of Pristionchus mouth form. Nat Commun 14, 2095 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37734-z
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.
NSF Graduat Research Fellowshp (GFRP)
email: audrey.brown@utah.edu
Publications:
Audrey L Brown, Adriaan B Meiborg, Mirita Franz-Wachtel, Boris Macek, Spencer Gordon, Ofer Rog, Cameron J Weadick, Michael S Werner, Characterization of the Pristionchus pacificus “epigenetic toolkit” reveals the evolutionary loss of the histone methyltransferase complex PRC2, Genetics, 2024;, iyae041
Maclary ET, Wauer R, Phillips B, Brown A, Boer EF, Samani AM, et al. (2023) An allelic series at the EDNRB2 locus controls diverse piebalding patterns in the domestic pigeon. PLoS Genet 19(10): e1010880. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010880
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).
Corrin Hays
PhD candidate
Education and work experience:
BS in Biology, Minor in Cinema Studies, Central Michigan University,
email: corrin.hays@utah.edu
Publications:
coming soon!
Morgan Marcue
PhD candidate
Education and work experience:
BS in Biology, UC San Marcos, Magna Cum Laude
email: morgan.marcue@utah.edu
Undergraduates:
Samantha Nestel
Ethan Light
Marcos Calderon
Alexis Enright
Maxim Rassoul-Agha
Thomas Murray
Charlotte Hilton-Miney
Samantha Tomek
Lab Alumni
Tobias Loschko; Current position: Technician at the Max Planck Institute of Biology (Tübingen, Germany)
Hannah F. Lee; Current position: Pharmacy School, University of Utah
Laika; Current position: in the stars