Previous Lab Members

Ali

Ali Bayram

My research and teaching interests had been fostered by several years of undergraduate teaching and mentoring in Turkey. I taught discussion and laboratory sections for both introductory molecular and cellular biology and for introductory genetics for two semesters each between 2013-16 at Firat University Faculty of Health Sciences as an Asst. Prof. Since 2017, I have been a postdoctoral associate in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. I am currently focusing on the transcriptional regulation of the insulin receptor (InR) gene in Drosophila. My goal is to identify and characterize the complex cis-regulatory elements that regulate the sensitive regulation of this gene, and ultimately its biological significance in development and physiology.

Dominic

Dominic Thorley

I graduated from Michigan State University through the College of Lyman Briggs with a major in Genomics and Molecular Genetics in 2018. I joined the lab in January of 2017 as an undergraduate, and have since transitioned to working as a full time post-baccalaureate research assistant. My project is utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 to mutate a putative regulatory motif in the isocitrate dehydrogenase (Idh) gene of D. melanogater. The goal of knocking out this transcription factor binding site is to determine if Retinoblastoma (Rb) plays a novel role in transcriptional regulation of Idh; this would contribute to a more complete understanding of the role of the Rb family proteins. I am also working on a project that involves knockout of Rbf2, again using CRISPR/Cas9 germline mutations. Since creating these Rbf2 mutants I am working on characterizing the effects that knocking out Rbf2 has on the organisms.

Sarah

Sarah Hodge

I am a post-bac researcher in the Arnosti laboratory, having graduated from Michigan State University in December 2017 with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. My research focus is using molecular and genetic approaches to understand the transcriptional regulation of genes by retinoblastoma tumor suppressor proteins, using Drosophila as a system. I have analyzed Rbf target genes in the fly by cloning promoters of different classes, responsive to Rbf1 and/or Rbf2 proteins. My work is aimed at understanding the structural and functional features that endow these conserved cancer proteins with unique activities.

Pamela

Pamela Himadewi

I am a post-baccalaureate researcher in the lab. I graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a minor in computational math, science, and engineering. My research projects revolve around identifying potential promoter regions from different functional classes of genes, to better understand transcriptional regulation by Rb family proteins in Drosophila melanogaster. Previously, I have also served as a member of the MSU iGEM team in 2016, building Arduino-powered photo-bioreactors and engineering cold and freezing adaptation in Cyanobacteria.

Mark

Mark Pulver

I am a senior undergraduate from Menominee, MI majoring in Chemistry. My project involves studying the insulin receptor gene in fruit flies and how different drugs, such as caffeine, change the receptor's expression levels. Post graduation I plan on pursing a PharmD.

Gabby

Gabby Iacobellis

I am currently a junior undergraduate student, majoring in Human Biology. In the future, I plan to attend Pharmacy School and earn a Pharm.D. Participating in a laboratory setting and conducting research has been a great experience here at the Arnosti lab. Currently, I am researching the effects of different drugs, such as caffeine, on the insulin receptor gene and its expression in Drosophila.

Carina

Carina Arnosti

I am an undergraduate researcher working with Ana-Maria Raicu. I am creating chimeric dCas9-Rb fusion proteins to study mechanisms of transcriptional repression in vivo. I am planning on continuing my education so that I can eventually end up in psychological research.

Anthony

Anthony Decicco

I am a senior studying Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and I plan on graduating in May of 2019. I have been in the Arnosti lab since fall of 2017 and after starting out as a lab assistant I am now an undergraduate research assistant. My project explores the genetic differences that differentiate how the RBF1 and RBF2 proteins, found inDrosophila melanogaster, regulate gene expression.

Nate

Nate Wilson

I am currently going into my Senior year at Michigan State to earn a Bachelors Degree in Human Biology. I plan to further pursue medicine after graduation. My research is focused on the effect of specific mutations in retinoblastoma tumor suppressor genes on the life span and fertility of Drosophila melanogaster, an area that may have parallels in human health and disease.

Dylan Johnston portrait

Dylan Johnston

My research in the Arnosti laboratory was focused on the molecular analysis of regulation of the isocitrate dehydrogenase gene by retinoblastoma (Rbf) protein. To determine the importance of Rbf binding to the IDH promoter, I used molecular biological methods to prepare lacZ reporters containing wild-type and mutant sequences for transformation into Drosophila.

Rewatee Gokhale portrait

Rewatee Gokhale

Kurtulus Kok portrait

Kurtulus Kok

Anne Sonnenschein portrait

Anne Sonnenschein

Yiliang Wei portrait

Yiliang Wei

Andrew Ingersoll

Kelly Montgomery portrait

Kelly Montgomery

Irina Pushel portrait

Irina Pushel

Yuk Kie Wan

Juliana Lopes

Dr. Mahmoud Romeih portrait

Dr. Mahmoud Romeih

Theodor Bilharz Institute, Cairo, Egypt

Anwaar Ahmad portrait

Anwaar Ahmad

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh

Lyle Burgoon portrait

Lyle Burgoon

Team Leader, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core, US Environmental Protection Agency, North Carolina

Walid Fakhouri portrait

Walid Fakhouri

Postdoctoral Fellow, Schutte laboratory, MSU

Montserrat Sutrias-Grau portrait

Montserrat Sutrias-Grau

Barcelona, Spain

Scott Keller portrait

Scott Keller

White Hall, Michigan

Jae-Ryeon Ryu portrait

Jae-Ryeon Ryu

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Calgary, Alberta

Kathy Foley portrait

Kathy Foley

Instructor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, MSU

Carla Margulies portrait

Carla Margulies

European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg

Robin Wagner portrait

Robin Wagner

Lansing Community College

David Mörsdorf

I was a biochemistry master's student from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and at MSU as a Short-Term Scholar. In my project, I studied different gap repressor proteins, such as Krüppel and giant. We examined chromatin changes upon their overexpression to find out how they regulate gene expression. Many repressor proteins play vital roles in early development. This was my first time in a fly lab, which I then continued with work in the Margulies lab at the University of Munich. Thus, my project introduced me to a new model organism and gave me a great opportunity to learn new methods, such as ChIP. I am now a Ph.D. student at the University of Tübingen.

Ashley Severance portrait

Ashley Severance

Li Li portrait

Li Li

Yang Zhang portrait

Yang Zhang

Ahmet Ay portrait

Ahmet Ay

Asst Prof of Biology & Mathematics, Colgate University

Carlos Martinez portrait

Carlos Martinez

Postdoctoral Fellow, SUNY Stony Brook

Martin Buckley portrait

Martin Buckley

Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University

Priya Mani portrait

Priya Mani

Postdoctoral Fellow, Oregon Health Science University

Meghana Kulkarni portrait

Meghana Kulkarni

Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

Paolo Struffi portrait

Paolo Struffi

Joint Research Center (JRC) of European Commission, Ispra, Italy

Julie Ebels portrait

Julie Ebels

Grand Rapids, MI

Geoff Attardo portrait

Geoff Attardo

Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University

Yifan Mao

Patent Agent, Mendel Biotechnology Inc, California

Jelani Thomas portrait

Jelani Thomas

Charles River Laboratories, Worcester, MA

Bethany Strunk portrait

Bethany Strunk

Chemical Biology Ph.D. program, University of Michigan

Anu Kumar portrait

Anu Kumar

Practicing D.O., Philadelphia, PA

Xian Zhou portrait

Xian Zhou

Jared Elenbaas portrait

Jared Elenbaas

I worked in Dr. Arnosti's lab since my freshman year. I completed my studies in the summer of 2014 with a first author paper in Cell Cycle describing the effects of retinoblastoma protein mutations on cellular growth and apoptosis in the imaginal discs of Drosophila. Currently, I am studying Physiology at the University of Michigan and conducting research, as I apply to medical schools. I am interested in M.D./Ph.D. program in the future, to allow me to both practice medicine and be involved with research.

Haris Khan portrait

Haris Khan

Haris worked in our laboratory and that of Dr. R. William Henry in the summer of 2014, to determine how phosphorylation of human retinoblastoma proteins in the C-terminal instability element regulates their turnover and function. Haris is a senior at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), in Lahore Pakistan, where he met Professor Dr. Zakir-ullah, who received his Ph.D. from MSU. He hopes to study molecular biology at the graduate level.

Lindsey McQuade

Ashley Menning portrait