Lab Alumni
Dr. Adeel Zafar, UC-Riverside, 2021-2023, postdoctoral researcher
Jasmine Taite, Manchester University, UK (BS*), 2022-2023
Jacob Jauregui, UC-Riverside, 2021-2023
​Brandi Lofton, Kennesaw State University, REU 2022
Jenni Kao, UC-Riverside, 2020-2021
​Dr. Liming Cai, UC-Riverside, 2020-2021, now faculty at Florida State University
​Ryan Traband, BPSC, rotation graduate student, 2020
​Kaitlin Chau-Giang, UC-Riverside, 2019-2020
Dr. Chaoyang Zhao, WSU/UC-Riverside, 2015-2019, now at the USDA
Josh Wemmer, WSU/UC-Riverside (MS), 2016-2019, now in industry
Ashil Koranne, UC-Riverside, 2018-2019
Jiri Skorepa, Palacký University Olomouc​ (PhD*), summer 2019
Lindsey Agnew, Junior Specialist, UCR 2018-2019
Wenhua Tian, China Agricultural University (PhD*), 2018-2019
Tamera Taylor, UC-Riverside Honors Student, 2018-2019, graduate student at UC-Davis
​Alex Borowsky, BPSC, rotation graduate student, 2018
​Marakee Tilahun, San Francisco State University, REU 2018
Timothy Dang, UC-Riverside, 2018
​Emmanuel Cuevas, California State University-Long Beach, REU 2017
Rachel Maughan, UC-Riverside, 2017
​Skyler Kim, UC-Riverside, 2017
​Eva Morton, Manchester University, UK (BS*), 2016-2017
Madison Armstrong, Washington State University, 2016
Richard Ellis, Washington State University, 2016
​Sierra Gallaway, Washington State University, 2016
*visiting student scholar

Interests
Effector function and genomics
N deposition impacts on plant parasitism
Growth defense tradeoffs during herbivory
Manipulation of plant immune/defense by insects
​Insect gene evolution
Genome evolution

​Phylloxerid microbiomes
​Plant propagation and genetics 
Effector-based manipulation of plants, evolution
Apple-aphid interactions and bioinformatics
Nutrient provisioning by plants and symbionts
Gall formation
​Plant parasite ecology
​Bioinformatics and annotation of effectors
Functional validation of phylloxerid effectors

Coexpression analyses in aphid-apple interactions
​Phylloxera effectors and function in plants
​IPM, but worked on DNA extraction of hops
Wooly apple aphid performance and immune responses
Lab maintenance and plant care
R-based bioinformatics and RNAseq
​Plant-pollinator interactions and ecological genomics
​Evolutionary Biology, environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity
Pathogen Host interactions
​Environmental influence on gene expression

Some fun photos of labmates in action!

​Rocky presenting at the end of summer symposium

Exploring the super-bloom near Anza Borego.

Emmanuel checks his insect colony; the summer heat put the hurt on the colony, but Emmanuel persevered.