Elke Buschbeck is the lab’s PI. She is excited about the opportunity to expand our research into new directions and to directly work with so many outstanding students. She has worked on many different eyes throughout her career. She obtained her PhD at the University of Arizona, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University. buschbek@ucmail.uc.edu
Jenni Hassert has been an MS student in the lab who graduated in summer 2019, and continues to work with us as Research Assistant. She is using RNAi to knock down a key lens protein of the diving beetle larval eyes. Her experiments are exciting as they allow her to test if and to what extent the beetle eye can compensate for such induced perturbations. hasserjc@mail.uc.edu
Shubham Rathore is a PhD student in the lab. He started in Fall 2018 and has acquired an impressive tool set since then, which allows him to get involved in quite a few different projects. Shubham currently is working on knocking down key developmental genes in T. marmoratus, and has become and expert in immunostaining. He also is learnt Python in order to help guide our Computer Science students towards a realistic simulation of eye development. rthr.shubham@gmail.com
Sashank Srinivasan is a new PhD student, having joined in Fall 2019. He is currently woking his way into some of our many exciting projects and is rapidly learning the essentials of molecular biology, going through the many steps that are necessary to make a new probe for RNAi. sashanksrinivasan@live.com
Michael Meece is an undergraduate student in his senior year. He has been conducting a series of electrophysiological experiments on mutant D. melanogaster. He also uses electroretinograms to quantify light-induced damage on photoreceptors. Some of his experiments are part of our collaborative efforts with Dr. Tiffany Cook (Wayne State University School of Medicine). meeceml@mail.uc.edu
Isaiah Giordullo is an undergraduate student who join the lab in spring 2019. He received a STEM fellowship to do intense research in the summer, which he used well to investigate a possible focusing mechanism in the highly sophisticated principle eyes of jumping spiders. giorduim@mail.uc.edu
Carly Kelley is an undergraduate student who joined the lab in spring 2019 as part of a collaboration with Dr. Noe T. Alvarez from Chemistry, who produces electrically conductive ‘wires” made out of carbon nanotube. Carly chronically implants these fibers into insects and uses neurophysiology to test how well they perform over extended time periods. kellecy@mail.uc.edu
Tanaya Badgandi is an undergraduate student who joined the lab in 2018. She is involved in studying photoreceptor health under different light conditions and also has been helping out with maintaining our insect colony. badgantd@mail.uc.edu
Kallia Cooper is an undergraduate student who joined our lab in Fall 2018 as a second caretaker of our many critters. She also recently joined a research project that investigates how different colored light affects photoreceptor health. coopek2@mail.uc.edu
Samantha Fry is our invaluable insect caretaker, providing us with new beetle embryos, larvae and adults. frysa@mail.uc.edu
Miranda Brafford is a former undergraduate student who continues to work with us to publish her exciting findings on nutrition-induced ‘macular degeneration’ in jumping spiders. She joined the lab in Fall 2016 and started optometry school in Fall 2018. Her project has become the basis of a new research direction in the lab. mirranda.lynn22@gmail.com
We work closely with Computer Science students (as part of their senior capstones with Dr. Fred Annexstein) to construct a general arthropod eye development model and simulation. This project was founded in 2018 by Ryan Lavin and his team (Nick Moseley, Brian Bauer and Joe Disalvo). Ryan continues to lead the project with new capstone students. This year we are working with Zachary Elia and Evan Shearer.
Annette Stowasser works as an Educator Faculty in the University of Cincinnati’s Undergraduate Neuroscience Program. She has a long history of working in our laboratory and continues to collaborate with us and frequently joins us in the summer. stowasa@mail.uc.edu
Former Graduate Students and post-docs and research assistants.
Mike (Duc) Le joined the lab in Fall 2017 as UG student and then worked as research associate as part of our collaborative efforts with Dr. Tiffany Cook (Wayne State University School of Medicine). He received a STEM fellowship in 2018, and graduated in winter 2019. Mike has performed amazing work while he was here and meanwhile moved on to pursue a PhD at Drexler University in Philadelphia. le2da@mail.uc.edu
Madeline Owens started in the lab as undergraduate student and joined the MS program in 2016. She was investigating whether arthropods need visual input to develop correctly focused eyes. Madeline graduated in summer 2019 and now works as project coordinator at Medpace. owensm8@mail.uc.edu
Rose Conley has been a part-time MS student who graduated in 2019. She studied photoreceptor-stack recycling in Thermonectus, finding that in these beetles the mechanism in some ways is similar to that in vertebrates. conleyre@ucmail.uc.edu
Arun Muthsamy spent some time in our lab as Graduate Student but then decided to switch gears and pursue a degree in Science Education instead. muthusar@mail.uc.edu
Aaron Stahl received his PhD in Summer 2017. After graduating he joined Dr. Tomchik’s Laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida. AStahl@scripps.edu
Sri Pratima Nandamuri obtained an MS degree in 2012 and went on to join a PhD program at the University of Maryland. shripratima@gmail.com
Shannon Werner obtained an MS in 2014. Thereafter she took on a job as Laboratory Technician first at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and then at Northern Kentucky University. werners@nku.edu
Nadine Stecher obtained a PhD in 2011 and now holds a faculty position at Wentworth Institute of Technology. stechern@wit.edu
Srdjan Maksimovic got his PhD in 2010. After graduation he went on to pursue a postdoc at Columbia Medical School and now is a Senior Research Scientist at Colgate-Palmolive. srdjanmax@gmail.com
Karunyakanth Mandapaka obtained his MS in 2005, after which he joined the PhD program at Cincinnati Children’s hospital and later took on a faculty position in India. karunyakanth@gmail.com
Updated October 2019
