People

Since starting our lab in 2014, we have trained 7 PhD students (3 URM, and four have defended and are pursuing post-docs at UCSD and CDC), five post-docs and several capable undergraduate and master’s level interns. Current lab roster

PhD students: Stephen Wandro (defended May 2019), Tara Gallagher, Joann Phan (defended March 2021), Andrew Oliver (defended June 2021), Julio Avelar-Barragan, Eric Adams and Alisha Monsibais. Visiting: Katelyn McNair (SDSU), Ruth Dayana Hernandez Reyes (Columbia, Universidad de los Andes), Janina Lange (Kiel, Germany), Soumaya El-Halas (Fulbright Scholar from Morocco), Nishat Zafar (Pakistan Higher Mobility Education Program Scholar)

Post-docs: Whitney England, Jason Rothman, Veronica Peterson, Sage Dunham, and Mirjam Zünd Visiting: Dr. Michela Gambino, Danish Pasteur Society Visiting Professor from University of Copenhagen

Master’s students: Georgiana Kourepenos, Jordan Oval, An Pham, Nicholas Boyajian, Vivek Sharavanan, Alice Lee, Bretton Coppedge, Lariska Theron, Bruno Meza, Matthew Gargus, Stefan Riedel

Staff Researchers: COVID Crewage team: Jinwoo Kim, Courtney York, Joy Suh, Katherine McCarthy, Andrew Saghir, Eric Daniel Adams, Joe Kapcia; Orange County Phage Team: Joy Suh, Cyril Semillano, Clark Hendrickson; ACS Polyp Microbiome Team: Zachary Lu

More pictures on Instagram

Katrine Whiteson
Associate Professor, Dept of Mol. Bio & Biochem

katrine at uci.edu
CV
Biosketch

Research Statement (2019 tenure package)

Jason Rothman, PhD

Dr. Jason Rothman joined the Whiteson Lab as a Postdoc in 2019. Jason uses a variety of ‘omics techniques throughout his research into microbial ecology and metabolism. For example, he is currently using metatranscriptomics to study wastewater, and search for SARS-CoV-2 variants across Southern California. Jason’s other major projects include studying the oral microbiome and metabolome of children and their caregivers and the sputum metabolomics of people with Cystic Fibrosis. During his PhD, Jason studied the microbial ecology of bees and how insect microbiomes are affected by environmental pollution.

Email: rothmanj at uci.edu

Website Twitter

Dr. Sage Dunham

NIA Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow

Sage’s research examines the role of the microbiome in human health and disease and on developing novel therapeutic strategies for treating antibiotic resistant infections. His current projects focus on Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and phage therapy.

Sage earned his PhD in Chemistry from UIUC, where he developed mass spectrometry imaging-based technologies for studying chemical communication in microbial communities. Before joining the Whiteson Lab as a Postdoc in 2021, Sage spent several years as an industrial R&D chemist, where he developed new technology for extracting, concentrating, and quantifying volatile and semi volatile organic compounds.

In his free time Sage enjoys surfing, hiking, ceramics, working in his garden, and hanging out with his family.

Email: sjdunham at uci.edu

Google Scholar

Mirjam Zund, PhD

Dr. Mirjam Zuend’s research has focused on understanding the impact of extrinsic and intrinsic modulators on the intestinal microbiota. During her doctoral thesis at the ETH Zurich, she established and experimentally validated methods based on DNA sequencing data to locate inducible prophages in bacterial genomes and quantify their relative activity. She joined the Whiteson Lab and Wiles Lab as a shared postdoc in 2022 to study how inducible prophages drive the assembly and function of microbial communities that inhabit the gut microbiome by combining reductionistic and sequencing approaches.

E-mail: mzund at uci.edu

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Andrew Oliver
PhD Student
aoliver2 at uci.edu
I use ‘omics approaches to study the human vaginal, gut, and salivary microbiome. In my free time I run, BBQ, beer, and explore new places.
CV

Julio Avelar-Barragan
PhD Student – advanced to candidacy Sept 2020
javelarb at uci.edu
I am investigating the microbial landscape of the pre-cancerous gut microbiome using high throughput sequencing. Polyp microbiome biorxiv preprint

Eric Adams
PhD Student | adamsed at uci.edu

Eric is broadly interested in bacteriophages, genetic sequencing, and bioinformatics. His research is focused on the study of bacteriophages (phages), their genomic characterization, and the potential for the use of phages as a treatment for antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. This research includes directed evolution of phages as well as combinatorial synergy between phages and various antibiotics. He spends his free time hiking and camping with his wife and dog.

Alisha Monsibais
PhD Student | amonsiba at uci.edu

Bio: My main interests are in Phage Biology, Bioinformatics and Clinical Microbiology. I would like to contribute to research that would transition bacteriophage from laboratory use to clinical treatment options. In my free time I enjoy hiking and spending time with family.
Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisha-m-18a1aa162

Joe Kapcia
Lab Assistant and GC-MS wrangler! First joined the Whiteson lab in 2017, star of our recent GC-MS volatiles method video, and a member/co-author of the COVID wastewater crewage team.

LAB ALUMNI

Stephen Wandro, PhD (2019)
Now a Senior Scientist at Micronoma in San Diego, after a post-doc at the Center for Microbiome Innovation at UCSD from 2019-20. PhD research summary: I study bacteriophages in the human microbiome and how they co-evolve with their bacterial hosts. Lover of phages, genomics, and bioinformatics. Email: Stephen.Wandro at micronoma.com GitHub | Twitter

Tara Gallagher, PhD (2020)
Now a post-doc at the CDC

Alice Lee
Masters Student, graduated 2020

Matthew Gargus
Masters Student, graduated 2019

Cyril
Orange County Phage Team (OCPT) Lab Assistant csamilla at uci.edu

Joy Suh
Orange County Phage Team (OCPT) Lab Assistant; currently a medical student at USC

Jose Bermudez
PhD student (MCSB program)

Bretton Coppedge
Masters Student, graduated 2019

Janina Lange
Visiting PhD student from Kiel, Germany

Soumaya El Halas
Visiting PhD student Fulbright Researcher from Morocco, 2018-20

Lariska Theron
Masters Student, graduated 2019

Bruno Meza
Masters Student, graduated 2019

Katelyn McNair
Visiting PhD student from SDSU (Rob Edwards lab) in 2019-20

Jayme Jackson
Rotation Student, Winter 2020

Gemma Takahashi
Rotation Student, Winter 2020

Stephanie Orchanian
Rotation Student, Fall 2018
sorchani@uci.edu

Stefan Riedel
Masters Student, graduated 2018
sriedel@uci.edu

Clark Hendrickson
Post-bach research assistantNow a UCI PhD student in the CMB Program

Joshua Fong
Undergraduate Research Alumni

Marlyd Mejia
Undergraduate Research AlumniNow a PhD student at Baylor College of Medicine
https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/marlyd-mejia-26523

Whitney England, PhD
Postdoctoral Bioinformatics Specialist
wengland@uci.edu

Zachary Lu
Undergraduate Researcher, graduated 2017ACS Colon Cancer pilot grant research assistant, 2017-2018 (Collected thousands of samples in collaboration with Dr. William Karnes!), now a medical student at UCI.

Nick Rhoades
PhD Rotation Student, Spring 2018 (defended in 2021, Messaoudi lab)