Current Lab Members:

Jocelyn McDonald

Assistant Professor

B.S. Marquette University

Ph.D. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Postdoctoral Fellow. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

More about Dr. McDonald: McDonald Biosketch and faculty web site

Research Interests: Collective cell migration, cell polarity, kinases and phosphatases in cell migration, tissue morphogenesis, mechanobiology, tumor invasion and metastasis

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Yujun Chen

Research Associate (Postdoctoral Fellow)

B.S. Hainan University, China

Ph.D. Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Research Interests: Serine-threonine Protein phosphatases in border cells and collective migration

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Nirupama Kotian

Graduate Student

B.Sc. KETs V G Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai, India

M.Sc. KETs V G Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai, India

Research Interests: Cell adhesion proteins, regulation of adhesion in collectives, applications to cancer

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Luke Messer

Graduate Student

B.S. University of Alabama in Huntsville

Research Interests: Regulation of Rap1 activity in collective migration, tissue-collective interactions, signaling pathways in migration

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Kevin Preuss

Lab Manager

B.S. Kansas State University

Ph.D. Duke University

Research Interests: Organizing the lab, gene regulation in border cells

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Oshadhi Athukorala Arachchige

Research Technician

B.S. Biology, Kansas State University

Research Interests: Regulation of cell adhesion proteins in collective migration of border cells

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Marissa Komp

Undergraduate Research Student

Biology Major, Pre-Veterinary

Research Interests: Protein Phosphatase 1 interaction screens, applications to cancer

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Adelina Parral

Undergraduate Research Student, Bridges and Developing Scholars Programs

Biology Major

Research Interests: Kinases in collective cell migration, adhesion regulation, tumor invasion

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Loan Tang

Undergraduate Researcher, K-INBRE Freshman Scholar

Microbiology Major, Pre-Medicine

Research Interests: GAPs (GTPase activating proteins) in border cells and cancer

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Alumni:

Ketki Sawant (Graduate Student 2010-2015/Postdoctoral Fellow 2016) – currently a Research Scientist at Cellf-Bio, Winston-Salem, NC

George Aranjuez (Graduate Student 2010-2015) – currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida

Ashely Burtscher (Research Technologist 2011-2015) – currently a Research Technologist in the Department of Cancer Biology, Cleveland Clinic

Sushmita Mukherjee (Postdoctoral Fellow 2009-2011) – currently a Clinical Project Manager in the Oncology group at Quintiles, Inc.

Pralay Majumder (Postdoctoral Fellow at Cleveland Clinic 2009-2013; Visiting Scientist at KSU 2016) – currently an Assistant Professor, Presidency University

Kelly Shibuya (Medical Student 2014) – currently a fourth-year medical student in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine

Carmen Del Real (RiPS Kansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program – Summer 2017) – currently a student at Dodge City Community College

Lauren Knox (2016-2017 Undergraduate Research Student) – currently taking classes in preparation for Medical School applications

Heather Foy (Intern 2016) – currently working in healthcare

Kristen Hylen (2016 summer student K-State SUROP program: from Benedictine College)

Mouktika Ayyagari (2013 Undergraduate Researcher: from Case Western Reserve University)

Joanne Berry (2013 Visiting Undergraduate Volunteer: from Ohio Northern University) – currently a research technician at Children’s Hospital Boston & Harvard Medical School (Carla Kim Lab)

Elizabeth Kudlaty (2010-2011 Undergraduate Researcher: from Northwestern University) – currently a medical student at Ohio State University

Derek McCalla (2011 Undergraduate Researcher: from Oakwood University) – currently a medical student at Loma Linda University

Emily Lewis (2010 Undergraduate Researcher: from Ohio State University) – received M.S. in Plant Biology/Conservation from Northwestern University

Connie Tzou (2008-2010 Undergraduate Researcher: from Case Western Reserve University) – currently a graduate student at University of Washington School of Public Health

Nicole Molander-Barraza (2012 Undergraduate Researcher in Case Western Reserve University ACES program: from Florida International University)