INSITE Leadership
Michele K. Nishiguchi (Nish)
INSITE Director
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Microbial genetics, experimental evolution, microbial ecology, evolution of animal-bacterial associations.
University of California, Merced
https://nishsymbiosislab.com/
nish@ucmerced.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Nishiguchi is an evolutionary biologist and microbial ecologist who is interested in the evolution of animal-microbial interactions with respect to their environment. Her laboratory studies the mutualistic association between sepiolid squids (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) and their Vibrio symbionts which provides a versatile and experimentally tractable model system to study the population dynamics and cospeciation between bacterial species and their diversity among host squids. Researchers in Dr. Nish’s laboratory focus on aspects of molecular signaling, population genetics of Vibrio bacteria, molecular specificity of symbiosis genes, competitive exclusion of non-native symbionts, phylogenetic relationships among squids in the family Sepiolidae, as well as modeling certain aspects of the ecology of the association.
Gordon Bennett
INSITE Associate Director
Associate Professor, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; Evolutionary biology, molecular and genomic coevolution, and cellular integration of animal-microbial symbioses.
University of California, Merced
Bennett Lab Website
gbennett2@ucmerced.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Bennett is an evolutionary biologist and entomologist who leverages insect systems to understand the fundamental principles of animal-microbial interactions. The overarching goal of my research program seeks to understand how such complex interactions evolve and function. I purposefully work with non-model organisms to gain a novel and deeper understanding of these processes. To understand how these complex interactions function, my lab takes a multidisciplinary approach that includes evolutionary biology, cellular and molecular biology, field biology, and bioinformatics.
Research Theme Leads
Maggie Sogin
Theme I Lead
Assistant professor in Department of Molecular and Cell Biology.
University of California, Merced
https://www.soginlab.com
esogin@ucmerced.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Sogin is a microbial ecologist who leverages ‘omics techniques to investigate microbial interactions within complex microbiomes of Eukaryotic host. Research in the lab is focused on two systems: the seagrass, Zostera marina and the sea anemone, Aiptasia. To understand how the host interacts with its microbial symbionts, how the microbial symbionts interact with each other and how the environment impacts these interactions, she leverages a combination of metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomic techniques.
Elizabeth Heath-Heckman
Theme II Lead
Michigan State University
Erica Rutter
Theme III Co- Lead
University of California, Merced
Shilpa Khatri
Theme III Co- Lead
University of California, Merced
Graduate Training and Education Team
Chris Amemiya
Graduate Training and Education Team
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology; Comparative immunology, comparative genomics, evo-devo.
University of California, Merced
https://amemiyalab.com
camemiya@ucmerced.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Amemiya uses comparative genomics and developmental biology to study evo-devo problems. He has focused on novelty in vertebrate evolution, including the emergence of innovative structures and systems, like the adaptive immune system. He has been working most recently on the evolution of vertebrate chitin and the anticipatory immune system of the jawless vertebrates. He is not involved in the research being undertaken in INSITE and has more of an administrative role with respect to education and outreach.
Marcos E. Garcia-Ojeda
Graduate Training and Education Team
University of California, Merced
Research Interests:
Research Theme Associates
Annick Cros
Research Theme Associate
Scientist, Resilient Oceans. Marine conservation, population genetics, landscape genetics, spatial planning, GIS and coral reef ecology.
Resilient Oceans, Monterey, California.
http://resilientoceans.org
acros@resilientoceans.org
Research Interests: Annick Cros is a marine conservationist and the lead consultant for Resilient Oceans. She has a PhD from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and twenty years’ experience working in marine conservation and coastal management with large international NGOs around the world. As well as her solid scientific background, Annick has developed expertise in supporting collaborative projects, and bridging gaps between scientists, communities, and managers. These skills will allow her to promote communication and collaboration between INSITE scientists and on-the-ground managers to ensure that scientific outcomes are clearly aligned with management challenges.
Juris Grasis
Senior Research Personnel
University of California, Merced
Michael Dawson
Senior Research Personnel
University of California, Merced
Kevin Liu
Senior Research Personnel
Michigan State University
Michael Thompson
Senior Research Personnel
University of California, Merced
Suzanne Sindi
Senior Research Personnel
University of California, Merced
Graduate Students
Daravuth Cheam
Graduate Student
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology; Comparative immunology, comparative genomics, evo-devo.
University of California, Merced
https://amemiyalab.com
dcheam@ucmerced.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Amemiya uses comparative genomics and developmental biology to study evo-devo problems. He has focused on novelty in vertebrate evolution, including the emergence of innovative structures and systems, like the adaptive immune system. He has been working most recently on the evolution of vertebrate chitin and the anticipatory immune system of the jawless vertebrates. He is not involved in the research being undertaken in INSITE and has more of an administrative role with respect to education and outreach.
Luisa Garcia Michel
University of California, Merced
PI- Dr. Michael Thompson
Morgan
Lavenstein Bendall
University of California, Merced
PI- Dr. Erica Rutter
Korenna Estes
University of California, Merced
PI- Dr. Michele Nishiguchi & Dr. Marcos Garcia-Ojeda
Miguel Estrada Caballero
University of California, Merced
PI- Dr. Gordon Bennett
Postdoctoral Scholars
Daravuth Cheam
Graduate Student
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology; Comparative immunology, comparative genomics, evo-devo.
University of California, Merced
https://amemiyalab.com
dcheam@ucmerced.edu
Research Interests: Dr. Amemiya uses comparative genomics and developmental biology to study evo-devo problems. He has focused on novelty in vertebrate evolution, including the emergence of innovative structures and systems, like the adaptive immune system. He has been working most recently on the evolution of vertebrate chitin and the anticipatory immune system of the jawless vertebrates. He is not involved in the research being undertaken in INSITE and has more of an administrative role with respect to education and outreach.
Assessment
Patricia Campbell