Eisen Lab Personnel

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Current Personnel as of March 2026.

• Prof. Jonathan Eisen
• Gina Chaput. Project Scientist. Working jointly between the Eisen an Stachowicz Labs at UC Davis and the Sogin Lab at UC Merced. Starting faculty position at Sonoma State in Fall 2026.
• Dante Capone. TERC Post Doctoral Fellow
• Harriet Wilson. Visiting Scientist.
• Vivian Sapovitz. UC Davis Undergraduate
• Zuhao Zhang. UC Davis Undergraduate

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Past Personnel

Post Docs

• Connie A. Rojas. (2021-2023). UC Davis Chancellor’s Post Doc. Project was focused on cat-microbe interactions. 
• Mo Kaze. (2021-2023). Post-doc working on wastewater infectious disease surveillance co-supervised by Dr. Heather Bischel.
• David Coil (2012-2021). Lab manager Emeritus. Project Scientist, Undergraduate mentor. 
• Guillaume Jospin. (2013-2020). Bioinformatics engineer.
• Laetitia Wilkins (2016-2020). Post doc.
• Alana Firl (2014-2017). UC Davis “New Biology” PostDoc. Joint PostDoc with the Sundar lab. 
• Dongying Wu (2007-2017). PostDoc and then Project Scientist in the Eisen Lab. 
• Sarah Hird (2013-2016). UC Davis Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2016).
• Jenna M. Lang (2012-2016). PostDoc and then Project Scientist in Eisen Lab. 
• Sarah Strauss (2015-2016). Joint PostDoc between the Eisen Lab and Dan Kluepfel’s lab (USDA-ARS). 
• John Zhang (2012-2015). Lab Manager and Molecular Biology Guru.
• Alessandro Delfanti (2014-2015). PostDoc on ICIS project. 
• Holly Bik (2012-2014). PostDoc. 
• Thomas Sharpton (2012-2014). Joint PostDoc with Dr. Katherine Pollard at UCSF. 
• Morgan Langille. PostDoc on iSEEM project. 
• Aaron Darling. PostDoc then Project Scientist.
• Marcel Huntemann (2006-2007). Software Engineer. 
• Andrew Tritt (2010-2011). Software Engineer. 
• Sourav Chatterji (2006-2008). PostDoc. 
• Jonathan Badger (2003-2005). PostDoc. 
• Chris Desjardins (2004-2005). Joint PostDoc at TIGR with Vish Nene. 
• Martin Wu (2003-2007). PostDoc then Project Scientist.. 
• James Sakwa (2003-2005). Joint PostDoc at TIGR with Naomi Ward.

PhD Students

• Marisano James. PhD in Population Biology from UC Davis 2025. Thesis: “Strepsipteran Vision.”
• Sonia Ghose. PhD in Population Biology from UC Davis 2024. Thesis: “Microbial Dynamics in Amphibian Conservation and Disease Ecology.”
• Alonna Wright. PhD in Microbiology from UC Davis in 2022. Thesis: “To Resistance and Beyond: Bioinformatic Investigation of Microbial Environmental Resistance Genes Using Previously Generated Metagenomic and Whole-Genome Sequencing Data.” 
• Marina De León. PhD in Microbiology from UC Davis in 2022. Thesis: “The Taxonomy and Genomic Analysis of Select Pigment Producing Bacteria”. 
• Cassie Ettinger. PhD from UC Davis in Integrative Genetics and Genomics, 2020. Thesis: “Taxonomic Diversity of the Bacterial and Fungal Communities Associated with the Seagrass, Zostera marina”. 
• Katherine Dahlhausen. PhD from UC Davis in Biophysics, 2019. Thesis: “Koala Poop Smells Good: How I Know This and Ways to Increase the Impact of Research Through Education & Outreach”. 
• Russell Neches. PhD from UC Davis in Microbiology, 2018. Thesis: “Prediction of Ecological Function in the Microbiome Using Machine Learning on the Graph Spectra of Coevolving Subnetworks”. 
• Laura Vann. PhD from UC Davis in Integrative Genetics and Genomics, 2017. Thesis: “Natural variation in plants: a survey of host and microbe variation.” 
• Srijak Bhatnagar. PhD from UC Davis in Microbiology, 2017. Thesis: “Identification of factors that drive taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional composition of microbial communities using DNA sequence analyses.” 
• Ladan Doroud. PhD from UC Davis in Computer Science, 2017. Thesis: “Network Analysis in Microbial Systems”. 
• Christopher Beitel. PhD from UC Davis in Genetics, 2016. Thesis: “The inference of genome scaffolding, phasing, and metagenome binning solutions leveraging high-throughput chromosome conformation capture sequencing data.”
• Elizabeth Wilbanks. PhD from UC Davis in Microbiology, 2014. Thesis: “Interrogating microbial networks: from genome-wide transcriptional regulation in model species to the ecophysiology of uncultured microbial consortia”. Jointly supervised with Marc Facciotti.
• Jenna Morgan Lang. PhD from UC Davis in Microbiology, 2012 on “Exploring Microbial Community Composition and Genome Evolution Using Environmental and Comparative Genomics”.
• Amber Hartman Scholz. PhD from Johns Hopkins University in Biology, 2009: “The human gut microbiota: new analyses on the continuum between disease and health.”

Masters Students

• Kate Lane. Masters in Population Biology 2021. 
• Caitlin Haltiner. Masters in Forensics from UC Davis, 2012 on “Comparison of Radial Diffusion, Rapid Stain Identification Series Test for Saliva (RSID), and DNA Test Positivity in Saliva Specimens Over Time”. Much of the lab work was done in the Eisen lab. 
• Sean Geer. Masters from UC Davis in 2009 with some of the work done in the Eisen Lab.

PhD Student Affiliates

• Kate Wall. PhD in Dawn Sumner’s lab who did some of her work in the Eisen lab. PhD awarded in 2019 on “Microbes of the Pinnacled Mats of Lake Vanda, Antarctica.”
• Megan Dillon. PhD in Dawn Sumner’s lab who did some of her work in the Eisen lab. PhD awarded in 2018 on “The Phylogenetic and Metabolic Structure of the Benthic Microbial Mats in Lake Fryxell, Antarctica: Effects of Photosynthetically Active Radiation and Oxygen Concentration.”

Undergraduate Students and Interns

1. Varsha Vijayakartik (2023-2026). 
2. Supraj Buddhavarapu (2022-2025). 
3. Ruby Mascareno (2022-2025)..
4. Jack Shang-Jie Dragoli (2022-2025). 
5. Eric Pham (2022-2025).
6. Rongjun Han (2022-2025).
7. Ethan Wallace (2022-2024). 
8. Kaitlynn Hsieh (2022-2024). 
9. Nariaki Fujita (2022-2025).
10. Akhila Rao (2022-2023)..
11. Jonah Abu-Ghazaleh (2022-2023). 
12. Steven Shi (2022-current). 
13. Ohara Arasheben Price (2022-2023). 
14. Hira Lesea (2021-2022). 
15. Anita Rodrigues (2020).
16. Leah Spaulding (2020). 
17. Hector Medrano (2020). NSURP Summer Student.
18. Donito Burgess (2020). NSURP Summer Student.
19. Jordan Bryan (2020). NSURP Summer Student.
20. Jacqueline Herrera. 2020. NSURP Summer Student.
21. Hannah Huapaya. 2020-2022. 
22. Mable Thai. 2019-2021.
23. Samantha Levy. 2019-2022. Undergrad research in lab. Also worked on “Swabs to genomes” planning project after graduation.
24. Natascha Varona. 2018-2020. 
25. Yasmin Meric. 2018-2020. 
26. David Shih. 2018-2021.
27. Kelsa Lowe. 2018-2019. 
28. Tatiana Sanden. 2018-2020. 
29. Camille Burke. 2018-2020. 
30. Neil Brahmbhatt. 2018-2020. 
31. Kaylah Marcello. 2018-2019. 
32. Lydia Lee. 2018-2019. 
33. Ben Stillman, 2018. 
34. Jolie Lobrutto, 2018.
35. Katelin Jones, summer 2018. 
36. Tess McDaniel, summer 2018. UCLA Student working in the lab for the summer.
37. Dennett Rodriguez. 2017-2019. Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship winner 2018-2019 “The Coop Scoop: Searching for Antibiotic Resistance Genes from Backyard Poultry in Households Using Metagenomic Sequencing.” 
38. Amy Wen. 2017-2019. 
39. Daniel Oberbauer. 2017. 
40. Katie Somers. 2017-2018.
41. Thant Zaw. 2016-2019. UC Davis Biology Undergraduate Scholar Program working on the Kittybiome project.
42. Amanda Dimech, 2016-2017.
43. Emily Dunsmore, 2016-2018. 
44. Adrienne Cho, 2016-2019. Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship for 2017-2018: Unpacking the Anal Sac: Identifying volatile-producing bacteria in feline and sacs and their roles in scent marking
45. Randi Pechacek, 2016-2019. 
46. Marcus Cohen, 2016-2020. 
47. Taylor Tucker, 2016-2017. 
48. Jacqueline Colin, 2016-2019. Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship award winner 2018-2019. “Investigating microbial isolates from Rana sierrae and their interactions with the virulent chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.” 
49. Madeline Leahy. 2015-2016. UC Davis undergrad working on the Kittybiome project.
50. Alex Martin. 2015-2016. UC Berkeley undergrad working on the Kittybiome project.
51. Briana Pompa-Hogan. 2015-2016.
52. Janine Wong. 2015-2016. UC Davis undergrad worked on the Kittybiome project. 
53. Chase Keaton (2015-2016). UC Davis undergrad worked on the Kittybiome project. 
54. Petra Dahms (2015-2017).
55. Nicholas Metas-Chapman (2016). 
56. Jenna Yonenaga. 
57. Tynisha Koenigsaecker, 2015-2016. 
58. Amanda Everitt, 2016-2017. 
59. Karley Lujan, 2015-2018. 
60. Dana DeVries, 2015-2017. 
61. Greg Kincheloe, 2015-2017. 
62. Camilla Dayrit (2014-2015). 
63. Cole Gevurtz (summer 2014). UCSD Undergraduate worked on the Kittybiome project. 
64. Leesa Li (2014-2015). UC Davis Undergraduate who worked on the Kittybiome project and on antimicrobials.
65. Muntaha Samad (2014-2015). 
66. Makayla Betts (2014-2016). Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship Award 2015-2016 “Assessing the Impact of Surface Material on Microbial Diversity in the Built Environment .” 
67. Alexandra Alexiev (2012-2015). After graduating continued working in the Eisen lab as a Research Associate. 
68. Hannah Holland-Moritz (2012-2014). After graduating became a research associate in the Eisen lab. 
69. Jennifer Flanagan (2012-2014). 
70. Madison Dunitz (2012-2013). After graduating became a research associate in the Eisen lab. 
71. Sabreen Aulakh (2012-2014). 
72. Lakshmi Bharadwaj (2012-2013). 
73. Maya Lowe (2012-2013). 
74. Wan Nurul Naszeerah (2012-2013). Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship Award 2012-2013: “Investigating Seasonal Dynamics of Bacterial Communities in Air Conditioning Filters of Unitrans Buses and Private Cars” 
75. Andrew Shaver (2012-2013). 
76. Akshay Sethi (2012-2013). 
77. Hoon San Ong (2013-2014). 
78. Andrew Stump (2013-2014).
79. Ruth Lee (2012-2013).
80. Jonathon Lo (2011-2013).
81. Jessica Doctor (2011-2012).
82. Amanda Diep (2011-2013). 
83. Dakota Bevans (2011-2012). 
84. Zachary Bendiks (2011-2013).
85. Carolina Bistue. 
86. Clare Xu. 
87. Ryan Corces-Zimmerman.
88. Holly Huse. (2005-2007). Summer Intern while in college and worked as a technician in the lab after graduating college. 
89. Sarah Post (2004). 
90. Kevin Penn (2003-2005). Worked as a technician in the lab after graduating college. 

High School Students

• Henna Hundal (Summer 2014).
• Kevin Yang (2012-2013). 
• Roger Chen (Summer 2010). 
• Ryan Maples (Summer 2010). Participant in the UC Davis Young Scholars Program. 
• Rohit Misra (Summer 2010).
• Ray Zhou (Summer 2009).

Visiting Researchers

• Raquel Peixoto. 2017-2020. Visiting Scientist. 
• Isabelle Laforet-Lapointe (2015). Visiting PhD student. 
• Sima Tokajian (2013). Visiting Professor from the Lebanese American University. As of 2023, Professor of Biology, LAU.
• Kathryn Teague (2013). Visiting undergraduate from The University of the Pacific, Geology.
• Melissa Whittaker (2013-2014). UC Davis PhD student in Art Shapiro’s lab who did work on butterfly microbiomes in the lab. 
• J. Matthew Haggerty (2013). Visiting PhD student from San Diego State University.
• Lea Benedicte Skov Hansen (2012). Visiting PhD student from Technical University of Denmark.
• Alex Hon-Tsen Yu (2011). Visiting Professor from National Taiwan University.

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Some Pictures

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