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Principal Investigator
Jacqueline Kimmey, PhD
Assistant Professor, METX (2019 - present)
Fun fact: if all the cars break down, you'll find her commuting on horseback.
Area of focus: all the areas!
Jacqueline began her career at UCLA where she studied heme acquisition in Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the lab of Marcus Horwitz, MD. She did her graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis with Christina Stallings, PhD studying autophagy-independent functions of ATG5 in controlling neutrophil mediated susceptibility to M. tuberculosis. As a postdoc she worked with Victor Nizet, MD at UCSD exploring how host responses dictate outcome of acute bacterial infections such as those caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group A Streptococcus (GAS), Group B Streptococcus (GBS), and Staphylococcus aureus. Jacqueline's training has been generously supported by various training and mentorship programs including UC LEADS, MARC, NSF GFRP, and UC PPFP. In 2019, she was honored on the Forbes' 30 under 30 list (Science).
jkimmey <at> ucsc.edu
Twitter: @jkimmey
Instagram: @KimmeyLab
Graduate Students
rsackste <at> ucsc.edu
Raina graduated from Reed College in 2020 with a B.A. in Biology. She completed her undergraduate thesis in the Cerveny Lab, where she studied the gene targets of retinoic acid during retinal neurogenesis in the developing zebrafish eye. A summer position in the Ott Lab at UCSF sparked her passion for host-microbe interactions, which lead her to pursue a PhD in Microbial Biology and Pathogenesis at UCSC and join the Kimmey Lab in 2021. Her research uses zebrafish to understand how infection alters the circadian clock.
Raina Sacksteder
MS Student, METX (Joined lab 03/2021)
Fun Fact: She runs the Etsy shop FrogsOnSwings!
Area of focus: mechanism of circadian clocks in zebrafish, impact of Spn exposure
Ask me to help with: zebrafish, Tol2 transgenesis, circadian clock
caspalme <at> ucsc.edu
Catherine graduated from New York University Abu Dhabi in 2020 with a B. S. in Biology. She completed her undergraduate thesis in the Sadler Edepli Lab, where she studied fatty liver disease in zebrafish. Her research focused on how similar environmental conditions (both toxicological and microbiologic) can lead to differential disease outcomes. Her interests led her to pursue a PhD in the Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology program at University of California Santa Cruz where she joined the Kimmey Lab in 2021. Her research focuses on the regulation of innate effectors and pathogenesis.
Catherine Palmer
PhD Student, METX (Joined lab 03/2021)
Fun Fact: probably has sand in her shoes
Area of focus: time of day differences in innate immunity and pneumonia
Ask me to help with: Spn animal infection models, microscopy, flow cytometry
Undergraduate Students
zkedkad <at> ucsc.edu
Ziad Kedkad is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is majoring in Molecular Cell Development Biology and is an aspiring research surgeon with strong desires of innovating medicine of tomorrow. He is a jack of all trades with diverse passions - he owns a clothing company called Naeem Clothing and makes music under the alias CXC Mel!
Ziad Kedkad
Undergraduate Student, MCD (class of 2023)
Joined the lab 08/2021
Fun Fact: Continuously trying to find the shortest path to my classes
Area of focus: effect of light on susceptibility to Spn in zebrafish
nboucher <at> ucsc.edu
coming soon
Nathan Boucher
Undergraduate Student, MCD (class of 2023)
Joined the lab 01/2022
Fun Fact: Speaks French but never met anyone from France
Area of focus: pathogenesis of Streptococcus
jwknight <at> ucsc.edu
coming soon
Jaden Knight
Undergraduate Student, BMB (class of 2023)
Joined the lab 06/2022
Fun Fact:
Area of focus:
jkolahi <at> ucsc.edu
coming soon
Jared Kolahi
Undergraduate Student, MCD (class of 2023)
Joined the lab 06/2022
Fun Fact: He has a pet lizard and a pet turtle!
Lab Alumni
Alumni - Graduate Students (Thesis Lab)
Tiffany Thisner - PhD Student (Mar 2020 - Mar 2021). Withdrew from program to pursue career change.
Ti Lam - MS student (Mar 2020 - Dec 2021). Defended thesis Dec 2021! Current position: Research Associate at Exai Bio
Alumni - Graduate Students (Rotations)
Joshua Shaffer (2020). Thesis lab: Upasna Sharma
Stephanie Aguiar (2020). Thesis lab: Raquel Chamorro-Garcia
Alumni - Undergraduates, Postbac, and other pre-graduate trainees
Manasa Handady - Undergraduate (Oct 2019 - March 2021). Current position: Medical School, St. Louis University (entry 2021)
Brittany Gomez - PREP Scholar (July 2020 - March 2021).
Hadassah Legaspi - ACCESS Scholar (June - Aug 2022).
Alumni - Staff
Meredith Klashman - Jr. Specialist (Sept 2019 - July 2019). Current position: MD /MS program at UCSF and Berkeley
Lisa Sudek - Technician (Sept 2020 - May 2021). Current position: Specialist in Carpenter Lab, UCSC