Team Members

Jacqueline Kimmey, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

METX (06/2019 - present)

Fun fact: if all the cars break down, you'll find her commuting on horseback.

Area of focus: all the areas!

Ask me for help with: immunology, circadian biology, infectious disease, clincal questions, mentoring, career advice

Devons Mo

Ph.D. Candidate (Qualified!)

METX (05/2023 - present)

Fun Fact: My favorite animal is a tree frog

Area of focus: circadian control of innate sensing and cellular response

Ask me to help with: cell culture, circadian handling and data analysis, coding

Emily Noelle Pasion

Jr. Specialist

(01/2024 - present)

Fun Fact: I played for the UCSC Women's Volleyball team!

Area of focus: zebrafish models of bacterial pathogenesis

Experience: Undergrad researcher in the Kimmey Lab 04/23 - 12/23

Andy

Project Scientist

(08/2024 - present)

Fun Fact: I'm from Arizona, where shorts are called "pants" and pants are called "long pants"

Ask me for help with: cloning and molecular genetics

Camila Morales Fénero, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

METX (02/2023 - present)

Fun fact: I am a choir singer and love cats!

Area of focus: zebrafish infection models and circadian rhythms

Ask me to help with: anything zebrafish, histology, microscopy, molecular biology

Jaden Knight

Master's Candidate (Qualified!)

METX 4+1 (06/2022 - present)

Fun Fact: I worked on the UCSC Farm and know quantum chemistry!

Area of focus: chemical identification of clock modulating ligands

Ask me to help with: bacterial fractionation, MS, HPLC, NMR

Philip Kovelman-Ottilie

Undergraduate

(10/2023 - present)

Fun Fact: I've been doing research on circadian rhythms since high school!

Area of focus: circadian immunity and infection

Catherine Palmer

Ph.D. Candidate (Qualified!)

METX (03/2021 - present)

Fun fact: I probably have sand in my shoes!

Area of focus: time of day susceptibility to pneumonia, pulmonary immunity

Ask me to help with: murine models, pathogenesis, flow cytometry, S. pneumoniae

J. Colin McEachen

Master's Student

METX (10/2023 - present)

Fun Fact: I can sing a capella!

Area of focus: development of multi-color luciferase and BRET reporter zebrafish (in collaboration with Andy Yeh's lab at UCSC)

Ask me for help with: Tol2Kit, zebrafish trangenesis, toxicity screens

Corey Witt

Undergraduate (MCD)

(06/2024 - present)

Fun Fact: I love to bake chocolate chip cookies
Area of focus: sex differences in circadian control of pneumonia

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! Next: Research Associate at Exai Bio

Raina Sacksteder - MS student (Mar 2021 - Mar 2023). Defended thesis Mar 2023! Next: Dancer / Choreographer / Ballet Instructor

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 - Undergrad (Oct 2019 - March 2021). Grad Spring 2021!Next: Med School, St. Louis University (entry 2021)

Brittany Gomez - PREP Scholar (July 2020 - March 2021).

Hadassah Legaspi - ACCESS Scholar (June - Aug 2022). Next: Graduated UCLA, class of 2024

Nathan Boucher - Undergraduate (Jan 2022 - Dec 2022). Graduated Winter 2023!

Ziad Kedkad - Undergraduate (Aug 2021 - Mar 2023). Graduated Winter 2023! Next: Technician at UCSF

Jared Kolahi - Undergraduate (Sept 2022 - Sept 2023). Graduated Summer 2023!

Hailey Christian - GAIN Scholar (June - Aug 2023). Next: Undergrad at CSUMB, class of 2025

Griffin Bohman - GAIN Scholar (June - Aug 2023). Next: Undergrad at CSUMB, class of 2024

Emily Pasion - Undergraduate (April - Dec 2023). Graduated Dec 2023! Next: Still in the lab! Hired as a Jr. Specialist.

Mariana Tominaga Pereira - Undergraduate Visiting Scholar (Jan - May 2024). Next: back at U. São Paolo finishing her B.S.

Kevin Halim - Undergraduate (Jan 2023 - Jun 2024). Graduated June 2024! Next: Gap year, pre-med school

Kate Wolsfeld - ACCESS Scholar (June - Aug 2024). Next: Undergrad at Cabrillo College

Alumni - Staff

Meredith Klashman - Jr. Specialist (Sept 2019 - July 2019). Next: MD /MS program at UCSF and Berkeley (entry

Lisa Sudek - Technician (Sept 2020 - May 2021). Next: Specialist in Carpenter Lab, UCSC