Arun Sethuraman
Assistant ProfessorDr. Sethuraman is an evolutionary computational biologist, who develops new statistical methods to study how genomes evolve in structured populations during divergence and speciation in response to natural selection and demography. Applications of his work include conservation, deciphering human evolutionary history, agriculture, and biological control. Outside the lab, he loves to CrossFit, and spoiling his two cats Hobbes and Pepper.
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Melissa Lynch
Graduate Research AssistantMelissa is currently pursuing her Masters degree in biology at CSUSM. She graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biology (major) and Computer Science (minor) in Spring 2017 from CSUSM. She loves coffee, traveling, and podcasts. Melissa is currently working on quantifying biases in evolutionary demographic analyses in the presence of unsampled "ghost" populations.
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Bryce Summerhays
Graduate Research AssistantBryce is currently pursuing his Masters degree in biology at CSUSM, working in population genomics of predatory lady beetles. He graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biology in 2012 from UCSD, where he was a research assistant working with native and non-native, invasive species of ants. He is also an Exhibit Attendant and Animal Keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, CA.
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Stefany Nuñez
Undergraduate Research AssistantStefany loves watching sunsets, drinking coffee and listening to music. She is always looking for a good adventure and in her spare time, she enjoys playing piano and knitting. Stefany currently works as a tutor in the Math Lab at CSUSM. She loves mathematics and hopes to be able understand biological systems trough the use of mathematical models. She hopes to obtain a doctorate degree in Biomathematics at North Carolina State University. In the Sethuraman Lab, Stefany is continuing Shiori's previous work on heritability of telomeric length variation in human populations.
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Nicolette Gonzalez
Undergraduate Research AssistantNicolette Gonzalez is an undergraduate student studying Molecular and Cellular Biology at CSUSM. After graduation, she plans to obtain her master's degree in Physical Assistant Studies at the University of California Davis. Her personal interests include being outdoors, reading, backpacking, and sailing. In the Sethuraman lab, Nicolette assists in Bryce's study of using ddRAD sequencing and genome-wide SNP data in estimating the population genomics and dynamics of the North American native convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens), the non-native Asian Harlequin lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis), and the European seven-spotted lady beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) collected across the United States.
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Khyati Kansagara
Undergraduate Research AssistantKhyati was born and brought up in India but has been in the US for three years now. She works on campus at the Math Lab, Writing Center and the Language Learning Center. She is a Junior, pursuing B.S.in Biological Sciences, along with a Minor in Chemistry. She looks forward to pursuing a master's degree in Computational Biology followed by dental school. During her downtime, she loves reading, listening to songs, watching TV shows, hiking and biking, hanging out with friends, eating, sleeping, traveling and surfing the net (specifically articles on food, nutrition and health - although she is not at all a healthy eater, haha.) Photography is another hobby of hers. Also, she loves coffee and memes. Khyati is currently assisting Bryce in his population genomics projects.
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Nitesh Sabankar
Nitesh is a graduate student, working towards his Masters degree in Computer Science at CSUSM. He is currently working on developing a web-front, GUI, and tools as part of the PPP-Pop-Gen Pipeline Platform project.
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Ken Mey
Undergraduate Research AssistantKen is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Ken hopes to obtain his PhD in Molecular Biology and work within the field of conservation biology. Ken is currently the supplemental instructor for genetics and also works in the STEM center as a tutor. In his free time Ken enjoys meditating and enlightening his-self, volunteering time at the local animal sanctuary, and binge-watching anime.
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Christy Grenier
Undergraduate Research AssistantChristy Grenier is a fifth year biological science major at CSUSM. Her hobbies include playing board games, crocheting, playing video games, crafting every random thing under the sun, and hanging out with her friends. She hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a clinical lab scientist after graduation.
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Lab Alumni
Michael Adrian Rubio
Michael graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biotechnology in Spring 2017. He also spends too much time playing video games, is a connoisseur of soda, and an artist at misplacing his keys. Warning: he will eat anything. Michael worked with Yumary in analyzing the evolutionary demography of three species of lady beetles - Hippodamia convergens, Harmonia axyridis, and Coccinella septempunctata, and on a meta-analysis of recent studies utilizing genomic data to inform conservation.
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James Price
James graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biotechnology in Spring 2017. He enjoys hip hop, e-sports, and the company of his dog, Nacho. James worked with Shiori on quantifying the variation in lengths of telomeres across human populations. James is currently a Diamond Grader at the Gemological Institute of America.
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Shiori Takehara
Shiori graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biotechnology in Summer 2017. She interned in the laboratory of Dr. Knut Woltjen at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Japan, where she initiated a disease modeling project using CRISPR gene editing. Besides research work, she enjoys drinking tea while watching movies with her dog, Bailey. Shiori worked on quantifying variation in telomere lengths across human populations. Shiori is currently a Quality Control Specialist at GenMark Diagnostics.
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Merielle Redwine
Merielle Redwine graduated in Spring 2018 with a Bachelors degree in Mathematics and Quantitative Biology at CSUSM. In the Sethuraman Lab, she worked on developing theory around the population genetics of interacting species. She loves being outdoors, rock climbing, and playing guitar.
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Apeksha Sukesh Kallur
Apeksha is an alumnus of CSUSM and graduated with a Masters degree in Computer Science in Spring 2017. She is a huge coffee lover and hobbies include writing poems and short stories. She worked on building a pipeline platform for easy development/implementation of complex workflows which is a part of PPP- Pop-Gen Pipeline Platform project.
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Hannah Vansant
Hannah graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences in June 2018. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine following graduation. Personal interests include art, history and travel while academic interests include epidemiology and public health issues. In the Sethuraman Lab, Hannah worked with Yumary on the molecular and morphological diversity of Dinocampus coccinellae. As of June 2018, Hannah is a recipient of the prestigious NIH MHIRT fellowship, and is pursuing a summer post-baccalaureate program at Oxford University.
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Abraham Reiter
Abraham Reiter is a high school student enamored by science and passionate about writing. He enjoys music that ends in "-hop", and appreciates any form of art that pushes creative boundaries. A wanderer at heart, Abraham hikes, globe-hops, and strives for novelty. He will pull over for a sufficiently cute dog. In Summer 2017, Abraham assisted Dr. Sethuraman with design of his BIOL 480L course, taught Fall 2017.
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Daniel Magnusson
Dan graduated with an Undergraduate degree in Biotechnology from CSUSM in Fall 2017. He was an international student from Iceland who has been living in the United states for about 4 years. As of June 2018, he is a Production Support Technician at BioLegend.
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Yumary Vasquez
Yumary graduated in Spring 2018 with a Bachelors degree in Biotechnology. At CSUSM, she was the CSM Representative for ASI, and worked as a STEM ambassador. In the Sethuraman Lab, Yumary worked on lady beetle demography and their applications to biological control, and also with Hannah Vansant on quantifying molecular and morphological diversity of Dinocampus coccinellae. She is currently a PhD student in quantitative biology at UC Merced.
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If you are an undergraduate student in biology/biotechnology/computer science and interested in pursuing research opportunities in bioinformatics or population genomics, feel free to write to me about available opportunities. Include a brief bio, and why you want to pursue research in your email.