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. 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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Yumary Vasquez
Undergraduate Research AssistantYumary is a Biotechnology undergraduate who works in the STEM Ambassador Program. She is the CSM Representative for ASI, that loves black cats, cosplaying and Venezuelan food. Yumary is working on lady beetle demography and their applications to biological control, and also with Hannah on quantifying molecular and morphological diversity of Dinocampus coccinellae.
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Hannah Vansant
Undergraduate Research AssistantHannah is a fourth year Biological Sciences major hoping to pursue a career in medicine following graduation. Personal interests include art, history and travel while academic interests include epidemiology and public health issues. Hannah is currently working with Yumary on the molecular and morphological diversity of Dinocampus coccinellae.
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Shiori Takehara
Undergraduate Research AssistantShiori is a Biotechnology undergraduate who 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 is currently working on quantifying variation in telomere lengths across human populations.
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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 Price 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.
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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.
