MK Lab
  

 
 
 
 
   
PEOPLE
 
 
LAB ALUMNI
 
GRADUATE STUDENTS
 
Kristine Gandia Project: Effects of parasitoids on host brain structure (collaboration with University of Florence)
Kristine

As a Miami native, I have lived here my entire life, and attended Miami Dade Honors College then transferred to the University of Miami where I obtained my B.S. in Biology. I am currently working on my MS thesis examining whether there are morphological differences in the brains of parasitized and unparasitized social wasps.

Kristine is now a graduate student at the University of Stirling pursuing her PhD in Animal Care.

Link to Kristine's published papers from the lab: 

Gandia et al. 2022 

Rozanski et al. 2021 

 

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LAB TECHNICIAN   
   

Hannah Cook

 

I grew up in Lyons, New York and recently graduated from the University of Rochester during the spring of 2021 with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. As an undergraduate, my research involved documenting changes in the distribution of Nasonia parasitoid wasp species in nature. This project sparked my interest in entomology and appreciation of wasps. Now I am excited to join the Trop Bio Lab team to start working on projects pertaining to social wasps!

Hannah is now a PhD student at Washington State Universit, working with Elizabeth Murray and Silas Bossert.    

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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS  
   

Jessica Carolina Cruz Arrioja

Project: The role of visual stimula & social interactions in brain plasticity of eusocial wasps

I was born in Anzoategui, Venezuela and relocated to Saudia Arabia when I was 14 years old. I then went to boarding school in Switzerland for 3 years and have lived in Miami for 4 years now. I am a senior at the University of Miami majoring in Biology and Minoring in Chemistry. I work with Dr. Mora-Kepfer Uy to explore the influence of visual stimuli and social interactions on differential brain investment in colonies of eusocial wasps.

After graduating from UMiami, Jessica completed a MS in Ecosystem Restoration at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is now a EIT Health Project manager at Amgen.

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Jamie Brunworth

Project: Effect of parasitoids on host brain structure (collaboration with University of Florence)
Jaime

I grew up in Littleton, Colorado and now I am a junior majoring in Biology at the University of Miami. I am currently on the pre-med track and also play on the women’s soccer team here at UM. I was looking for research opportunities and Dr. Mora-Kepfer Uy paired me up with Kristine Gandia, and I am currently helping her with her thesis project. We are focusing on the effects of parasitoids in the brains of social wasps. In the future, I would like to attend medical school.

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Stephen Cutie

Project: Population genetics of insular wasps

I have worked in a genomics and a microbiology lab in the past at Miami-Dade College and Barry University, respectively. I worked in the lab of Drs. Al and Floria Uy at UM, studying the population genetics of social wasps across the Solomon Islands. My long-term goal is to perform research and investigate tissue regeneration and macrophages.

Stephen continued with graduate work  in the UC Berkeley/UC San Francisco Graduate Program in Bioengineering. After receiving his PhD, Stephen received a California Council on Science & Technology fellowship, which allows him to use his background to affect state-wide policies.

Link to Stephen's publication from the lab: 

Uy et al. 2016 

   
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Christine DeSilva Project: Population genetics of insular wasps & Movement and distribution of kleptoparasitic spiders
Christine

I graduated from UM majoring in Biology and minoring in Marine Science and Photography. I continue to be involved in the lab through research and leading the social media initiative in the Trop Bio Lab. In 2012, I worked in Dr. Stephan Zuchner’s lab at the Miller School of Medicine studying Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. Ever since I was little, I have had a connection with the natural world and have wanted to study it. During the summer of 2013 I took the Solomon Islands Field Course led by Drs. Al & Floria Uy. There, I learned a lot about field biology and island ecology. As a result of this experience, now I am studying population genetics of social wasps and s movement of kleptoparasitic spiders of the Solomon Islands. In the future I hope to be able to meld my two strongest passions, photography and science, together in order to educate the public.

 

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Daniel Franco

Project: Population genetics of insular wasps

Born and raised in Miami, Florida; I received my B.S. in Biology from the University of Miami. My first experience with field biology came through Drs. Al and Floria Uy’s field course in the Solomon Islands. It was such an amazing experience that I knew I had to join their lab to work on some of the field data collected from that trip. I assist Dr. Mora-Kepfer in our study exploring the population genetics of social wasps from the Solomon Islands. Currently I am continuing my research in the lab and will be attending UM's Miller Medical School in Fall 2016.

Daniel immediately attended UM's Miller School of Medicine after receiving his BS in Biology. In 2020, Daniel finished med school and decided to stay as a resident at the Miller School of Medicine.

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Sterling Jeffries Project: Plasticity in group formation and behavior in colonial spiders

    I was born in Naples, Florida but lived on Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands until I was 6 years old. I have lived in Miramar, Florida since then. I am a sophomore Biology major. I have just started working a research project with Dr. Mora-Kepfer Uy on behavior and group composition in the spider Cyrtophora citricola. Science is of great interest to me and I have always been one fascinated with nature. I am an Eagle Scout and have partaken in hiking and observing nature. I am excited to be working in the lab so I can gain a greater understanding for nature and answer many of the questions I have about it.​

Sterling is an alumnus of our field course in the Solomon Islands (2015), and continued at  UMiami's Physical Therapy School after graduation.

Link to Sterling's publication from the lab:

Uy et al. 2017 

Uy et al. 2018 

  

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Maggie Kane


Project: Molecular basis of parasite manipulation

    I grew up in West Monroe, NY, just outside the city of Syracuse. I am now a junior pursuing a major in molecular genetics and a minor in chemistry. The project that I am collaborating on explores the arms race between social wasps and how their parasites avoid detection. Stay tuned for Maggie’s upcoming manuscript, funded by a Kiewiet Research Fellowship. 

Maggie just started her PhD. in molecular biology and genetics at Columbia University.

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Taylor E. Lopreto Project: Differences in diet composition across castes in weaver ants (collaboration with Dr. Leo Sternberg, UM)

I grew up in Palm City, Florida and I am currently a senior majoring in Biology on the pre-medical track and minoring in Chemistry and Public Health. I began participating in research with Dr. Floria Mora-Kepfer Uy’s lab during the UGalapagos program on a field project regarding parasitized wasps of the Galapagos Islands and collaborated on quantifying brain regions of parasitoid and social wasps. I am currently working with Dr. Mora-Kepfer Uy to explore the diet changes across habitats and castes in weaver ants using isotope ratios.

Link to Taylor's publication from the lab:

Rozanski et al. 2021 

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Ryan O'Reilly Project: Differences in diet composition across castes in weaver ants (collaboration with Dr. Leo Sternberg, UM)
ryan I was born and raised in Port Washington, NY out in Long Island. I am currently a senior taking a B.S. in Ecosystem Science and Policy with a minor in Biology. I became involved in Dr. Floria Mora-Kepfer Uy's lab after taking her class in the UGalapagos program, as well as her and Dr. Al Uy's field biology course in the Solomon Islands. I am currently working with Floria on a project examining the differences in diet of tropical weaver ants. To do this, we are examining isotope ratios across different colonies and castes of weaver ants. After graduating, I'm planning to travel across Australia for a year before coming back and starting graduate school. 
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Krisha Patel

Project: Plasticity in brain and group formation in social insects & Color change as an antipredation mechanism in tropical crabs

krisha

I am a senior majoring in Biology at the University of Miami. Working in the Uy lab I have analyzed wasp behaviors and worked on virtually reconstructing wasp brains. I spent a semester in Ecuador, including 3 months in the Galapagos archipelago, where I had the opportunity to observe the wildlife we learned about in the classroom. I went abroad again to conduct research with Floria in the Solomon Islands, funded by the Beyond the Book Scholarship. In the Solomon Islands, I studied ghost crabs to investigate their ability to change color to match the substrate in which they forage in, as an antipredation mechanism.

Krisha continued to vet school at Ohio State University after graduating from UMiami.

Link to Krisha's publication from the lab: 

Uy et al. 2017 

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Suvetha Ravichandran Project: Color change as an antipredation mechanism in tropical crabs

I was born in Tamil Nadu, India and grew up for the majority of my life in Tampa. I am currently a senior finishing with a B.S. in Anthropology on the medical track. In January I join the Ethiopian Health Service of the Peace Corps. During the summer of 2015 I went to the Solomon Islands with the dynamic Dr. Uys. While there for the field course in evolutionary biology and ecology we studied the behavior of ghost crabs. Specifically, I compared the pigment of their carapace to their background choice, as a crypsis mechanism.

Suvetha is now working for the Peace Corps.

Suvetha's publication from the Uy Lab:

Uy et al. 2017 

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Allison Rozanski Project: Neuroanatomy in a host- social parasite system 

I grew up in Philadelphia PA. I am a senior pursuing a Biology major and a Chemistry and Computer Science minor. I am currently looking into PhD programs as my next step. I became involved in this lab after studying abroad in the Galapagos with Dr. Floria Mora-Kepfer Uy. When I returned in the Spring, I teamed up with Kristine Gandia who trained me to begin a project over the course of the summer. I am continuing work on this project along side my fellow undergraduate researcher, Taylor Lopreto. This project investigates how brain plasticity effects neural structures in a eusocial wasp and its parasite.

Alli's work was supported by the summer research program for underrepresented minorities and women by the CAS. She joined the MS program in Bioinfirmatics  at Georgia Tech after finishing at UMiami. She is now...

Link to Alli's publication from the lab:   

Rozanski et al. 2021 

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Mila Turner Project: Host-parasite coevoution

I have lived in the Finger Lakes region for my entire life, at the tip of Seneca Lake, specifically. I am lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful flora and fauna, and it has most definitely played a role in my love for the natural world. I am a junior majoring in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Rochester. The Trop Bio Lab sparked interest in me with its integrative approach to science and hands-on work with parasitic wasps, as well as the unique mission Dr. Uy has for her undergraduate researchers. We will be investigating the effects of parasites on social wasps native to North America. I will be focusing on the behavioral changes of infection and on host-parasite interactions.

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Matthew Wiefels Project: The effects of relatedness in social interactions in weaver ants

I am a sophomore on the medical track majoring in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology.  The project that I am collaborating on involves using mass spectrometry to analyze the carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in weaver ants from the Solomon Islands.  Our goal is to learn more about the diets of these ants and how they vary among colonies and different classes within those colonies.

Matthew's work is supported by a Beyond the Book Fellowship from the College of Arts and Sciences. Matthew is now a med student at UM's Miller School of Medicine.

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Natascha Zorrilla Project: The role of visual stimula & social interactions in brain plasticity of eusocial wasps
Natasha

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela and have lived in Florida, for 14 years now. I am a senior at the University of Miami. My major is biology, and I have a triple minor in Math, Chemistry, and Computer Science. I work in two projects with Dr. Mora-Kepfer Uy. 1) We are exploring the influence of complex visual stimuli and social interactions on differential brain investment in colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp Mischocyttarus mexicanus and 2) studying the population genetics of social wasps throughout the Solomon Islands.

Natasha successfully pursued a MS degree in Public Health Administration at the Sufflolk University.

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