I am an Argentine researcher born in Buenos Aires but now settled in Misiones province. I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in genetics and a Ph.D. in biological sciences. I am passionate about evolutionary biology, and focused most of my career on chromosome evolution of vertebrates, with emphasis on supernumerary (B) and sex chromosomes. In 2022, I started a position as a researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), to study the evolution of B chromosomes in Neotropical frogs with a genomics approach. Despite spending much of my time at the microscope, lab bench, and computer, I always took advantage of every opportunity to accompany different colleagues to study all kinds of animals in the field in different locations in Argentina, Brazil, & Paraguay. 

 I am very excited for the opportunity to work at TropBioLab. We aim to investigate genome evolution of parasitic insects and their hosts, as well as the possible genomic conflicts arising from the extreme differentiation between sexes.

I was born and resided in Brooklyn, NYC until college. I obtained a B.S in biology and minor in environmental science at Knox College, where I conducted research on ciliate phototransduction, membrane pigmentation, and encystment. After graduation I worked for one year as a research technician, at the W.M. Keck Structural Biology Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory under Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor. I joined the CDM Biology graduate program at The University of Rochester for a first semester in the Fall of 2024. I am interested in ciliate genomes, computational biology, gene expression during development, and plastic morphology. I also have a passion for science communication and hope to be a teaching professor one day!

Being a military child, I was born in Japan and have lived all over the world. I received my B.S. in Biology specializing in Conservation Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi. While there, I worked in Dr. Kaitlin Baudier’s lab focusing on the natural history and thermal physiology of Mischocyttarus phthisicus in Puerto Rico. I also worked on the thermal physiology of Mischocyttarus mexicanus in New Orleans, LA.

I came to the University of Rochester in the Fall of 2023. I am generally interested in plasticity, local thermal adaptations, and social evolution. My research will focus on local climatic adaptations in the Mischocyttarus mexicanus genome across a large climatic gradient in southeastern USA. This will consist of identifying the genes undergoing thermal selection, modeling the demographic history of these populations to model future range expansions, and linking genetic signatures of selection to behavioral and morphological traits. Overall, I hope to bridge the gap between lab-based genetics and genomics with field-based ecology and make science accessible to the general public. 

I am a native of the Finger Lakes region and call Geneva, NY, home. I am lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful flora and fauna, and I realize more each day how much it has influenced my personal, academic, and professional trajectory. I graduated from the U of R in 2022 with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and am now pursuing an M.S. in Biology. My work in the TropBio lab focused on the behavioral manipulation of the parasite Xenos peckii on its host, the American paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus. 

In my MS project, I will explore how relatedness and recognition signals influence aggressive interactions among weaver ant colonies. I am so grateful to be back in the TropBio lab and back at the U of R to continue learning and developing as a scientist, with so many wonderful people alongside me! 

I’m from right down the road in Syracuse, New York. Growing up in the heavily forested Central New York I was frequently in the woods looking under logs and wandering along streams and the edges of ponds trying to find and identify all the creatures I could. This led to a lifelong interest in the natural world and all things that inhabit it. After a short detour into Neuroscience I have come back to my roots and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major, along with a minor in History. Now, as I go into my Senior year, work with the paper wasp Mischocyttarus mexicanus, studying its morphological and behavioral plasticity across a latitudinal gradient. I hope to continue my education and pursue a PhD and a career in research.

In Fall of 2023 I studied abroad in Ecuador as part of the TropBio Lab’s NSF-funded International Research Experience for Undergraduates (IRES) program, and my current work is funded by the Branche Fellowship. I am grateful for the opportunity to do research and work with everyone in the lab and I’m excited for what we are going to do!

I was born in San Jose, CA and lived in Allentown, PA before starting my undergraduate at Rochester. I am pursuing a dual degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, with a minor in Statistics. As a kid, my parents were avid students of Sanskrit grammar and Vedantic philosophy, and the wide natural expanse behind our temple became my playground. I fell in love with the outdoors when I began to apply the systems of inquisition that my parents used in their classes to my questions about how the natural world works.

In Fall 2023, I had studied abroad in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands through the TropBio Lab’s NSF IRES program, where I studied the environmental conditions of the fungal parasite Ophiocordyceps in the invasive paper wasp Polistes versicolor. I currently am exploring the link between its geographical distribution and climatic conditions. I am also working on recreating the demographic history of thermal tolerance in the Mexican paper wasp, Mischocyttarus mexicanus. I am thrilled and grateful for the support of the NSF IRES program and the Schwartz Discover Grant, as well as to be working with the TropBio Lab!

I was born in the border city of San Diego in Southern California, and lived there my whole life up until coming to school in Rochester. Growing up I always had an interest in the natural sciences, namely biology, but it wasn’t until my senior year of high school when I took a genetics class that I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in it. I’m planning on majoring in biochemistry, and would like to eventually earn a PhD and have a career in research. I’m very excited to be working in the Trop Bio Lab with such a wonderful group of people, and I can’t wait to assist with the various projects happening in the lab as we learn more about the relationship between paper wasps and their parasites.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to do research in the Trop Bio Lab in pursuit of the answers to new questions - specifically those pertaining to paper wasps.

I grew up in Middlesex, NJ. I’m a class of 2025 neuroscience major with a minor in Spanish and clinical psychology. Since I was a kid, I was always looking for new specimens to put under my little toy microscope to explore what was unknown to me. This quest for knowledge has led me to studying the sciences and aspiring to obtain my PhD and have a career in research.

During my time at the TropBio lab I have explored immune system responses to parasites in native vs. invasive hosts and colony defense behavior. Currently, I am focusing on my own project to observe when parasitic manipulation begins through neurogenomics to apply towards host health consequences. I am a Recny Scholar and de Kiewiet Fellow for my neurogenomic work and a Research Ambassador! I’m very grateful to be a part of this wonderful team!