The department would like to congratulate all the graduate students who completed their Ph.D. studies in the 2022/23 academic year in the Molecular Genetics graduate program or in labs in our department. Read on to learn more about what they did and where they are going next!

Dr. Kristin Navarro (Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Autumn 2022).

"A Comprehensive Examination on Transmembrane Emp24 Domain (TMED) Proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans."
Kristen completed her studies in the lab of Dr. Helen Chamberlin. During her time at OSU she was supported by a University Enrichment Fellowship and by the Cellular, Molecular, and Biochemical Sciences Program. Kristen was also one of the Genetics Society of America's Early Career Researchers where she served on their Communications and Outreach committee. She co-authored two papers in the Chamberlin lab, including a first-author paper describing her thesis work. Kristen is now a postdoctoral scholar at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in the Bhoj lab.

Dr. Ashton Holub (Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Autumn 2022).

"Identifying regulatory mechanisms for evolutionarily conserved StARkin domains of plant transcription factors and human tumor suppressors."
Ashton completed his studies in the lab of Dr. Aman Husbands (co-advised by Dr. Jay Hollick). During his time at OSU he was supported by a Pelotonia Graduate Research Fellowship, and he co-authored three papers in the Husbands lab, including a first-author paper describing his thesis work. He won the runner-up award for best talk in the Falkenthal Graduate Colloquium in 2022 and best talk in 2020. Ashton is currently winding up some final projects in the Husband's lab in preparation for his next career move.

Dr. Monica Blatnik (Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Spring 2023).

“Elucidating post-transcriptional regulation of the vertebrate segmentation clock and the role of Pnrc2-dependent mRNA decay during zebrafish development"
Monica completed her studies in the lab of Dr. Sharon Amacher. During her time at OSU she was supported by a Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment Fellowship, and by a Pelotonia Graduate Research Fellowship. During her time at OSU she co-authored two papers including as first author on an invited review, and the manuscript describing her thesis work will be submitted soon. In 2022 she was awarded the ASC Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Service in Mentoring. She also earned best talk awards at both the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program symposium and the Falkenthal Graduate Symposium. She served as Co-founder and President of Zebrafish Research Student Organization at OSU and as President of the MCDB Student Organization. Monica is now an Assistant Professor of Biology at Oberlin College.

Dr. Morgan Moser (Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Spring 2023).

“Examining the role of plant LINC complexes in actin remodeling, regulation of calcium fluctuations, and development."
Morgan completed her studies in the lab of Dr. Iris Meier. During her time at OSU, Morgan contributed to 4 research papers and one review, with additional first author papers in review and in preparation. She was selected for an oral presentation at the Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Symposium and at the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research. Her next step will be a position as a R&D scientist in industry or the US government.

Dr. Ankita Das (Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Summer 2023).

"Catalysis of thiol-disulfide chemistry in the context of plastid c-type cytochromes."
Ankita completed her studies in the lab of Dr. Patrice Hamel. So far she has co-authored two papers in the Hamel lab, including a first author book chapter and a first author paper describing some of her thesis work that was accepted the day before her defense! While at OSU, Ankita was a committed educator, serving as a teaching assistant, a research mentor to exchange students in the TRONDBUSS program, and winning a distinguished teaching award for the department of Molecular Gentics. Ankita will be working as a Field Application Scientist II at BioRad starting in August 2023.

Dr. Elizabeth Regedanz (Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, Summer 2023).
"The use of geminivirus to model host regulation and development pathways"
Elizabeth completed her studies in the lab of Dr. David Bisaro.  During her time at OSU she was supported by a University Graduate Fellowship, the Herta Camerer Gross fellowship, and a Graduate Assistantship award from the Center for Applied Plant Sciences (CAPS).  In addition, she twice received travel awards from the American Society for Virology (ASV) to present her work at annual meetings.   While at OSU, Elizabeth co-authored two research publications and one review article.  She is also co-first author of a manuscript that has been submitted for publication.  Elizabeth has transitioned to a staff scientist position in the laboratory of Dr. Shin-Yi Marzano, a USDA-ARS molecular biologist located at the University Toledo, where she is working on newly discovered geminivirus-like pathogens that infect fungi.