People
Teresa O'Meara
principal investigator
Teresa started her lab at the University of Michigan in August, 2019, and is part of the Biological Sciences Scholars Program. She went to the University of Chicago for her undergraduate degree, and did her PhD work with Andrew Alspaugh at Duke University in the University Program in Genetics and Genomics. Teresa did her postdoctoral work with Leah Cowen at the University of Toronto. Her interests are in using genetic approaches to identify new vulnerabilities and new biology in fungal pathogens. Outside of lab, she likes growing tomatoes, reading SF, baking, and hanging out with her kid.
email: tromeara@umich.edu
Faith Anderson
Faith Anderson is a PhD student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She completed her B.S. in Microbiology at Auburn University in 2019. Faith has broad interests in microorganisms, especially in relation to the microbiome. Faith applies knowledge and techniques from the O'Meara lab to her interest in the microbiome.
email: faithma@umich.edu
Darian Santana
Darian Santana is a PhD student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. He received his B.S. in Microbiology from Weber State University and spent four years performing pre-market microbiological validation testing for medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers through Nelson Laboratories LLC. Darian's interests lie in pursuing microbiology research to address concerns in public health, and he is excited to be studying the emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris in the O'Meara Lab.
email: santanad@umich.edu
Michael McFadden
Mike recently joined the O'Riordan and O'Meara labs as a postdoctoral researcher and plans to identify and characterize molecular regulators of cell biology and innate immune signaling during Candida infection. Mike grew up in Michigan and did his undergraduate studies at Michigan State, where he studied tripartite interactions between Wolbachia, mosquitoes, and mosquito-borne pathogens in Dr. Zhiyong Xi's lab. He completed his PhD in Dr. Stacy Horner's lab, where his research focused on regulation of antiviral gene expression and Flavivirus-host interactions with an emphasis on RNA biology. In his spare time, Mike likes being outside, watching and playing sports, and contemplating picking up a couple dozen other odd hobbies.
email: mcfaddmj@umich.edu
Juliet Anku
Juliet Anku is a visiting masters student from the University of Ghana. She is immensely enthusiastic about understanding the molecular mechanisms employed by pathogens in infection and identifying therapeutic targets. She is excited to be studying the emerging pathogen Candida auris in the O'Meara lab. She also loves movies.
email: janku@umich.edu
Guolei Zhao
Jackson Rapala
email: jrapala@umich.edu
Sarah Babka
Sarah Babka is a Stamps Scholar and undergraduate student at the University of Michigan in the College of Pharmacy. She is involved in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and has an intended major of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her research focuses on discovery of new antifungals and modulation of host responses.
email: babkasar@umich.edu
Lake Shimer
Lake is a lab manager in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Koropatkin and O'Meara labs. Lake completed an internship at Cayman Chemical Company in 2023 where they learned about protein production and experimented with post-translational protein modification. They have a broad interest in all things microbiology and they love to support the work of all the scientists in the lab however they can. Lake would like to continue their education in a few years and is focusing on defining their area of interest.
Jingwen Lyu
Jingwen Lyu is a Master's student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She completed her B.S. in Biological Science at Nanjing University in 2023. Jingwen is interested in how Candida auris causes pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions. In her spare time, Jingwen likes reading and visiting museums.
email: jingwe@umich.edu
Previous lab members:
Katie Metzner (now lab manager in Anna Selmecki's lab at U. of Minnesota)
Previous UROP students:
Zara Tanveer
Logan Morse
Kelsey Walworth
