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

Juliet is a PhD student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She completed her B.S. in Molecular biology and biotechnology at the University of Cape Coast and her MPhil in Molecular cell biology of infectious diseases at the University of Ghana, during which she studied the regulation of adhesion of the emerging fungal pathogen, Candida auris in the O’Meara lab. She is immensely enthusiastic about understanding the molecular mechanisms employed by pathogens in infection and identifying therapeutic targets. She is excited to continue studying the emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris in the O’Meara lab.

email: janku@umich.edu

email: jrapala@umich.edu

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 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 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

Jenna received her B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Michigan. She is interested in microbial pathogenesis and is excited to apply her biochemical experience to the emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris and expand her knowledge of genetic techniques. In her free time, she enjoys knitting, and watching movies

email: jennapet@umich.edu

Ajay joined the O'Meara lab as a postdoctoral researcher to apply his experience in epigenetic gene regulation to standing questions in pathogenic Candida. He completed his PhD with Dr. Kaushik Ragunathan, where he explored the redistribution of silencing histone modifications to establish new stress-resistant cell states in S. pombe. In his spare time, Ajay enjoys board and computer games, improv comedy, sword fighting, reading with his fiancé and cat, and pretending to be outdoorsy by hiking once in a while.

email: larkinaj@umich.edu

Joe joined the O’Meara and Snitkin Labs as a postdoctoral researcher after completing his PhD with Dr. Ian Ehrenreich, where he investigated how genetic perturbations interact with natural variants on a genome-wide scale in S. cerevisiae. He’s currently interested in applying the techniques and methods learned from S. cerevisiae to the emerging fungal pathogen C. auris, as well as developing bioinformatics and computational expertise. In his free time, Joe enjoys jogging, hiking, and all types of tabletop and computer games.

email: jjhale@umich.edu