Laura Palanker Musselman, Associate Professor
Laura received doctoral training in Carl Thummel’s laboratory at the University of Utah, where she studied nuclear hormone receptor function. As a postdoctoral fellow, she worked with Tom Baranski at Washington University School of Medicine studying the effects of high-calorie diets on insulin signaling.
Matthew Pereira, PhD student (2015-2020 )
Matt studied the fat body and gut in Drosophila larvae and adults. He discovered a role for diet in gut barrier function as well as a novel insulin-dependent gene he named meep. Meep is essential for protein stability and insulin signaling in the larval fat body.
Bryon Tuthill II, PhD student (2015-2021)
Bryon is studying the role of Stearoyl CoA desaturase in diet-induced lipotoxicity. He also characterized the lipidome in isolated organs and identified key differences after overnutrition.
Thomas Rundell, PhD student (2018-2023 )
Tom has undertaken a laboratory selection experiment for adaptation to the high sugar diet. He has identified genes and transcripts that differed after adaptation to produce a list of candidates for future study.
Christie Santoro, PhD student (2018-2022)
Christie focused on mechanisms of cardiovascular lipotoxicity. She was able to improve cardiovascular function by reducing ether lipid biosynthesis.
Fernanda Almeida-Oliveira, Fulbright Scholar (2019-2020)
Fernanda studied the role of lipid metabolism in the ovary as part of a collaboration with David Majerowicz and Katia Gondim from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
Utsav Nyachhyon, PhD student (2021- )
Utsav is characterizing a novel gene from long-lived flies that were adapted to caloric overload to assess exercise capacity, fertility, and immune function.
Current undergraduates:
Xiaoshun Li (2022-)
Xiaoshun/Shen is studying resilience and plasticity in lab-adapted fly populations.
Arlene Shaji (2023- )
Arlene is studying exercise capacity and insulin signaling in long-lived flies.
Former undergraduates:
Arsalan Alvi
Azva Alvi
Aloyce Ayubu
Katia Brock
Melina Brunelli
Christina Capobianco
Jovan Diaz
Pilar Finsel
Jared Gatto
Taylor Goodman
Jenna Hoyland
Areeb Khan
Mehreen Khan
Jillian Nostro
Eileen O’Hara
Ashley O’Toole
Matthew Pereira
Emily Pogson
Christopher Quaglia
Oliver Ramirez
Elizabeth Randolph
Tatiana Requijo
Gabrielle Safian
Gabrielle Sagesse
Adam Sauer
Jennifer Yavid