Research Associate

Sihan Bu

Graduate Students

Sarah Pasqualetti, PhD student

Sarah is investigating microbial interactions that can enhance or inhibit microplastic degrading abilities using microbes isolated from the gut of the three spine stickleback. Sarah earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut. Before attending UConn, she worked with Essilor of America to develop polar laminates for eyeglasses by studying the color changes and integrity throughout the production process.

 

 

Undergraduate students

Kayleigh O’Keefe

Kayleigh is currently an undergraduate at UConn, pursuing a double-major degree in Molecular and Cell Biology combined with Sociology. She is planning to graduate in 2024, after which she would like to potentially enter the dental field. As she continues her undergraduate degree, she hopes to investigate correlations between sociology and cell biology within her research.

 

 

Sam Reynoso

Edward Russell

About Dr. Kat

Dr. Kat has broad expertise in microbiology, including both pathogenic and symbiotic microbes. As an undergrad and as a lab technician, she helped describe environmental and genetic factors that regulate toxin production in Staphylococcus aureus. For her PhD thesis she identified and characterized genes and their products necessary for an obligate intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, to establish infections in host brains. She expanded her exploration of host-microbe interactions during her postdoctoral training at the University of Oregon, where, working with a team of talented research associates, undergraduate students, and fellow postdoctoral fellows, she established stickleback as a model to examine how host genetic background contributes to host immune responses to intestinal microbiota. She was trained in host immune response to microbes, and examined how the host genetic background contributes to the ability of the host to shape the intestinal microbiota. During these studies, she built collaborations across two institutions and three universities, and mentored ten undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Kat’s long term mentoring goal is to combine the experiences she had as an Inupiaq earning a PhD and the expertise she gained in multiple research fields into a flourishing career as a mentor and professor to microbiologists. Kat was raised in a remote community above the Arctic Circle that was 80% Alaskan Native. She was the first person in her village to earn a PhD in biological sciences. While in school, she was struck by the scarcity of females and minorities in science. As a result, she is committed to making the academic research field a welcoming environment for minorities.

Dr. Kat is an active member in both scientific and Native communities. She taught Alaskan Native games to students and community members at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Oregon. At UW-Madison she was active in the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and Wunk Sheek. At UO she was active in the Native American Strategies group, a group of faculty, staff and students that shaped Indigenous issues on campus. She worked extensively with the Diversity Director and the UO Native American community, staff, students and faculty to develop a new program for recruiting Alaska Natives and Native Americans (AN/NA) into science (Alaska Oregon Research Training Alliance, AORTA). She collaborated with Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon to support an intense college preparation summer program (Bridge of the Gods Summer Academy, BOGSA). As an instructor for BOSGA, she taught Native American high school students Introduction to Microbiology for two weeks every summer to prepare them for the rigors of college and to show them that they can be successful in science classes. Dr. Kat continued to build relationships between the University of Oregon and the University of Alaska Anchorage, and between the UAA and the Alaskan Native/Native American community to recruit and support AN/NA students in science, technology, engineering and mathematical fields through ANSEP, Della Keats Health Sciences Summer Program, and UAA STEM day. Dr. Kat joined UConn in the midst of the pandemic, which has affected her ability to do outreach. However, she is active in the Native community on campus. She teaches a class on Historically Excluded and Underrepresented Scientists in the fall and Host Associated Microbes in the spring.

Dr. Kat’s Researchgate

Dr. Kat’s SciENcv

Dr. Kat on twitter: @napaaqtuk

Dr. Kat’s CV

 

Alumni

Kelly Crandall, Master’s student, 2023

Kelly Crandall earned a BS in Biochemistry at the University of Denver in 2017 and a BS in Biology and a concentration in biochemistry from the University of Colorado-Denver in 2020. Her previous work includes isolation, identification, and quantification. of proteins required for the development of African Clawed Frogs. Kelly’s thesis focused on two projects: identifying and analyzing the ability of the gut microbiota to degrade microplastics and protect the host from plastic toxicity, and the identification and classification of Archaea found within the gut microbiome of stickleback to determine their role in the host.

 

Liz Tirado, Masters student, 2023

Liz earned her B.S. in Biology from Southern Connecticut State University in 2017. As part of a Microbiology course, she participated in the Small World Initiative where she grew her love for Microbiology. After graduation Liz has worked at a Microbiology lab for a Pharmaceutical company for the four years where she learned several techniques such as identifying bacteria/ yeast and mold by running PCR and Microsequencing, performing Mass Spectrometry, and several other skills. She is earned her M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology with a concentration in Microbiology where her thesis was focused on how exposure to perchlorate changes the host microbiome in threespine stickleback fish.