Tzvia Abramson
Director of SJSU Bridges Stem Cell Program (SCILL)

Office: DH 446
Phone: (408) 924-4872
E-mail: tzvia.abramson@sjsu.edu

Walter Adams

Office: DH 237
Phone: (408) 924-4812
E-mail: walter.adams@sjsu.edu 

Research interest: The Adams Lab studies the interplay between pathogenic bacteria and the host immune response. Our work focuses on 1) strategies that the bacterial pathogen S. pneumoniae employs to infect the lungs, and 2) mechanisms neutrophils use to clear the infection. By understanding what bacterial and human factors lead to progression or resolution of disease we aim to develop novel treatments for patients in the clinical setting.

Adams Lab

Jennifer Avena

Office: 
Phone:
E-mail: jennifer.avena@sjsu.edu

Research interest: My research is in the field of science education, and my research interests include student conceptual understanding and problem solving in biology, instructor and peer instructor professional development, and practices that support an inclusive science community.

Shelley Cargill
Department Chair

Office: DH 254
Phone: (408) 924-4885 
E-mail: shelley.cargill@sjsu.edu

Research interest: My research involves the study of the female reproductive system in mammalian species and how ovarian input influences overall aging. In particular my research involves how transplantation of young ovaries into aged female mice affects overall lifespan. I am also interested in the possible correlation between estrous cycling and increased lifespan in this research model. In a related line of research, I am studying the effects of analgesics on angiogenesis in transplanted ovarian tissue.

 
Ben Carter

Office: DH 336
Phone: (408) 924-4889
E-mail: benjamin.carter@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Systematics, Bryology, Plant Evolution, Biogeography, Speciation, Floristics, Plant Ecology, Herbarium Curation

Carter Lab

Jessica Castillo Vardaro

Office: DH 252
Phone: (408) 924-4902
Email: jessica.castillo-vardaro@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Wildlife Biology, Conservation Genetics, Molecular Ecology

Castillo Vardaro Lab

Maya deVries

Office: DH 340
Phone: (408) 924-4893
Email: maya.devries@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Integrating tools from animal behavior, biomechanics, stable isotope ecology, robotics, and engineering. The deVries Lab studies how animals capture food, how feeding strategies relate to trophic dynamics, and how these interactions might shift with climate change.

deVries Lab

Rachael French

Office: DH 237
Phone: (408) 924-4894
E-mail: rachael.french@sjsu.edu

French Lab

Bree Grillo-Hill

Office: DH 541
Phone: (408) 924-4890
E-mail: bree.grillo-hill@sjsu.edu

Grillo-Hill Lab

Frank Huynh

Office: 336
Phone: (408) 924-4880
E-mail: frank.huynh@sjsu.edu

Research interest: The Huynh lab uses a systems physiology approach to study how nutrients are metabolized and how this contributes to basic biological functions as well as metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

Huynh Lab

Jennifer Johnston

Office: DH 535
Phone: (408) 924-4904
E-mail: jennifer.johnston@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Utilization of designer nucleases, such as CRISPRs or TALENS to cure genetic blood disorders. The Johnston lab is currently interested in editing the genome of hematopoietic stem cells as a means to provide a lifelong cure to patients with Hemophilia A.

Johnston Lab

 
Susan Lambrecht

Office: DH 354
Phone: (408) 924-4838
E-mail: susan.lambrecht@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Plant ecology, especially reproductive and physiological ecology. Conservation, invasive plants, & climate change effects on plants, especially their ability to reproduce. Evolution of floral form & the relationships among floral form, plant physiology, and environment.

 
Elizabeth McGee-Bergerol
Office: DH 555
Phone: (408) 924-5277
E-mail: elizabeth.mcgee@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Macroevolutionary patterns and processes in primate evolution, particularly the effects of climate and geography on taxonomic survivorship in primates; application of stable isotope methods in paleoclimatic reconstructions; taphonomy and sampling bias in the fossil record; computer-based paleodiversity models.

 
William Murray

Office: DH 651
Phone: (408) 924-4856
E-mail: william.murray@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Bacterial molecular pathogenesis, epidemiology of infectious disease, zoonotic diseases, especially parasitic infections of humans, ecology of non-human vertebrate reservoirs of pathogens, molecular diagnostic techniques, clinical microbiology, cell imaging, public health microbiology.

Cleber Ouverney

Office: DH 439
Phone: (408) 924-4806
E-mail: cleber.ouverney@sjsu.edu

Research interest: The focus of our research is to better characterize complex microbial communities by type and function. We are particularly interested in uncultured environmental Bacteria and Archaea
closely related to microbes associated with humans. 
By applying culture-independent molecular techniques, we can identify, quantify, and measure metabolic activity in situ of those microbes at the single cell level. 

Ouverney Lab

Alexander Payumo

Office: DH 447
Phone: (408) 924-4855
E-mail: alexander.payumo@sjsu.edu

Research interest: The Payumo lab studies why mammals lose the capacity for heart regeneration shortly after birth. We are currently focused on defining physiological regulators that limit the proliferative capacity of cardiomyocytes during postnatal development.

Payumo Lab

 Sabine Rech
Director of the Master of Biotechnology Program

Office: DH 644
Phone: (408) 924-4832
E-mail: sabine.rech@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Environmental microbiology (specifically biodegradation of toluene and chlorinated aromatics) regulation of gene expression in bacteria, transport of metals.

 
Scott Shaffer

Office: DH 340
Phone: (408) 924-4871
E-mail: scott.shaffer@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Physiological ecology of birds and mammals, with particular emphasis on marine species. Specialties include the use of doubly labeled water to measure field metabolic rates and animal energetics and the application of tracking and data logging technologies to study animal behavior, physiology, and ecology in the field.

Shaffer Lab

Sonia Singhal

Office: DH 651
Phone: (408) 924-4908
E-mail: sonia.singhal@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Our lab performs real-time evolution experiments in microbes to investigate questions ranging from the emergence of new viral diseases, to life history trait evolution, to the evolutionary effects of climate change. We are particularly interested in how changing environmental conditions affect the ways viruses adapt to new environments.

Singhal Lab

 
Elizabeth Skovran

Office: DH 535
Phone: (408) 924-4846
E-mail: elizabeth.skovran@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Physiology and genetics of methylotrophic bacteria.  We use systems biology approaches along with classical genetic and biochemical techniques to understand the metabolic capabilities of Methylobacterium extorquens to advance our engineering efforts in the biomining and biorecycling of rare-earth elements and the production of biodegradable plastics.

Skovran Lab

Julio Soto

Office: DH 447
Phone: (408) 924-4925
E-mail: julio.soto@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Identification of proteins involved in mRNA localization during embryonic development; mRNA stability; translational regulation; lineage analysis of mesodermally derived cells; identification of genes involved in mesoderm determination and differentiation.

Miri VanHoven

Office: DH 554
Phone: (408) 924-4845
E-mail: miri.vanhoven@sjsu.edu

Research interest: We are interested in the molecular and genetic mechanisms of neural development and behavior in the microscopic nematode C. elegans.  Specifically, we are interested in neural circuit formation and function of the phasmid sensory circuit.  These studies may help us to understand neurological disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

VanHoven Lab

Brandon White

Office: DH 644
Phone: (408) 924-4839
E-mail: brandon.white@sjsu.edu

Kate Wilkin

Office: DH 439
Phone: (408) 924-4843
E-mail: kate.wilkin@sjsu.edu

Research interest: Fire Ecology, Fire Management, Conservation, Wildfire, Wilderness, Wildland Urban Interface, Defensible Space, Fuels Treatments, Prescribed Fire, Plants, and Data Science

Katie  Wilkinson

Office: DH 237
Phone: (408) 924-4916
E-mail: katherine.wilkinson@sjsu.edu

Research interest:
My Neurophysiology lab is interested in how your body senses information from the environment, especially muscle length and position information. 

Wilkinson Neurophysiology Lab