Students in the Blair Lab have a wide variety of interests and pursue diverse careers after graduation. Check out their bios below.
For more information about getting involved in research, contact Prof Blair
Spring 2026 Bio290 Research Experience - Apply HERE
Current Students
Calle Lamarche '27 and Natalie Richards '27
Bio390: Evaluating thermotolerance in aquatic Pythiums
Kelvin Lartey '27 and David Nieves '27
Bio390: Fungicide sensitivity vs resistance in field-collected isolates of Globisporangium irregulare and G. ultimum
Blair Lab Alumni
Macy Stanislaw '27
Bio390: Preliminary analysis of bobcat genetic diversity from hair samples
Timilehin Adefioye '26
Bio390: Primer optimization for COI metabarcoding of aquatic Oomycetes
Roothy Desir '25
Bio390: Examining genome size of Pythium hybrids via flow cytometry and qPCR
Roothy is currently completing a MBS program at Nova Southeastern University.
Emma Campbell '24
Bio490 and Honors in Biology: Prevalence and diversity of hybrid Pythium lineages and potential impacts of impaired water quality in freshwater streams of Lancaster County, PA
Quyen Hoang '24
Bio490 and Honors in Biology: Genetic and functional diversity of Globisporangium irregulare isolated from industrial hemp soils in south-central Pennsylvania
Bio390: Utilization of microsatellite markers to determine genetic diversity in Pythium species associated with industrial hemp (Spring 2023)
Quyen is currently working as a research assistant at Targepeutics in collaboration with former F&M visiting professor, Dr. Randy Schrecengost.
Emmanuela Derival '24
Bio390/490: Metabarcoding analysis of oomycete diversity associated with industrial hemp
Kyra Caffrey '23
Bio490 and Honors in Biology: Optimization of quantitative PCR methods for the detection of Naegleria fowleri and the impact of water quality on amoebae abundance in Lancaster County waterways (in collaboration with the Lancaster County Water Quality Volunteer Coalition)
Bio390: Developing methods for the molecular detection of Lepidopteran pathogens under captive rearing conditions (Spring 2022)
After graduation, Kyra worked for Advisory Board in Washington, DC. She recently started a new position in market research for the American Medical Association.
Wenrong Wu '23
Bio490: Metabarcoding data analysis of hemp-associated oomycetes in soils from south-central Pennsylvania
Wenrong is completing a Masters program in bioinformatics at UNC Chapel Hill. He will start his PhD in Computer Science and Bioinformatics at Vanderbilt in Fall 2025.
Theresa Torre ’22
Bio490: Wolbachia detection in the Pennsylvania Speyeria idalia population
Theresa is currently working as a research technician in the Single Cell Core lab at Harvard Medical School.
Abigael Gebremariam ’21
Bio490: Phylogeographic analysis of Daphnia species in Canadian Rocky Mountain lakes
Abigael completed an NIH-funded postbaccalaureate research program in the Medical Genomics and Metabolic Genetics Branch (MGMGB) and the Organic Acid Research Section (OARS) at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). She is currently an MD student at Sidney Kimmel Medical College.
Harrison Laukhuff ’21
Bio490: Analysis of allelic diversity and Wolbachia infection in Speyeria cybele and Speyeria aphrodite of Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania
Harrison is currently a PhD student at Penn State Hershey. He previously worked as a research assistant at Targepeutics in collaboration with former F&M visiting professor, Dr. Randy Schrecengost.
Maria Meriwether ’21
Bio490 and Honors in Biology: Optimization of molecular methods for the detection of Naegleria fowleri from water and sediment samples in Lancaster County
Maria completed an NIH-funded postbaccalaureate research year in the Wolin Lab at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute. She is currently working as a clinical laboratory scientist in the microbiology lab at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado.
Sharil Orellana ’21
Bio490: Quantification of allelic diversity in Speyeria idalia from Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania
Sharil is pursuing a Physician Assistant Master of Science degree at Seton Hall.
Ahnyia Sanders ’21
Bio490: The end of an era: when childbirth became medicalized and the resulting effects on maternal mortality rates in the United States [co-advised with Prof. Harriet Okatch]
Ahnyia is currently pursuing her MD at University of Massachusetts TH Chan School of Medicine.
Ilga Rutins ’20
Bio490: Prevalence of Wolbachia endosymbionts in local Speyeria butterflies
Ilga is currently working as a research technician at the University of Arizona.
Elizabeth Butler ’19
Bio490: Molecular methods to detect the presence of Aphanomyces astaci from bulk water samples collected from Pennsylvania waterways
Elizabeth is currently employed at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City.
Glenn Robbins ’19
Bio490: Crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci) prevalence in native and invasive crayfish species of Pennsylvanian waterways
Glenn graduated from the DVM program at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in 2023.
Taryn Asklof ’18
Bio490: Developing microsatellite markers to determine genetic diversity of Phytopythium vexans
Taryn is studying at Pace University and working Mount Sinai Hospital.
Anna Ming Bauer ’18
Bio490: Analysis of hybridization events in aquatic Pythium sp. using flow cytometry and molecular cloning
Ming graduated from the Genetic Counseling Masters program at Sarah Lawrence College in 2021. She is currently working as a prenatal genetic counselor at New Jersey Perinatal Associates.
Eric Lang ’18
Bio490: PCR based assay to detect parasites and pathogens in Monarch and Regal Fritillary butterflies at Fort Indiantown Gap
Eric enrolled in the Special Masters program in physiology at Georgetown University.
Paige Notarianni ’18
Bio490: Investigating DNA methylation as a mechanism of epigenetic regulation in Phytophthora species
Paige is currently working at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Sarah Schannauer ’18
Bio490: Estimating population diversity of Speyeria idalia (Regal Fritillary) in Lebanon County, PA using nuclear microsatellite markers
Sarah graduated from the Physician Assistant Masters program at DeSales University in 2021.
Hanna Aharonov ’16
Bio490: Intraspecific variation in pathogenic behavior in Pythium: does ploidy play a role?
Hanna worked at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Boston after graduation and is currently living in Denver, Colorado.
Sara Lobdell ’16
Bio490: The effect of temperature on the aggressiveness of Pythium heterothallicum
Sara completed internships at the Presidio in San Francisco and at the Glen Helen Center in Ohio. She is currently enrolled in the Environmental Education Masters program at Antioch University.
Madison (Sonny) Clark-Turner ’14
Bio490: Evaluating evidence for horizontal gene transfer events in oomycetes
Sonny completed his PhD in Computer Science, focused on deep learning and robotics, at the University of New Hampshire.
Lauren Coffua ’14
Bio490: Culture and sequence based approaches to studying oomycete diversity in home gardens with a focus on Solanum lycopersicum
Lauren completed a Masters program at the University of Delaware in 2016 and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2021.
Tyler Veterano ’14
Bio490: Morphological and molecular characterization of novel Pythium species from southeastern Pennsylvania
Tyler graduated with his DO from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2018 and completed his residency in psychiatry at Einstein Medical Center.
Natali Naveh ’13
Bio490: Genomic and bioinformatic investigation of elongation factor 1-alpha duplication in oomycete species
Natali completed her PhD in Genetics at UConn and is currently a post-doc at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia where she studies human imprinting disorders.
Amy Chabitnoy ’11
Bio490: Evaluating collection methods for assessing Oomycete diversity in Lititz Run at the Millport Conservancy
Amy graduated from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in 2016 and completed her residency in Family Medicine at Swedish Cherry Hill in Seattle, Washington.
Nahill Matari ’11
Bio490: Comparative genomics suggests the presence of RNA interference in Oomycetes
Nahill completed his Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences at UMDNJ and his MD at New York Medical College in 2017. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Radiology at Greenwich Hospital and Rutgers-Newark, a neuroradiology fellowship at Columbia, and is currently completing a breast imaging fellowship at UPenn.
Lauren Cook ’10
Bio490: Survey of Oomycete species in Lititz Run at the Millport Conservancy in Lititz, Pennsylvania
Lauren graduated from the MD program at Penn State, College of Medicine in Hershey in 2014 and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Dermatology in 2018.
Andrew Staffaroni ’10
Bio490: Development of microsatellite markers for the identification of Phytophthora populations
Andrew received the Eyler Award to work at the Clinic for Special Children after graduation. He graduated from the MD program at Georgetown University, School of Medicine in 2015 and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Pitt.
Emma Costello '27, Maria Darrup '27, Calle Lamarche '27, Natalie Richards '27 - Bio290 Crew Spring 2025
Claire Hill '25 - Aquatic Oomycetes Summer 2023 crew
Zoe Shah '25 - Hemp Summer 2022 crew
Johannes Fimmers '21 - working in biotech
Patricia Crigler ’16 – MPH (2018), University of Missouri; VMD (2022), Penn Vet
Carolina Giraldo ’16 - DO (2024), Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Kelsey Kreyche ’15 – DO (2021), Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
James Yun ’15 – MD (2021), Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple
Steve Clipman ’13 – MSPH (2016) and PhD (2021), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Erica Goldberger ‘12 – Living her best life
Alison Griedinger ‘12 – MD (2017), Drexel Medical School; residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Calvin Shaw ‘12 – medical technician at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Nicholas Tucciarone ‘12 – Emergency Department RN, Lehigh Valley Health Network
Molly Mahoney ‘11 – DVM, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine
Deanna Yamasaki ‘11 – Owner, Do Trot In Tack Shop
Louise Amlie-Wolf ‘10 – Pediatric Genetic Counselor, AI duPont Hospital for Children
Lisa Brown ‘10 – MD (2017), NY Medical College; OB-GYN residency at Lankenau Medical Center
Victor Cabello ‘10 – MD (2019), Geisinger Commonwealth Medical College; Family Medicine residency at Reading Hospital
Jack Pike ‘09 – PhD (2014), University of Delaware; Post-doc at UMDNJ-RWJMS
Samantha Schneider ‘09
Ms. Monique Gomez (McCaskey High School teacher fellow, Summer 2009)
Mrs. Jessica Mountz (Lampeter-Strasburg High School teacher fellow, Summer 2012)