People

Abbi Green

Abbi is working on our phylogatR project. We are exploring genetic structure and phylogenetic diversity over geographic space in 100s of species of salamanders and bats, and looking at how these measures of biodiversity are related to environmental factors. She is analyzing data in both these groups using the R statistical computing language, and learning a lot about DNA and statistics. As a Math major, she is very excited to be applying her math skills to biological problems! Abbi has really taken a liking to working with data and is going to make a rock star data analyst. She has presented some of her work at NASBR 2022 (Austin TX) and Evolution 2023 (Albuquerque NM).

Hannah Farmer

Hannah joined the lab under our phylogatR project. She is helping us create a large database of DNA sequences that have associated GPS coordinates for salamanders, that are not easily linked using computational methods. We will use these data to ask questions about how genetic diveristy is distributed in salamanders across the globe. In her "free" time, she extracts DNA from soil, water, and tissue samples in the lab that need processing, which supports many of our other projects. She has picked stuff up fast and is very independent. We can't wait to start analyzing data. She is interested in studying biodiversity, disease ecology, and human health. She is actively deciding what she wishes to do after graduation because she is interested in so many fields of biology. 

Emma Hendrix

Emma came into the lab with a lot of previous lab experience. She is leading the data collection of both COI and ITS metabarcoding data from dozens of environmental samples we have collected in the lab, to take a community ecology approach to eDNA. Once she has all the protocols figured out, she will use our Illumina iSeq to sequence all the samples, and then help analyze the data. Learning about all of the different wet lab techniques in genetics is her favorite part of research, and she hopes to be able to use them to succeed in a PhD program in the future. No doubt she will make an excellent contribution to someone's lab!

Emily Anderson

Emily started in the lab working on the HHMI SEA-GENES project, contributing to nationwide phage research by assessing gene function for every gene in the entire genome of a phage called Tortellini. She ran phenoptypic assays to assess cytotoxity of several genes. Currently, she is contributing to our data mining efforts to obtain more georeferenced DNA sequences for salamanders! She enjoys research and might explore that route further after continuing her education to recieve her physicians assistant license.

Cassandra Hash

Cassandra is an honors student working on a project she developed on her own. She is using open-source genomic databases to gather data on the genomic architecture of invasive vs. non-invasive species of plants. Her goal is to identify characteristics of the genome or gene expression profiles that are common to invasive species. She is interested in plant ecology and conservation genetics, forensic biology, and scientific writing. While still exploring her options after college, she is interested in obtaining a master's degree, or maybe two!

Natalie May

Natalie is Biology / Criminal Justice major, with minors in forensics and chemistry. She is starting a project that will use eDNA from streams in the southern Appalachians to screen for Hellbenders, the third largest salamander in the world, and one that is endangered in some parts of its range. She wants to go into forensic biology (using DNA data as crime scene evidence). She says that applying science to solving crimes is like a big complicated puzzle and she loves puzzles!

Tara A Pelletier, PhD

Google scholar page

Pelletier_CV.pdf

Interested in joining the lab? Please contact me!

Former lab members

You

Some very cool bad-ass project here.
Hunter Villanueva
Hunter started a project to estimate genetic diversity among populations of caddisfies throughout several tributaries within the New River watershed. He collected 100s of samples in the field and began sequencing COI from these individuals. Hunter recieved an RU summer undergraduate research fellowship to analyze his data! He loves being in the field and would like to eventually work for a park service doing research.

Mari Busser

Mari contributed to our data collection and analysis of eDNA from the MVP project. She has contributed significantly to prepping a manuscript for this project, inlcuding the creation of several plots using R.
Izzy ArmstrongIzzy started working in the lab with our eDNA team and has helped with lots of lab work. For her honors thesis she annotated genes from several Drosophila species as part of a larger project that aims to understand the genomic basis and evolution of metabolic pathways. and presented this work at Evolution 2022 (Cleveland OH).

Stephanie Crouch

Stephanie is a rock star data analyst. She worked on our phylogatR project and led the data analysis for our empirical example that explored genetic diversity and range size in over 80,000 species. She has contributed significantly to our manuscript and presented her work locally. She would like to pursue something related to molecular forensics.
Maya BanksMaya joined the lab after taking Bioinformatics and falling in love with computational methods. She worked on gene annotations in D. biarmpies, and has one publication already in the works. Maya was part of the Elevate program that aims to increase participation of BIPOC students in research. She is interested in genetic counseling and also really likes talking about dinosaurs, which makes her extra cool.

Camryn Williford

Camryn joined the lab as a Research Rookie. She spent time testing out different sets of primers and the influence of field and lab techniques on detecting DNA from environmental samples. She presented her work several times, both locally and nationally, and significantly contributed to methods development in the lab.
Drew ReavisAfter participating in eDNA data collection in our Genetics course, Drew continued with the bioinformatics and data analysis on those data collected from Wildwood Park. He contributed to a manuscript now in review that compares these data to field sampling and water chemistry.

Lexi Lyons

Lexi was part of our eDNA team! She is interested in wildlife conservation and minoring in business administration. She'll be looking for government jobs after she graduates. She is a rock star in the field and great at making plots!
Sir NottinghamSir joined the lab after taking Computational Biology and falling in love with data analysis. He worked on a project that explored the environmental niche of western Plethodon salamanders and how they might respond to climate change, which has been published in Ecology and Evolution. He is broadly interested in science, likes building things, and spends time learning about renewable energy. 

Will Krause

Will was a Computer Science major here at Radford University. He is interested in using his computer skills to answer biological questions. Will helped to process our metabarcoding data. He is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in bioinformatics.GithubLinkedin

Tylis Johnson

Tylis was part of our eDNA team! She developed mock DNA communities to establish baseline expectations of biomass estimates for our metabarcoding project. She's not sure what she would like to do when she graduates, so I am pretty sure we'll convert her into becoming an evolutionary biologist. 

Derrick Sutton

Derrick is the one waving.

Damaris Forkey

Damaris is the one pipeting.

Derrick and Damaris both worked on the HHMI SEA-GENES project. We are contributing to nationwide phage research by assessing gene function for every gene in the entire genome of a phage called Tortellini. They started this work in BIOL450 Moelcular Biology and continued this research independently in the lab. They cloned several genes and ran several different phenoptypic assays to assess cytotoxity and phage defense.