Lab Members
Lab Members
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Sabrina Chin, Ph.D.
Sabrina Chin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Sabrina did her Bachelors with Honours and Ph.D. at the Australian National University on root-knot nematode interaction with Medicago truncatula roots. For her postdoc, she worked with Elison Blancaflor at Noble Research Institute on root gravitropism and actin cytoskeletal regulation in root development. She continued working on this project and expanded into signal transduction with Simon Gilroy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In spring, she teaches BIO160: Cellular and Molecular Biology and in fall, she teaches BCMB609: Journal club in plant biology.
Bushrana Siddique
Ph.D. rotation student (Summer 2026- current)
Bushrana is from Dhaka, Bangladesh and has a passion for plant biology and science communication. She completed her Masters in May 2026 at East Tennessee State University with Dr Tianhu Sun on engineering carotenoid pathways in tomatoes. She joined the lab as a rotation student in June 2026 and is currently working on how the actin cytoskeleton regulator, SPI interacts with formin and ARP2/3 pathways. In her free time, she works as an ASPB ambassador to promote plant science to the public and has written science books for young adults in Bengali.
Masoud Khmous
Undergraduate Researcher (Fall 2025- current)
Masoud is from Memphis, Tennessee and is rising senior majoring in BCMB. His ambition is to go back to Memphis and serve his community as a dentist. When asked why he wants to work on plants, he replied "Plants are eukaryotes that share many cellular and molecular mechanisms to humans". He initially joined the lab as a volunteer in August 2025 and continued as an undergraduate researcher.
Abigail Ahlers
Undergraduate Researcher (Spring 2026- current)
Abigail is from New Hampshire and decided to attend UT to enjoy the southern weather. She is an incoming senior who majors in BCMB. She aspires to become a forensic geneticist and routinely performs DNA-based genotyping of our lab crosses. Outside of the lab, she is a cheerleader.
Catelyn Bragg
Undergraduate Researcher (Spring 2026- current)
Catelyn grew up in Paris, Tennessee and is an incoming junior majoring in BCMB. She has always been interested in biology and joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant in January 2026. She found out that being in the lab is fun and decided to continue as an undergraduate researcher. In her spare time, she is a color guard in the Pride of the Southland Marching Band.
Georgianna Ricaurte-Whelan
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Summer 2026)
Georgianna is an incoming sophmore student who majors in BCMB. In Spring 2026, she attended Dr Chin's BIO160 class and decided to apply to work as an undergraduate research assistant over the summer. Georgianna helps us with maintaining the plants and lab space.
Past members
Past members
Research Technician
Research Technician
Esraa Salim (Sept 2025-May 2026), currently pursuing pharmacy
Graduate Rotation Students
Graduate Rotation Students
Bryn Concha (Spring 2026), currently doing Masters with Scott Lenaghan
Brianna Terry (Fall 2025), currently doing PhD with Amit Joshi
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