Gabriella King 

Graduate Student (Ph.D.), 2025 Fall - Present

I’m Gabriella King, a PhD student working on developing synthetic inducible promoters to regulate the expression of Emerald Ash Borer resistance genes in Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra). I completed my undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee, where I majored in Plant Science with a concentration in Plant Genetics and Biotechnology. During my undergraduate experience, I worked as an undergraduate researcher and assistant for the Center of Agricultural Synthetic Biology. My previous research topics include chloroplast transformations, plastid metabolic engineering, and the development of mini-synplastomes. For this work, I was awarded the Advanced Undergraduate Research Award (AURA), the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award, and the Distinction in Undergraduate Research Award. A fun fact about me, while all my research involves vascular plants, my favorite plants are non-vascular plants (ferns, mosses, etc.) 

Lou Cabrera

Graduate Student (MS), 2026 Fall - Present

I'm Lou Cabrera (they/them), an Environmental Biology M.S. student investigating "Lingering Ash", Ash trees that exhibit a high tolerance to biotic stressors, and their potentially beneficial microbial communities. I earned my B.S. in Environmental Science and Management with a minor in Restoration Science from the University of Rhode Island. During my time there, I worked at URI's Wildlife Genetics and Ecology Lab, assisting with the genetic identification of individuals within endangered New England Cottontail breeding colonies to monitor population recovery. I also worked as an assistant diagnostician at URI's Plant Diagnostics Lab, gaining experience in diagnosing plant diseases and writing protocols for the diagnosis of prevalent tree pathogens. I gained additional research experience working with common garden American Chestnut restoration projects and investigating genetic differences among populations of Spartina sp. to inform salt marsh restoration efforts.

Emily Farley 

Undergraduate Student, 2026 Spring - Present

I'm Emily Farley, an undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Biotechnology with an interest in plant genetics and molecular biology. I graduated from high school with an A.S. in Environmental Science in 2025. In the past I have worked as a microbiology lab assistant, and have lab experience from coursework in molecular biology, genetics, cell biology, microbiology, and more. In the Lee lab, I'm currently working on genotyping Arabidopsis mutant lines and establishing in vitro cultures of green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica).

Maeve Stone

Undergraduate Student, 2026 Summer- Present

Neera Siriranthanothai

Undergraduate Student, 2026 Fall- Present

Mika Toscano

Undergraduate Student, 2026 Fall- Present

Hi! I’m Mika Toscano, an undergraduate student working towards a B.S in Biotechnology with a focus in microbiology and plant genetics. I have lab experience through coursework in molecular biology, organic chemistry, cell biology, microbiology, and more! In the Lee lab, I am working alongside Lou to investigate the microbial communities associated with “Lingering Ash”.