Meet the Iron Team

Manuel A. Fierro Calisto, PhD

Dr. Fierro was born in Quito, Ecuador and moved to the US when he was young. He grew up in Georgia and attended the University of Georgia for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Cell Biology. He continued his postdoctoral studies at Iowa State University and is now Assistant Professor at Clemson University at the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry and a member of the Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center (EPIC). 

He is married to his beautiful wife Sarah and has 4 amazing children. In his spare time, he likes listening to music, biking, and spending time with his family. 

Antonia Blank, BS - Doctoral Student

Antonia is a Biochemistry PhD student in Dr. Fierro's lab. During her undergraduate studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena in Germany, she moved to the U.S. to complete her thesis on developing genetic engineering tools for the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. After gaining experience as a laboratory technician at Clemson, she officially joined the PhD program under Dr. Fierro's mentorship in 2024, maintaining her focus on eukaryotic pathogens.

In her free time, Antonia enjoys getting coffee and hanging out with her friends, practicing pottery and yoga, and spending quality time with her cat, Pesto.

Come be part of the Team!