The Romulans

Jesús A. Romo, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Training and Education

Postdoctoral Training - Tufts University School of Medicine

PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology (Microbiology and Immunology track) - The University of Texas at San Antonio

Master's in Biology - The University of Texas at San Antonio

Paola Zucchi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Research

Training and Education

Postdoctoral Training - Dartmouth Medical School

PhD in Molecular Microbiology - Tufts University School of Medicine

Bachelor's of Arts - University of California Berkeley

Graduate Trainees

Megan Medrano, M.S.

Third Year Doctoral Candidate

Research focus: Defining host immune responses during gastrointestinal infections

Training and Education

Master’s in Biology (concentration in Microbiology and Immunology)- The University of Texas at San Antonio

Bachelor’s of Science in Biology with minor in Mathematics and Chemistry- St. Mary’s University San Antonio

Megan is a third year Doctoral student in the UTSA MMI program. She loves spending time with her dog (Chiquis) and her five sisters. She also enjoys swimming, reading, gardening, and making cards in her spare time. Megan was lucky enough to get tickets to see Taylor Swift recently!!

Kendall Esparrago

First Year PhD student

Research focus: Characterizing the molecular mechanism of action of a small molecule inhibitor of C. albicans filamentation and biofilm formation

Training and Education

Bachelor's in Microbiology and Immunology - The University of Texas at San Antonio

Kendall is a first year PhD student in the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology program. He enjoys biking, reading, and nature walks. He prefers coffee over tea, but will drink both if he needs the caffeine boost. Although he may not mention it, he is a huge Star Wars geek.

Cassandra Spondike

Incoming Masters in Biotechnology student

Research focus: Drug discovery targeting Clostridioides difficile biofilms

Training and Education

Bachelor's in Microbiology and Immunology - The University of Texas at San Antonio

Cassandra is a first year masters student in the Biotechnology program. She loves reading (especially sci-fi) and sports, has a sixth sense for detecting critters nearby, and is absolutely obsessed with Beat Saber. One day she hopes to combine her interests in science and aviation to become an astronaut with NASA.

Undergraduate Trainees

Elizabeth Negron

UTSA College of Science Honors, Honors College, and MARC Scholar

Training and Education

Roosevelt High School

Elizabeth is an undergraduate freshman majoring in microbiology/immunology. She enjoys drawing and baking during her free time. She also plays tennis whenever she can at the UTSA tennis courts. Elizabeth will deny she's a coffee addict; she claims to only "enjoy it a lot."

Oscar Reyes-Parker

UTSA College of Science RISE Scholar

Training and Education

John M. Harlan Highschool

Northwest Vista College (A.S Biology)

Oscar is a Junior studying Biochemistry. In his free time, he enjoys reading, watching horror movies, playing the violin, and hiking. Although he avoids sugary drinks, he has a sweet tooth for bread and donuts.

Katelyn N. Ward

UTSA College of Science RISE Scholar

Training and Education

Vina Manouchehri

UTSA College of Science APPEX and Honey Pathway Scholar

Training and Education

John Marshall High School

Vina is a junior majoring in Biology. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, watching TV, and managing her dangerously large penguin collection. She dreams of the day when adopting penguins becomes legal—and fully expects to be first in line.

High School Trainees

Shriyan Junnuthulla

Shriyan is a rising high school junior at BASIS Cedar Park in Cedar Park, TX. He is interested in medicine and cell biology. In his free time, he enjoys going out with his friends and playing online video games (although, he is not very good at them). He also really loves cheesecake.

Past Members

Karyme Lozano

UTSA Honey Pathway Scholar

Summer 2024-Spring 2025

Currently a master's student at UT Health San Antonio

Kyndall Martinez

Northwest Vista College PLUS+STEM scholar

Spring 2025

Shelbie Vasquez

(Rotation Student)

Spring 2025

Taylor Hearne

(Rotation Student)

Fall 2024-Spring 2025

Alvaro Ortola Tortosa, M.S.

Defended Master's Thesis entitled "Characterization of Genomic differences between Nakaseomyces glabrata strains using a bioinformatics pipeline" in the summer of 2024