We welcome applications from individuals regardless of their race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, political persuasion, nationality, age, ability, or formal training as well as those with families or caregiver commitments. If you are excited about nature and science and are self motivated we can make it work.

Your name here

Hiring/recruiting at all levels

If you are interested in joining the lab please email Thomas.

Kenny Nguyen

Graduate Student

Kenny’s work is investigating how the ensemble and function of IDPs are affected by their environment

Jarrod Reister

Graduate Student

Jarrod studies the mechanisms of IDP protection in cells and the effect of desiccation on cellular metabolism.

Annie Walgren

Research Associate

Annie studies how sequence features within intrinsically disordered proteins interact with and are able to coordinate residual water in dry systems.

Thomas Boothby, PhD.

Cheerleader and coach

Thomas is interested in how organisms survive in extreme conditions and how we can apply this knowledge to better life on Earth and promote human exploration of Space.

Sourav Biswas

Graduate Student

Sourav is undercoving the molecular grammar underlying tardigrade CAHS protein function.

Tyler Gonzalez

Graduate Student

Tyler’s work focuses on how stress tolerant organisms protect their RNA during austere conditions and how RNA itself contributes to stress tolerance.

Vindya Kumara

Graduate Student

Vindya studies how protectant molecules can be utilized to aid in the long term storage of gametes in a dry state.

Silvia ‘Sil’ Sanchez-Martinez, PhD.

Senior Research Associate

Sil is studying the mechanisms underlying gel formation and phase transitions in disordered proteins and how this relates to their function.

John Ramirez

Graduate Student

John studies the biophysical properties of materials that lead to protection during stress.

Chaitra Shree

Graduate Student

Chaitra is working on a few projects around the lab looking into how intrinsically disordered proteins can protect non tardigrade systems from different stress conditions.

Jesse Kaleku

Graduate Student

Jesse’s work focuses on engineering plant resiliency to biotic and abiotic stress.

Lab alumni:

Charles “Chaz” Childs, M.A. - “Principal Scientist” - Loxo Oncology at Lilly

Ryan Bettcher, M.A. - “Research Associate” - University of Wyoming

Max Packebush B.S. - “PhD Candidate” - University of California, Los Angeles

Anthony Trent B.S. - “Research Associate” - Bowman Lab, University of Pennsylvania

Emma Meese B.S. - “Associate in Research” - Strader Lab, Duke University

Seif Tekaya, Ph.D.

Vincent Nicholson B.S. - “PhD Candidate” - Washington University in St. Louis

Shraddha KC Ph.D. - “Postdoctoral Researcher” - UCLA