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Past
students
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Tyler Achatz, PhD student
Tyler has started his PhD program
in August 2016 and defended his PhD in April of 2021 (yes, the last
1.5 years of his studies were during Covid-19 pandemic. He has done
a terrific job as a graduate student. He received all departmental
anduniversity awards he was eligible for (including the Outstanding
Graduate student, Wheeler and Neel awards, twice each), UND summer
doctoral fellowship, dissertation writing scholarship and pre-postdoctoral
fellowship, awards for the best gaduate student oral presentation
at the AMCOP and SSP meetings, second place award at the meeting
of the North Dakota Academy of Sciences and ASP Willis A. Reid,
Jr. graduate student research grant, along with a couple of Marc
Dresden travel grants from the ASP. He published 20 papers and gave
a number of talks at various meetings. |
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Jeffrey Bell, Ph.D. student
Jeff has received his M.S. degree
from the North Dakota State University as an ornithologist. Woodpeckers
are his favorite group of birds. Jeff has gained a lot of experience
doing research on several projects related to birds and their parasites
and authored/co-authored multiple publications. He did an outstanding
job on his PhD project on the hematozoans of Amazonian birds. Jeff
improved and developed several protocols critical for laboratory
processing of numerous avian blood samples and analyzed a very large
amount of data. He received support from the Department of Biology,
UND, American Society of Parasitologists and the organizers of the
international symposium on avian blood sporozoans. In 2015 Jeff
received a competitive Summer Doctoral Fellowship from the UND.
In spring of 2016, right before his graduation, he received the
Oustanding Graduate Student award from the UND department of Biology.
Congratulations, so well done! |
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Stephen Greiman,
Ph.D. student
Metamorphosis from an undergraduate to a PhD student
took Stephen only one day. He started his Ph.D. program next day
after his graduation. The subject of his disertation was Neorickettsia
bacteria endosymbiotic in digeneans. He mastered numerous laboratory
methods and collected material in the USA (Mississippi, Alaska,
North Dakota, Minnesota, Oregon), Philippines, Guatemala (twice),
Vietnam (twice), Philippines, Laos and Thailand. Stephen received
the departmental award for an outstanding Ph.D. student three years
in a row! He also received support from the UND, American Society
of Parasitologists, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,
and summer doctoral fellowship from ND EPSCoR. Stephen did a remarkable
job and graduated after 8 semesters with 13 peer-reviewed papers
and several submitted manuscripts. Before graduation he received
highly competitive NSF post-gradiuate fellowship and is now doing
a great job as a postdoc at Joseph Cook's lab, University of New
Mexico. In July of 2016 at the ASP meeting in Edmonton Stephen received
the Ashton Cuckler New Investigator award from the Society. Then
Stephen was offered a tenure track faculty position at the Georgia
Southern University just 2 weeks after turning 27 years old. Way
to go, Stephen! |
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Kaylyn Patitucci , M.S.
student
Kaylyn's thesis was on helminths of Amazonian birds collected in
Brazil and Peru. It involved a variety of techniques including extensive
morphological and molecular work. Kaylyn not only did an exemplary
job on her project, but also actuvely participated in a variety
of "side" projects dealing with a variety of helminths from animals
in the U.S. and the Philippines. She collected specimens in the
Uniated States, Peru and Kenya. Kaylyn received support from the
Department of Biology, UND and the American Society of Parasitologists,
and was the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student award
from the Department of Biology in spring of 2015. She has prepared
a very solid thesis which she successfully defended in December
of 2015. Before graduation she already had two first-author peer-reviewed
articles published and several other manuscripts are in preparation. |
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Susana Rios, M.S. student
Susana Rios has joined the lab in August of 2011 after graduation
from the Shippensburg University, PA. For her thesis Susana studied
adult and larval stages of avian schistosomatids in birds and snails
across North Dakota which. She used DNA sequencing of nuclear ribosomal
and mitoichondrial genes for their identification and systematic/phylogenetic
placement. Susana has successfully completed her research and defended
her thesis on the Haloween day in October of 2014. Susana received
several research and travel awards from the department, UND and
the American Society of Parasitologists. She defended her thesis
in the fall of 2014 with flying colors and went to work at one of
the NEON project centers. |
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Karalyn Altendorf, undergraduate
student
Karalyn Altendorf was a recipient of a competitive summer research
scholarship in summer of 2021 and continued doing research in the
lab in the fall that year. She has quickly mastered a variety of
field and laboratory techniques, from collecting and screening snails
for cercariae to all steps of DNA extraction, amplification, sequencing,
sequence assembly and basic analysis, as well as microscopy and
measurements using a digital imaging system. Her summer research
was mostly focused on survey of cercarial biodiversity in the region,
with a focus on schistosomatid cercariae. In the fall she worked
with me on preparing a description of a new species of digenean
parasites. Karalyn has done an excellent job in the lab and was
a great member of the team. I have no doubt she will become a great
professional. |
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Thayane Fernandes, visiting
PhD student
Thayane Fernandes, a PhD student from the Federal University of
Para, Brazil, spent a year in my lab on a fellowship funded by the
Brazilian governemntal foundation. She heroically endured North
Dakota winter.I can also personally relate to the fact that coming
into a foreign country with a different language for the first time
and for a long time is not easy.Thayane did great. She is a very
hard worker and accomplished a lot in a relatively short time. She
mastered a variety of methods and techniques and obtained molecular
and morphological data for at least 4 manuscripts. Thayane also
attended 2019 AMCOP and ASP meetings and presenting her research
at both. Well done, Thayane. |
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Jacob Kipp, undergraduate
student
Jacob worked in the lab in 2018-2019, He participated in several
projects and helped in collecting parasites from various hosts,
from snails to birds and small mammals. It was great to have him
in the lab both due to his good work and usually being in high spirits
which made routine work less tedious. His last semester he worked
with PhD student Tyler Achatz and myself on a description of a new
species of digeneans. This work is now being prepared as a manuscript.
Jacob is graduating in December of 2019 and is looking forward to
starting a career in fish and wildlife service. Good luck, Jake! |
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Dawn Cleveland, undergraduate
student
Dawn worked on a number of research projects in a couple of labs
at the Department of Biology, but she seems to like parasites and
vector-borne diseases the most. After helping with collecting specimens
of small mammals and processing them in the lab she was interested
in working on a focused project. She collaborated with Tyler Achatz
and another undergraduate student preparing descriptions and a molecular
phylogenetic analysis of digeneans of small mammals from South America
and did a great work at that mastering a variety of necessary techniques.She
received a research stipend from the Department of Biology and presented
her work at the 2019 AMCOP meeting in Mankato, MN. Dawn is now a
graduate student at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Great job and thanks, Dawn! |
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Mitchell Floura, undergraduate
student
Mitchell worked with us for more
than a year, starting summer of 2018. He was a great student and
quickly mastered all necessary tools. Mitchell worked with Vasyl
Tkach on a project dealing with cestdoes collected on three different
continents.He received a research stipend award from the Department
of Biology and in June of 2019 received the award for the best undergraduate
oral presentation at the AMCOP meeting. He has been accepted to
the UND School of Health Sciences where he studies now while finishing
the manuscript stemming from his undergraduate research.No doubt
Mitchell will become an excellent physician. |
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Lawrence Cronin, undergraduate
student
Although Lawrence worked in the lab
for only one semester in spring of 2019 he did a great job quickly
learning necessary techniques and assisting in several projects.
He has also worked on a project involving morphological and molecular
pjhylogenetic analysis of digeneans of South American small mammals.
The results are currently being prepared for publication. |
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Jayme Burgard, undergraduate
student
Jayme was a great student who excelled in classes, therefore I
was very happy that she expressed interest to work with us in my
lab. Although she spent in the lab only one semester in spring of
2019, she did an outstanding job helping with several projects and
being an important member of the team. Jayme has an enviable ability
to learn very quickly and stay focused on complex tasks. I wish
she could stay in the lab longer, but hope and believe she has a
great career after graduation. |
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Grace Werner, undergraduate
student
Grace took animal biology class in
spring of 2018 and was the top student in the class. Therefore,
it was an easy decision when she expressed her interest in doing
research in the lab. Grace worked in the lab during the summer of
2018 as an REU student with main focus on avian blood flukes (causing
"swimmer's itch" in humans) in the region and continued
in the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019 assisting with several projects
with a focus on systematics and evolution of avian hymenolepidid
cestodes. Grace received a research award from the Deprtment of
Biology and presented her work at regional meetings. |
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Sydney Chase, undergraduate
student
Sydney worked in the lab during the
spring semester of 2018. Despite the short time, she learned everything
very quickly and made substantial contributions helping with several
projects, particualrly in work on helminths from South American
small mammals. She was a fantastic team member. Sydney graduated
in May of 2018. |
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Riley White, undergraduate
student
Riley worked in the lab during the
summer of 2018 as an REU student visiting UND from his college in
Iowa. Riley learned a variety of techniquess and did a lot of field
and lab work. He was particularly involved in a study of avian blood
sporozoans ("avian malaria") in the region. It was great
to have him a member of the team and we wish him good luck in finishing
his education and future career. |
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Alyssa Sogge, undergraduate
student
Alyssa is double majoring in Biology
and Anthropology and worked in the lab in the spring semester of
2016. She has quickly mastered several techniques and did great
job in molecular lab. |
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Roy Nelson, Biology undergraduate
and Physical Therapy graduate student
Roy
was in the lab since the end of 2012 until summer of 2017 as a Biology
undergraduate major and a physical therapy graduate student. He
has received his doctorate in physical therapy in May of 2017 and
now works as a professional in texas. Roy assisted with several
projects, particularly with the screening of larval digeneans for
Neorickettsia and also with the work on avian blood flukes
and echinostomatids. He did a terrific job in the lab and without
his help some studies simply would not have been done. Thank you
Roy and best wishes for your life and career! |
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Molly Driscoll , undergraduate
student
Molly was a biology major heading
towards a specialization in laboratory science. She was a recipient
is an NSF REU scholarship and was indispensable in several projects,
while primarily working with the specimens obtained by the Amazon
project. She screened blood films for sporozoans, prepared a lot
of stained total mounts, and did countlesss PCRs and related molecular
procedures.Thank you very much for all your help, Molly. |
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Zach Selzler, undergraduate
student
Zach Selzler worked in the lab during
the summer of 2014 and 2014-2015 academic year. He worked on a project
that has become a subject of his Honors thesis. This study analyzed
the biversity, distribution and phylogenetic interrelationships
(using traditional phylogeny and network analysis based on mitochondrial
genes) of the digeneans of genus Aptorchis parasitic in Australian
freshwater turles. Zach did an outstanding job doing this work and
learning numerous techniques and prepared a very strong thesis.
The results are being prepared for publication. Zach was accepted
in his first choice medical school and is studying at the Medical
College of Wisconsin. |
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Alexis
Caolli,
high school student
Alexis is a student at the Red River
High School, Grand Forks. Her training and work in the summer of
2014 has been supported by the NSF high school student research
assistantship program. Alexis has been trained in several of laboratory
techniques and is mainly assisting with work on digeneans , inclusing
avian blood flukes. |
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Abby
Aymond, high school student
Abby is a student at the Red River
High School, Grand Forks. Her training and work in the summer of
2014 has been supported by the NSF high school student research
assistantship program. Alexis has been trained in several of laboratory
techniques and is mainly assisting with work on digeneans , inclusing
avian blood flukes. |
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Emily Lawrence, undergraduate
student
Emily worked in the lab during the
whole year of 2013. Despite the relatively short time she participated
in several projects ranging from rhabdiasid nematodes to hymenolepidid
tapeworms, etc. She will co-author peer-reviewed papers that are
currently in preparation. Emily has graduated in December of 2013.
Emily plans to become a family physician. She applied to several
medical school and has just received and acceptance notice from
her first choice school. Well done and congratulations, Emily! |
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Kayla Steffes , undergraduate
student
Kayla worked in the lab for nearly
2 years helping with several projects. She was a recipient of the
NSF REU scholarship in the summer of 2012 to work with material
on nematodes from South American birds. As her independent study
she participated in the description of a new microphallid species
and genus from Australian rodents and a new species Alloglossidium
demshini from leeches in Minnesota (now published). Kayla
has graduated in May of 2013, but in the summer of 2013 she still
worked on molecular characterization of digenean larval stages collected
from snails in North Dakota and overseas.Upon graduation from UND
Kayla studied at veterinary school in Los Angeles and has successfully
graduated in May of 2018. Fantastic job, Kayla! |
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Spencer Carmichael (high school student)
Spencer's training and participation in research during the summer
of 2012 was supported by the NSF summer scholarship for high school
student. He learned a lot of things and assisted in various lab
projects and activities. Spencer's assistance with maintainig snail
colonies was particularly important for the ongoing research in
the lab.
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Christopher Bothun, undergraduate student
Chris worked in the lab in his senior
years and assisted in several projects. He was a recipient of the
NSF REU scholarship in the summer of 2012 to work on avian schistosomatids.
Since then, Chris was accepted in the School of Dentistry, University
of Minnesota, finished his studies, graduated and returned to Grand
Forks to practice dentistry. So well done! |
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Amanda Steffes (high school student and undergraduate
studentt)
Amanda's training and participation in research during the summer
of 2012 was supported by the NSF summer scholarship for high school
student. Amanda learned PCR, DNA sequencing, some elements of microscopy,
screening snails for cercariae gs and assisted in snail husbandry.
Later, Amanda followed her sister's footsteps and did research in
my lab as a UND undergraduate student.,Amanda assisted with various
tasks and carryied out her own project on trichostrongylid nematdoes.
She graduated in May of 2018 and was accepted to the School of Dentistry,
University of Minnesota..
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Janna Mabey
Janna did research in my laboratory as a directed study studnet
and a research assistant while working on her M.S. thesis in moth
systematics. She did a great job and assisted in several projects
doing a lot of molecular work and light microscopy. The main focus
of her study were acanthocephalans of amphibians and reptiles from
SE Asia which resulted in publication of two new species and keys
for identification of Pseudoacanthocephalus which was featured
on the cover page of the "Journal of Parasitology". Well done! |
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Stephen Greiman, undergraduate
student
Stephen worked in the lab since 2009 as an undergradute student.
He worked on several projects and helped to collect specimens in
the field in North Dakota, Minnesota and Mississippi) and received
departmental awards for undergraduate. He was a recipient of NSF
REU and UND AURA stipends. Stephen has done a lot of molecular and
microscopy work and has published a description of a tapeworm from
Africa as the first author, based on his undergraduate research. |
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Andrew Mills (undergraduate student)
Andrew worked in the lab since spring of 2009 through summer of
2011. Andrew helped with multiple projects, but his main focus was
the differentiation between species of Alloglossidium in
Minnesota and North Dakota. This work has resulted in Andrew receiving
the award for the best Honors thesis at UND in 2011 and publication
of a peer-reviewed paper in "Acta Parasitologica" with molecular
and morphological differentiation among Alloglossidium
and description of a new species. His other project dealt with the
phylogenetic position of poorly known digenean genus Neoheterophyes
from southeast Asian bats. The manuscript on this subject is under
preparation. Andrew has presented his work at meetings and received
several departmental awards including Edith Larson Award for Outstanding
Undergraduate Student and several other distinctions. Andrew was
awarded an AURA and REU stipends. Andrew has graduated from the
UND school of Medicine in May of 2015 and continues his residency
in surgey at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. |
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Sierra Unruh (undergraduate student)
Sierra helped with a couple of projects, but her main focus was
the differentiation and description of a new species of liolopid
digeneans from Australian freshwater crocodile. The manuscript is
under preparation. Currently Sierra is studying at an optometry
school. |
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Kaitlyn Kelly (undergraduate student)
Kaitlyn worked on molecular comparison of Cloacotaenia tapeworms
from several species of waterfowl collected in Europe and North
America. She has graduated from UND at the end of 2011.
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Eric Strand (undergraduate student)
Eric worked in the lab since spring of2007 through spring of 2009.
He helped with preparing DNA sequences and slides of several turtle
digenean taxa as well as sequences of Austramphilina and
Macroderoides digeneans from alligator gar in Texas. He
co-authored a paper on a new species of Macroderoides.
Eric has presented his work at two regional meetings and was a recepient
of highly competitive Oschel-Whittaker award ($5,000) in 2007 and
departmental Edith Larson Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student
in 2008. Eric was also awarded an AURA and REU stipends. Upon his
graduation from UND Eric has started his studies at the School of
Dentistry of the University of Minnesota. |
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Rachel Krein (undergraduate student) Rachel
worked in the lab since fall of 2007 through spring of 2009. She
helped with various taxa, but her specific project is the molecular
(ribosomal and mitochondrial genes) and morphological identification
and differentiation of amphilinid cestodes from Australian turtles.
This proved to be an extremely difficult group due to numerous problems
with DNA amplification and sequencing, particularly of ribosomal
genes. She has defended her Honors thesis and graduated in May 2009.
Rachel was also awarded an AURA and REU stipends. As of December
of 2011 she worked in a biomedical laboratory in Fargo. |
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Antoine Fettig (undergraduate student) Toni
worked on molecular differentiation among digeneans of the genus
Choanocotyle during 2007 and 2008. She processed all available
samples except for the most recent ones collected upon her graduation
from UND in May 2008. She extracted DNA, obtained sequences, made
digital images of extracted specimens and prepared total mounts
of extracted specimens and additional vouchers. Toni received an
award (and a book signed by John Janovy! - see photo) for the best
poster at the Northern Prairie Biological Symposium in April 2008.
Toni was awarded an NSF REU scholarship to work in my lab. Her work
will allow us to summarize available data on this genus and publish
a paper with her as a co-author. Upon graduation Toni started working
for the Three Affiliated Tribes Fish & Wildlife Division and
is now the Division's Director. So happy for you, Toni. |
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Jenifer Ness (undergraduate student) Jenifer
worked on molecular and morphological differentiation of digeneans
of the genus Sigmapera since spring of 2007 through fall
of 2008. She processed a large number of samples which, combined
with data obtained by PIs Snyder and Tkach, helped to outline distribution
of two cryptic species of this previously monotypical genus. Jenifer
was the only undergraduate who presented her work at the Northern
Prairie Biological Symposium in April 2008. She also received a
highly competitive Oschel-Whittaker award ($5,000) in 2007 and departmental
Floyd Hunter Award for field work in 2008. Jenifer has graduated
from UND in December 2008 and planned to become a veterinary doctor.
She went to the veterinary school at the Washington State University. |
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Christina Brewer (Ph.D. student) Christina
has started as a Ph.D. stdent, but after a year had to stop due
to health issues. She had time to work on two projects involving
digeneans of bats and sea turtles. |
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Michael Maier (undergraduate student) Michael
worked with me one semester only in the fall 2006, but he did a
great job sequencing numerous samples of nematodes belonging to
genera Camallanus, Krefftascaris and Spiroxys.
His work has allowed to provide reliable molecular differentiatio
among species of Camallanus from Australian turtles and
describe a new species published in co-authorship with.Mike in "Comparative
Parasitology". Upon graduation from UND Mike studied in the School
of Dentistry of the University of Minnesota and is now a dentist
in Bismarck-Mandan, ND. |
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LeAnne Froese
LeAnne worked in the lab for two years and did outstanding job
assisting with various projects, mainly studying frog parasites
and filariid nematodes. Her individual project was focused on the
digeneans of the family Macroderoididae. She co-authored a paper
describing a new species of Macroderoides from Texas. LeAnne
always wanted to become a veterinarian. Upon graduateion from UND
LeAnne was accepted by several top veterinary programs. She chose
the University of Colorado and has graduated from it a year ago.
Now LeAnne owns and works at her veterinary
clinic in Chatfield, Minnesota. |
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Mary Jaros-Gourneau
Mary has started working in the lab in summer of 2003 and graduated
in spring of 2004. She assisted in a project studying frog parasites
and did research for her Honors thesis studying digenean metacercariae
causing "black spots" in a gynogenetic cyprinid fish complex in
Voyageurs National Park. This research was a part of a wider study
carried out by Dr. Isaac Schlosser and his students. Upon graduation
Mary entered the M.S. of public health program at the Johns Hopkins
university. |
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Past
and present collaborators (this part is still under construction)
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Dr. Scott D. Snyder University of Nebraska
at Omaha
Homepage: http://www.unomaha.edu/%7Eparasite/
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Dr. Zdzislaw Swiderski
Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Homepage: http://www.actaparasitologica.pan.pl/ppages/zps/ |
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Dr. Yuriy Kuzmin Institute of Zoology, Kiev,
Ukraine
Homepage: http://izan.kiev.ua/ppages/kuzmin/ |
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Dr. Robin Overstreet
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS
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Dr. David Blair James Cook University, Townsville,
Australia
Homepage: http://www.jcu.edu.au/mtb/staff/academic/JCUDEV_011370.html |
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Dr. Sara Brant
University of New Mexico
Homepage: http://biology.unm.edu/biology/esloker/postdocs/sara/ |
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Dr. Jason Weckstein
Field Museum, Chicago
Homepage: http://symbiont.ansp.org/weckstein_lab/index.html |
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Dr. Vadim Kornyushin
Institute of Zoology, Kiev, Ukraine |
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Eric Pulis
After obtaining his M.S. at the UND Eric went for the Ph.D. program
with Dr. Robin Oversytreet at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
Eric has defended his Ph.D. dissertation in spring of 2014 and worked
as a conservation ecologist at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies,
Gulfport, Mississippi. Eric is an outstanding parasitologist and
wildlife biologist with a strong publication record. His field work
skills are amazing. During his graduate studies at UND and USM Eric
worked in the field in various areas in the United States, Costa
Rica, China, Austtralia, Argentina and on research vessels in the
Gulf of Mexico. He a faculty at the Northern State University in
Aberdeen, South Dakota. |
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Dr. Arseny Makarikov
Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk
Arseny is an expert on hymenolepidids of small mammals, particularly
rodents. |
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Dr. Mike Kinsella
HelmWest Laboratory, Missoula, Montana
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Dr. Stephen Curran
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS
Homepage: http://www.usm.edu/gcrl/cv/curran.steve/cv.curran.steve.php |
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Dr. Olga Lisitsyna
Institute of Zoology, Kiev, Ukraine |
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Dr. Alan Fecchio
Currently a postdoc at The Federal University of Mato Grosso |
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Dr. Boyko Georgiev
Central Laboratory of General Ecology, Sofia, Bulgaria
Homepage: http://www.ecolab.bas.bg/Members/bbg |
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Dr. Olena Kudlai
The Nature research Centre, Vilnius: http://www.gamtostyrimai.lt/en/users/viewUser/id.350
Institute of Zoology, Kiev: Homepage: http://www.izan.kiev.ua/ppages/kudlai/index.htm |
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Dr. Chris McAllister
Eastern Oklahoma State College. Homepage: http://www.ctmcallisterlab.com/
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Dr. Joanna Hildebrand
Wroclaw University, Poland
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Dr. Bibigul Zhumabekova
Pavlodar State Pedagogical University, Kazakhstan |
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Dr. Daniel Gonzalez Acuna
Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias
Universidad de Concepcion, Chillan, Chile |
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Dr. Francisco Tiago Melo
Federal University of Para, Belem, Brazil |
