President
Alexis Coiner received her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of South Florida in 2019 before joining the Department of Molecular Biosciences as a Ph.D. student at USF in Spring of 2021. She is currently working under the direction of Dr. Stanley Stevens' investigating hepatic epigenetic mechanisms of alcohol use disorder in mice utilizing techniques in mass spectrometry, immunofluorescent microscopy, flow cytometry, and qRT-PCR.
Vice President
Jazmine Virzi received her B.S. in Molecular Biology from Eckerd College in 2019 before pursuing her career as Ph.D. student here at the University of South Florida in the Department of Molecular Biosciences in the Fall of 2021. She currently focuses her research efforts under the guidance of Dr. Marcus Cooke where they investigate the formation and repair of damage to nuclear DNA through the development and application of nucleic acid adductomics.
Treasurer
Erica graduated with a B.S in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Health Science from the University of Central Florida in Summer 2021. Erica is currently a first year PhD student in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, where she is engaged in rotations focused on genomic instability.
Secretary
Erika graduated with a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology and a minor in Criminology from the University of South Florida in Spring 2021. Erika is currently a first year PhD student in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, where she is studying the human nasal microbiome to identify bacterial lineages that antagonize Staphylococcus aureus.
Historian
Haley graduated from University of Central Florida with a B.S. degree in Biomedical Molecular Microbiology. She is a first year PhD student in the Molecular Biosciences department researching under Dr. Marcus Cooke. Using Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a model organism of infection in human keratinocytes, Haley will be investigating the role of bacterial infections on genome stability and repair in a host cell.
Webmaster
Claire graduated with her B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Nicholls State University in Fall 2020. She then graduated with her M.S. in Molecular Biology from George Mason University in Spring 2023. Claire is a first year PhD student in the Molecular Biosciences Department working in the Dungrawala Lab. Using eukaryotic cells, Claire focuses on genome integrity, fork stability, and response to DNA damage.
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Brant Burkhardt is currently an Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Molecular Biosciences. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with advanced concentration in microbiology and immunology from the University of Florida. He also served as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and as a Senior Research Associate at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute before coming to USF. My laboratory seeks to identify novel therapeutic applications to delay the onset and progression of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) via promoting pancreatic insulin producing β-cell survival by stimulating antioxidant pathways to prevent further β-cell loss.
