Current Members
Christopher de Graffenried
Associate Professor, MMI
B.A. in Chemistry, Carleton College, 1998
Ph.D. in Chemistry, UC Berkeley, 2004
Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale, 2004-2008
Senior Postdoc, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, University of Vienna, 2008-2013
christopher_degraffenried@brown.edu
Laura A. Smithson
Postdoctoral research associate
BSc in Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, 2016
MSc in Biology and Control of Parasites and Disease Vectors, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 2017
Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Oxford Brookes University, 2022
laura_smithson@brown.edu
Laura is currently working on the dynamics of the subpellicular microtubule array in Trypanosoma brucei using molecular biology and microscopy techniques. She is particularly interested in the localization of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), how microtubule inhibiting drugs affect the cell division process and how new microtubules are added and removed from the existing array.
Caroline D. Keroack
Postdoctoral fellow
BA in Biological Sciences; BA in Chemistry, Smith College, 2014
MSc in Biological Sciences, Smith College, 2016
Ph.D. in Biological Sciences in Public Health, Harvard University, 2022
caroline_keroack@brown.edu
Caroline is currently working on developing new tools to study cellular differentiation in Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease). She is particularly interested in identifying the expression signatures of parasites undergoing phases of differentiation and mapping how those gene regulatory networks contribute to key morphological changes in the parasite.
Madeline Malfara
Graduate (PhD) student
BS in Biology; Pennsylvania State University, 2019
madeline_malfara@brown.edu
Madeline is a doctoral student studying the morphology of the flagellar pocket in T. brucei and T. cruzi.
Emily Campbell
Research assistant
BS in Biology; BS in Neuroscience, Western New England University, 2023
emily_campbell@brown.edu
Emily focuses on observing morphological changes in T. brucei, specifically the rearrangement of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) in the subpellicular array in their transition from healthy to skinny cells.
Joseph Kahn
Master’s student
BA in Public Health, Brown University 2024
joseph_kahn@brown.edu
Joseph is working with Laura to investigate the localization of the AIR-9 protein and to assess the structural implications of drug treatments on T. brucei.
Jacqueline Lopez
Postbaccalaureate researcher (PREP program)
BS in Biological sciences, biomedical concentration, minor in nutrition
jacqueline_lopez2@brown.edu
Jacqueline works closely with Caroline, working to develop and adapt genetic systems to T. cruzi.
Sophie Marcus-Wade
Undergraduate researcher
Major-ScB Biology; Brown University class of 2025
sophie_marcus-wade@brown.edu
Sophie works closely with Caroline, and is interested in the structural changes which occur during metacyclogenesis in T. cruzi.
Former members
Kevin Ramrattan
Research Assistant, 2020-2023
Mabel Tettey, PhD
Postdoctoral research associate, 2022-2023
Paul Campbell, PhD
Graduate student, 2018-2023
Thomas Sladewski, PhD
Postdoctoral associate, 2017-2020
Currently: Research Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut
Amy Sinclair, PhD
Graduate student, 2015-2020
Currently: Postdoctoral Associate, Goode lab, Brandeis
Christine Huynh
Undergraduate researcher, 2018-2021; Technician, 2021
Currently: Technician, Morrow Lab, Brown University
Richard Muniz
Research assistant, 2017-2020
Currently: PhD program in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington at Seattle
Holly Tran
Lab manager, 2015-2020
Currently: Research technician, Yale University
Jenna Perry, PhD
Graduate student, 2013-2018
Currently: Postdoctoral researcher with Amy Shuab Maddox, UNC Chapel Hill
Celina Hsieh
Undergraduate researcher, 2015-2018
Currently: M.D. program, Brown University
Nicholas Hilton
Research assistant, 2015-2017
Currently: Microbiology Ph.D. program, University of California, Davis
Zemplen Pataki
Undergraduate and research assistant, 2014-2017
Currently: M.D./Ph.D. program, Tufts University
Michael McAllaster
Research assistant, 2013-2015
Currently: Ph.D. program in Molecular Microbiology and Molecular Pathogenesis, Washington University