Jennifer Martiny
Dr. Martiny received her B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution at UC San Diego and her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Stanford University, studying diversity patterns and conservation biology of birds, butterflies, and flies. At some point, she became intrigued by the idea that most ecological theory ignored microorganisms, which make up the vast amount of biodiversity on the planet. Her research aims to uncover fundamental principles of the generation and maintenance of diversity in microbial communities. To do this, she brings together perspectives from microbiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. She is currently a Professor and Graduate Advisor in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Irvine, the co-Director of the UCI Center for Microbiome Science, and leads the Microbiome Centers Consortium, a national network of over 40 microbiome centers. Dr. Martiny is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Lab Staff
Claudia Weihe, Senior Technician and Lab Manager
Claudia has a Master’s degree in Genetics from the University of Greifswald in Germany. After working in the Institute for Genetic Medicine at USC, she moved to UCI and has been an essential part of the Martiny lab for more than 15 years. She contributes her extensive molecular expertise to the lab and UCI Microbiome to investigate the diversity and functioning of microbial communities across a variety of systems. She also helps to mentor graduate and undergraduate students at the bench and in the field, all while keeping the lab running smoothly.
Graduate Students
Kristin Barbour, PhD student
Kristin is interested in feedbacks between plant and microbial traits.
Alberto Barron, PhD student
Alberto’s research focus is the relationship between microbial diversity and soil functioning.
Abby Simpson, PhD student
Abby is interested in the role of dispersal and invasion in shaping microbial communities
Natalie Cokel, PhD student
Natalie’s research interests include microbial ecology, plant- and soil-associated bacteria, and restoration. Natalie’s current focus is investigating the microbial community composition and assembly of the phyllosphere (aerial plant surface).
Postdoctoral Researcher
Fabiola (Fabi) Pulido-Chavez
Undergraduate Students
Katherine Le
Undergraduate lab assistant.
Nathan Cheung
Undergraduate lab assistant.
India Daniel
India works as an undergraduate administrative assistant in the lab
Kate Canuteson
Katherine (Kate) Canuteson works in the lab as a lab assistant and is a biological sciences major
Faith Enriquez
Undergraduate lab assistant.
Visiting Researcher
Felipe Cabrera, PhD student
Felipe is currently a PhD student with Lucía Vivanco, who was a postdoc in our lab many years ago. He works on the role of bacteria and fungi in litter decomposition and how UV may mediate their effects.
Recent Departures
Cynthia Rodriguez, PhD student
Cynthia is studying the assembly of microbial communities in the human gut, with a particular focus on the genus Bifidobacterium.
Nicholas Scales, PhD student
Nick is fascinated by microbes, and wants to explore the link between microbial communities and climate change. He studied chemistry for his undergraduate degree, then worked for a number of years at a biotechnology company, Oxford Nanopore, before deciding to return to school. He recently moved from the UK and likes to spend his spare time hiking around California.
Sarai Finks, PhD student
Sarai’s research interests are horizontal gene transfer and niche differentiation in microbial communities.
Not So Recent Departures
Former Postdocs and Graduate Students
Michaeline (Nelson) Albright PhD student. Postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Anthony Amend Postdoctoral researcher. Faculty at University of Hawaii.
Devon Bradley PhD student. Faculty at Irvine Valley College.
Jessica Clasen Postdoctoral researcher. Faculty at Douglas College, British Columbia.
Lisa Crummett Postdoctoral researcher. Faculty at Soka University.
Kristin (Matulich) Dolan PhD student. Research Development Officer, UCSF.
China Hanson PhD student. University College London, UK.
Irina Irvine PhD student. Restoration Ecologist, National Park Service.
Jay Lennon Postdoctoral researcher. Faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Melissa Lage PhD student. Faculty at Guilford Technical and Community College.
Richard Puxty Postdoctoral research. Postdoc at University of Warwick.
Heather Reed Postdoctoral researcher. Lecturer at University of Mass, Amherst.
Lucia Vivanco Postdoctoral researcher. Research Scientist at IFEVA, CONICET – University of Buenos Aires
Sydney Glassman Postdoctoral researcher. Faculty at UC Riverside.
Alex Chase Graduate student. Faculty at Southern Methodist University.
Zhao Wang Postdoctoral researcher.
Former Undergraduate Students, Rotation Students, and Research Assistants
Jonathan Abebe UCI undergraduate student. PhD student at Columbia University.
Neiki Amiri-Razavian UCI undergraduate student.
Nada Awad UCI undergraduate student.
Peris Bentley UCI undergraduate student, PhD student at Harvard.
Michael Boyce Brown undergraduate student.
Jane Casey Brown undergraduate student.
Ian Carroll Brown undergraduate student. PhD at UC Santa Barbara.
Carolus Chen UCI undergraduate student.
Stephanie Chen UCI undergraduate and research assistant.
Katherine Chin Crystal Cove outreach intern
Susan Cho UCI undergraduate, graduated 2010. Attending pharmacy school at Loma Linda University.
Caitlin Cooper Lab Assistant
Marie Hennelly Brown undergraduate student.
Andrew Ho UCI undergrad, attending the clinical scientist program at UCI Medical Center.
Barbara Huang UCI undergraduate student. Currently in Cal State LA’s Clinical Laboratory Scientist program.
Aayah Fatayerji UCI undergraduate student. Master’s in Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Miriam Goldstein Lab assistant. PhD student at UC San Diego.
Yazeed Ibrahim UCI undergraduate student.
Araceli Jimenez Crystal Cove outreach intern
Sameed Khatana Brown undergraduate student.
Andrew Kim Lab assistant.
Juna Konomi Brown undergraduate student.
Hailey Laskey Crystal Cove outreach intern.
Amanda Lee Lab assistant 2007-2010.
Faye Lemieux Lab manager. Currently Manager of the Multidisciplinary Lab, Brown University.
Alberto Lopez UCI undergraduate student. PhD student at Northwestern University.
Michelle Loo UCI undergraduate student.
Rebecca Lutzy Research assistant. PhD student at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Greg Maler UCI undergraduate student.
Kathryn Maurer Brown undergraduate student.
Alison Michener Brown undergraduate student. Sorely missed.
Chamee Moua Laboratory assistant.
Crystal Nguyen UCI undergraduate student. Also really missed.
Pauline Uyen-Phuong Nguyen Laboratory assistant.
Steven Nguyen UCI undergraduate student.
Sanae Ogura UCI undergraduate student.
Manasa Panda Research assistant.
Sneha Pathak UCI undergraduate student.
Jeniffer Pena UCI undergraduate student.
Harsha Rao MS Student in Biotechnology Management
Nicole Shapiro Brown undergraduate student.
Allison Shaw Brown undergraduate student. At ANU in Australia on an NSF postdoc fellowship.
Ye Thao Lab Assistant
Eric Tong Brown undergraduate student.
Jui-Ting (Tim) Tsai UCI undergraduate student.
Mani Vahidi UCI undergraduate student.
Alexis Weintraub Brown undergraduate student. Director of Brown Environmental Leadership Lab. Yale Environmental Management Program.
Ashley Whelpley UCI undergraduate. Biology technician, Chapman University.
Julie Wilson UCI science-education undergrad.
Phil Wan UCI undergraduate student.
Dallas Wilson UCI Bridge to Baccalaureate student. Graduate of UC Davis.
Mary Xiong UCI laboratory assistant.
Dominique Bao Yang Laboratory assistant.
Joia Cappochi UCI laboratory assistant.
Ngoc Le UCI laboratory assistant.
Kevin Limbong UCI laboratory assistant.
Khanh Huynh UCI laboratory assistant.
Lilya Chakhoyan UCI laboratory assistant.