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 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
Sarai Finks, PhD student
Sarai’s research interests are horizontal gene transfer and niche differentiation in microbial communities.
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.
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.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Undergraduate Students
Ngoc Le
Undergraduate lab assistant.
Kevin Limbong
Undergraduate lab assistant.
Lilya Chakhoyan
Undergraduate researcher assistant.
Khanh Huynh
Undergraduate research assistant.
High School Student
Ryan Alavi
High school intern.
Visiting Researcher
Banafshe Khalili, Research Associate
Dr. Khalili is a soil microbial ecologist visiting the lab. She has been collaborating on developing improved assays for soil bacterial quantification and on studies of soil and leaf litter decomposition.
Recent Departures
Joia Capocchi, Laboratory assistant
Joia assisted with multiple lab projects, studying bacterial dispersal, death rates, and community assembly.
Alex Chase, PhD student
Alex is broadly interested in biogeographical patterns and how microbial populations shift in abundance over time. By utilizing both cultured isolates and metagenomic information, he studied the evolution of an abundant leaf litter bacterium, Curtobacterium, across an elevational gradient.
Sydney Glassman, Postdoc
Sydney’s research focuses on understanding patterns and processes governing microbial diversity, and their ecosystem functions such as terrestrial symbioses and decomposition. As part of her dissertation research, she studied the effects of disturbances such as wildfires and invasive pathogens on ectomycorrhizal fungal communities. She received media attention for her research on ectomycorrhizal fungal recovery after the California Rim Fire, which was featured in the California Alumni magazine among other outlets. She received her B.A. in Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also received a Masters of Environmental Studies. She completed her Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy, & Management at UC Berkeley with Prof. Tom Bruns. She recently started her own lab at UC Riverside!
Kazuo Isobe, Dept. of Applied Biological Sciences, University of Tokyo
Kazuo is an Assistant Professor at University of Tokyo and visited the Allison and Martiny labs. He is interested in how microbial community dynamics alter biogeochemical cycling and influence the resilience and resistance of ecosystem functions. He completed his Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences at University of Tokyo and studied ecological roles of N-cycling microbes in forests and agricultural fields.
Zhao Wang, Postdoctoral researcher
Joanna is generally interested in microbial responses to climate change factors. She is studying the evolution of Curtobacterium in the field and lab to study the biogeochemical consequences of microbial adaptation to elevated temperature.
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
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.