Arash Komeili
komeili<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Arash received his PhD from UCSF in 2001.  His thesis work was conducted in the laboratory of Professor Erin O'Shea on the mechanisms of nucleocytoplasmic transport of transcription factors. He then began a project to understand the formation of magnetosome organelles in Professor Dianne Newman's laboratory at Caltech.  In 2005 he joined the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley where he is now a Professor.  He holds an Affiliated Professor position in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, is a faculty of the UC Berkeley Synthetic Biology Institute and a QB3 affiliate.  

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Carly Grant

carly<dot>grant<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Carly joined the lab in 2014. She is interested in the diverse magnetosomes and other biominerals formed by bacteria in response to changes in environmental conditions. Unlike the well-studied magnetotactic  α-proteobacteria, magnetotactic  δ-proteobacteria form their magnetosomes through a slightly different process that is less well understood. Carly is studying Desulfovibrio magneticus RS-1 as a model for magnetosome formation in  δ-proteobacteria.  In addition, she is interested in other biominerals formed by RS-1, and perhaps other bacteria, in response to environmental stresses.  She received her B.S. in Biotechnology from Montana State University where she studied Listeria monocytogenes mutants as vaccine candidates under the guidance of Prof. Joshua Obar.  Carly loves skiing, hiking, and exploring new places.

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Hayley McCausland

hcmccausland<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Hayley joined the lab in 2016. She is studying the metabolism of magnetotactic bacteria and the genes that connect environmental conditions to biomineralization. She is also interested in discovering the function of a tubulin-like protein--FtsZm--that is encoded in the magnetosome gene island. Hayley received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University, where she studied the role of potassium channels in fragile X syndrome in Prof. Gary Bassell’s lab. Outside of lab, she enjoys rowing crew, cooking, and running. ​​

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Carson Bickley
carson_bickley<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Carson joined the lab in 2018. He is interested in the assembly of magnetosomes. Specifically,
Carson is studying the order in which magnetosome proteins localize to the magnetosome and
what this tells us about the assembly process. He is also interested in heterologous magnetosome
gene expression to create new magnetotactic systems. Carson received his B.S. in Microbiology
from Indiana University where he studied flagellar assembly in Bacillus subtilis under the
guidance of Dr. Daniel Kearns. Outside of lab, Carson enjoys hiking and playing bass guitar.

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Sunaya Krishnapura

sunaya<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Sunaya joined the lab in 2017. She is currently an undergraduate majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology. She is working with Carly to understand the function of ferrosomes, using Shewanella putrefaciens as a model. Sunaya is interested in learning more about  unique cellular storage systems used in iron homeostasis. In the future she hopes to continue her research in the microbial sciences within the context of human health. In her spare time she loves reading mystery novels, exploring different genres of music, and learning new languages.

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Sruthi Durai
sruthipdurai<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Sruthi joined the lab in 2018. She is interested in studying magnetosome chain organization in AMB-1. Her primary focus is on the role that genes of the islet genomic region may play in magnetosome chain arrangement. She is working with Juan to identify these key genes and characterize their functions. Sruthi is currently an undergraduate at UC Berkeley majoring in molecular and cellular biology. Aside from lab, she enjoys running, cooking, and writing poetry.

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Juan Wan
juan.wan<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Juan received her PhD from Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Institut Armand-Frappier (Canada) in 2015. Her thesis work was conducted in the laboratory of Professor Jean-François Laliberté on the ultrastructure of Turnip mosaic virus membrane-associated replication complexes, and the role of those replication complexes in virus movement.
For the postdoc training, she continues to study the mechanism of membrane-bound structures formation by using the bacterium Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 as a model. Particularly, she is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of membrane biogenesis and chain formation. 

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Matthieu Amor
amor<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Matthieu received his PhD from the University Paris-Diderot in 2015. His thesis work was conducted at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) and at the Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC) under the supervision of Pr. François Guyot and Dr. Vincent Busigny. Matthieu was interested in characterizing the chemical and isotopic properties specific of magnetite nanoparticles produced by Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1, with the goal of identifying fossils of magnetotactic bacteria in ancient rock samples. He joined the Komeili Lab in 2016 to better understand the function of proteins allowing magnetite biomineralization mainly in AMB-1, and to characterize the biological factors providing AMB-1 magnetite with unique chemical and isotopic features.

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Hector Trujillo
hector_trujillo<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Hector joined the lab in 2017. He received his B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Williams College. At Williams, he worked under Alex Engel, Ph.D. to characterize the distinct roles that Toll-like receptor 9 assumes in response to viral or bacterial challenges. After dabbling in immunology, he is now interested in the cell biology and physiological relevance of ferrosomes in Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a purple non-sulfur bacterium. During his free time, he enjoys karaoke, binge-watching reality TV and listening to true crime podcasts. ​

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Virginia Russell

vrussell<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Virginia received her MS from San Francisco State University in 2016. Her thesis work was conducted in the laboratory of Prof. José de la Torre on characterizing one of the first viruses that infect archaea from the phylum thaumarchaeota, more specifically a thermophilic Ammonia Oxidizing Archaea from a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park. For her PhD thesis Virginia is studying the genes responsible for the irregular bullet shaped magnetite crystals synthesized in Desulfovibrio magneticus RS-1. In addition, she has interests in geomicrobiolgoy and astrobiology. ​​Outside of lab she enjoys biking, hiking and true crime shows and podcasts.

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Michael Fernandez

michael51097<at>gmail<dot>com

Michael is currently attending UC Berkeley as a major in Molecular and Cell biology with an emphasis in genetics. In the lab, he is studying the mechanisms behind magnetite precipitation in the magnetotactic bacteria, AMB-1. To achieve this, he is studying the relationship between iron ion consumption and growth of AMB-1 over their developmental period. Michael enjoys hiking, skiing, and traveling.

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Lab Alumni

Patrick Browne (2012-2017)
Elías Cornejo (2011-2016) Postdoctoral Fellow, UCSF
Kristen LeGault (2015-2016) Graduate Student, UC Berkeley
Laura Murphy (2015-2016)
David Hershey (2012-2016) Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago
Maggie Zhang (2013-2016) PhD Student, University of Chicago
Ertan Ozyamak (2010-2016) Scientist, Bell Biosystems
Nicole Abreu (2011-2015)
Michelle Pang (2014-2015) PhD Student, Stanford
Lilah Rahn-Lee (2011-2015) Assistant Professor, William Jewell College
Eun Hye Lee (2013-2014) Research Associate, Pacific Biosciences
Olga Draper (2006-2014) Research Compliance Analyst, UC Berkeley
Emily Low (2010-2013) PhD student, Harvard University
Shannon Greene (2007-2012) American Academy of Microbiology at American Society for Microbiology
Veesta Falahati (2008-2012) Masters student, UCSF
Evan Anselmo (2010-2012) 3M
Dorothee Murat (2006-2011)  CNRS -  Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, Marseille, France   
Anna Quinlan (2007-2010) Science Writer & Editor at Bio-Rad
Sepehr Keyhani (2008-2010)  UC San Diego Medical School
Meg Byrne (2006-2010)  Associate Editor at PLoS ONE
Joyce Cueto (2006-2009)