School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 1-50 of 50 Results
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Christopher O. Barnes
Assistant Professor of Biology and, by courtesy, of Structural Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in our lab is aimed at defining the structural correlates of broad and potent antibody-mediated neutralization of viruses. We combine biophysical and structural methods (e.g., cryo-EM), protein engineering, and in vivo approaches to understand how enveloped viruses infect host cells and elicit antigen-specific immune responses. We are particularly interested in the co-evolution of HIV-1 and broadly-neutralizing IgG antibodies (bNAbs), which may hold the key to the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. In addition, we are investigating antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and related zoonotic coronaviruses (CoV), with the related goal of developing broadly-protective immunotherapies and vaccines against variants of concern and emerging CoV threats.
HIV-1; SARS-CoV-2; coronaviruses; cryo-EM; crystallography; vaccines; directed evolution -
Kathryn Barton
Associate Professor, Biology
Consulting Professor, BiologyCurrent Research and Scholarly InterestsPlants make new leaves and stems from clusters of undifferentiated cells located at the tips of branches. These cell clusters are called apical meristems. We study transcription factors that control growth and development of apical meristems. Our studies include plants growing in environments rich in water and nutrients as well as in poor environments. The deeper knowledge of plant development gained from these studies will ultimately help increase food security in a changing environment.
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Stefan Oliver Bassler
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioStefan is a Bridging Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow in the Petrov lab at Stanford University and in the Aulehla & Steinmetz labs at EMBL (2025-now). He is fascinated by how evolution can be used to probe the genomic plasticity of biological systems. During his PhD with Nassos Typas at EMBL supported by the Joachim Herz Add-on Fellowship, he mapped the Genomic landscape of resistance evolution by performing high-throughput resistance evolution of the genome-wide KO library in E. coli. He discovered that evolvability genes constrain resistance evolution through gene-gene and gene-gene-drug interactions. In his postdoctoral work, he will Assess the inter-kingdom conservation of lifespan variants evolved in yeast.
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Rodrigo Bello Carvalho
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2023
BioI am a field biologist deeply passionate about wildlife ecology and conservation. My academic and professional journey bridges research, fieldwork, and environmental stewardship across some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
My work focuses on understanding the functional role of megafauna (large-bodied vertebrates) in shaping tropical ecosystems through processes such as frugivory, herbivory, and seed dispersal. I am particularly interested in how savanna biodiversity, structure, and functioning respond to the loss of megafauna (defaunation), and how ecological insights can inform restoration and conservation strategies in a rapidly changing world.
I hold a Master’s degree in Biodiversity Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford (2021), and graduated with honors in Biological Sciences (B.Sc., 2017) and Education (B.Ed., 2018) from the University of Brasília (UnB). My ecological journey began at UnB’s Ecosystem Ecology Lab (2014–2018) under Prof. Mercedes Bustamante, where I first engaged with Cerrado ecology and savanna dynamics.
Driven by a commitment to applied conservation, I worked at the Brasília Zoological Garden Foundation (2018) and taught Science and Biology in Brasília’s private schools (2019), experiences that deepened my belief in connecting ecological science and conservation with communities.
At Oxford’s Ecosystems Lab (2020–2021), I studied defaunation and seed dispersal in the Cerrado, working under Dr. Imma Oliveras and Prof. Yadvinder Malhi. I later joined Brazil’s national environmental agency (ICMBio) as an Environmental Analyst and Park Ranger (2022–2023), where I was based in the Western Brazilian Amazon, engaging in biodiversity monitoring, sustainable management of natural resources, and frontline conservation enforcement of three Conservation Units within the Purus River Basin.
Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Biology at Stanford University in the Dirzo Lab, where my research explores megafauna-ecosystem interactions across Brazilian and African savannas, with a focus on how defaunation reshapes ecosystems. I also collaborate with UNESP’s Bird Ecology Lab on frugivory, seed dispersal, and ecological restoration in the Atlantic Forest. -
Dominique Bergmann
Shirley R. and Leonard W. Ely, Jr. Professor of the School of Humanities and Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe use genetic, genomic and cell biological approaches to study cell fate acquisition, focusing on cases where cell fate is correlated with asymmetric cell division.
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Louis Berrios
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioLouis joined the Peay lab in 2021 after completing his Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina. His research primarily focuses on the factors that govern the spatial distributions of bacteria and fungi as a function of microbe-microbe and plant-microbe interactions. From genomes to phenomes, Louis fuses both top-down and bottom-up experimental approaches to determine the genetic architecture that undergirds plant microbiome assemblages across landscapes.
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Jessamy Tang
Managing Director, Stanford Down Syndrome Research Center, Biology
Staff, BiologyBioJessamy Tang is the Managing Director of the Stanford Down Syndrome Research Center. She is also a Board Trustee of Down Syndrome International, Board Director of Disability Rights Legal Center, Chairperson of the World Down Syndrome Day Conference at the United Nations and Co-Founder of The Matthew Foundation.
Prior to joining the Down Syndrome Research Center, Ms. Tang accumulated over thirty years of experience as an advocate for the developmental disability community, entrepreneur, executive with The Walt Disney Company, and board member of US and international non-profit organizations. At The Walt Disney Company, she worked across multiple operating units at ESPN and ABC Radio. While she was at ESPN Enterprises, their business development unit, she negotiated several “first” technology partnerships for ESPN. She developed the business plan for and led the expansion of ESPN Radio by ensuring 24/7 programming, purchasing owned & operated stations, affiliating ESPN branded radio stations and creating a full marketing plan. She then became President of the ABC-owned Pittsburgh radio stations where her stations earned four (4) Achievement in Radio awards, Sports Personality of the Year award, and achieved the highest ratings among all ESPN Radio stations nationwide. Following her corporate success, she then independently acquired two radio stations through private equity funding and affiliated them with ESPN thus becoming the first minority woman founder and CEO of a sports radio business.
Outside of her corporate roles, Ms. Tang served with the MIT Venture Mentoring Service and Visiting Committee for the MIT Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation. She has also advised an NFL team, a leading international media company, and has spoken at numerous sports, media, and entertainment conferences.
Ms. Tang received her Bachelor of Science degree from MIT and MBA from Stanford University. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two children including her son who has Down syndrome. -
Barbara Block
Charles and Elizabeth Prothro Professor of Marine Sciences, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThermal physiology, open ocean predators, ecological physiology and tuna biology
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Carol Boggs
Bing Director in Human Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in how environmental variation affects life history traits, population structure and dynamics, and species interactions in ecological and evolutionary time, using Lepidoptera.
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Adrien Burlacot
Assist Prof (By Courtesy), Biology
BioAdrien Burlacot is an algal physiologist specialized in the study of photosynthesis and bioenergetics of algal cell. Adrien is a physicist by training, he received a BS and MSc in Engineering from the Ecole polytechnique (France) and a MSc in Plant Biology from the University of Paris-Saclay (France). He then obtained a PhD in Plant Science at the CEA Cadarache (France) from the Aix-Marseille University (France) where he studied the regulations of the photosynthetic electron flow in green microalgae. After a postdoctoral position in 2021 at the University of California, Berkeley (USA) with Krishna K. Niyogi were he studied photoprotection in plants and algae, he started his lab at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford on fall 2021.
Microalgal photosynthesis is fixing annually ten times more CO2 than what humans reject. Acclimation to abiotic stress is a major driving force of microalgal community structure and productivity. Adrien investigates how microalgal photosynthesis dynamically acclimates to fluctuations in environmental parameters like light, CO2 or temperature. He will be using and developing high throughput screens based on quantitative chlorophyll fluorescence to understand the dynamics of photosynthesis. Adrien aims at unravelling the network of photosynthesis acclimatory genes and their bioenergetic role in the cell. He wants to use this knowledge and the new tools developed to propose new ways of harnessing photosynthesis for a more sustainable world.
