Research Team

 

Adriahna Blackburn, Undergraduate Researcher
Beckman Scholar

driahna was a student in Dr. Cabeen's Intro Micro course (and the Honors add-on) and then was selected as one of OSU's first Beckman Scholars. She elected to do work in our lab, and we were happy to have her! She is working with Jesna Varghese to learn how broadly the connection between XerC and pyocin production is conserved and to help work out the molecular mechanisms of noncanonical pyocin production.

 

 

Casey Cruzan, Lab Technician

Casey joined the lab in Fall 2021. An engineering major who also likes biology, Casey has served as our lab technician while also soaking up quite a lot of information about biology!

 

 

 

 

Aaron Faulk, Accelerated Master's Student

Aaron is form Tulsa, OK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Niloy Kumar Das, Ph.D. Student

Niloy is a Ph.D. student from Bangladesh who arrived at OSU in Fall 2022. He joined Cabeen Lab in early December 2022 and started his experiments in the following month. Niloy is studying the stress-sensing nanomachine of Bacillus subtilis—called stressosome—more specifically: Analyzing RsbT kinase protein’s ability to sense stress and modulate the signaling to activate the alternative σB through molecular biology, advanced microscopic and microfluidic techniques.

 

Autumn Hansen, Ph.D. Student

Autumn graduated with a BS in Microbiology from OSU in May 2022 after a long and successful career in the US Army. She fell in love with microbiology research and is now a PhD student in the lab. She has served as the Cabeen lab manager since Fall 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

Sophie Harston, Undergraduate Researcher

Sophie joined the lab in Fall 2021 and is working on a project involving the effects of mucin on P. aeruginosa gene expression under the guidance of Amal. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rabindra Khadka, Ph.D. Student

Rabindra Khadka is a PhD student who hails from Nepal. Rabi worked as QC Microbiologist in a global sterile API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) lab for two years, where he faced FDA audits several times! Having some experiences and mastering the fundamental concepts & techniques, he hopes to later work as a R&D research scientist. Rabi is studying the molecular properties of stressosomes—large cytoplasmic environmental-stress-sensing complexes—in Bacillus subtilis. Specifically, he is identifying amino-acid residues and potential ligands in the regions of stress sensor proteins that signal for stress in B.subtilis in stressful environments. Rabi has a reputation for being an excellent teacher, and was the 2020 departmental nominee for the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding GTA Award.

 

Somalisa Pan, Ph.D. Student

Somalisa Pan is a PhD student from West Bengal, India. She is studying how the protein PtsN in Pseudomonas aeruginosa represses biofilm formation through a newly discovered hydrolase and how PtsN phosphorylation affects downstream cell physiology. She decided to continue research in this field of microbiology so that she can study these pathogens at the molecular level, to understand their physiology and pave a way towards finding a therapeutic cure against them. Somalisa was supported in 2019-2020 by an OCRID Pilot Project grant and has served as a mentor to undergraduate Niblack Scholars.

 

Jesna Varghese, Ph.D. Student

Jesna is a graduate student who arrived at OSU in early 2022 and joined the Cabeen lab in May 2022. She is studying alternative pathways of pyocin production in P. aeruginosa and is molecularly dissecting the pathway that is active in xerC mutants. She is also achieving success in screening for small molecules that can activate non-canonical pyocin production.

 

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Research Team Alumni