Lab Alumni

Former Postdoctoral Scholars

  • Hannah Ledvina, Postdoctoral Scholar 2020–2025; Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow, Leading Edge Symposium Speaker; currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan
  • Uday Tak, Postdoctoral Scholar 2021–2024; Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Irvington Postdoctoral Fellow; currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia

Former Graduate Students

  • Ryan Sayegh, Ph.D. Student in MCDB 2021–2025; NIH Signaling and Cellular Regulation Trainee, 2022–2024; currently an Associate Clinical Trial Manager at Medpace
  • Emily Kibby, Ph.D. Student in Biochemistry 2019–2024; NIH Signaling and Cellular Regulation Trainee, 2020–2022; Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, 2024; currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Dr. Kimberley Seed at UC Berkeley

Former Staff

  • Aidan Litt, Professional Research Associate 2020–2021

Former Undergraduate Researchers

StudentYears in labAwardsPost-Whiteley Lab positionHonors Thesis
Kate Schinkel2023–2025UROP Grant Recipient; University of Regensburg Scholarship Awardee; Honors thesisPursuing an M.P.H. at Colorado State UniversityDevelopment and optimization of biosensors to detect signaling molecules in bacterial immune defenses
Alexa Macklin2022–2025Uplift Program Trainee, UROP Grant RecipientUndergraduate, CU Boulder 
Alex Mahoney2023–2024 Undergraduate, CU Boulder 
Tammy Omokanye2024–2024Bridges to Bioscience AwardeeFront Range Community College Student 
Samantha  Ridgeway2022–2024BSI Scholar; UROP Grant Recipient; Honors thesisMolecular Biology and NGS Associate at AmgenElucidating the mechanism for activation of a bacterial NLR-related protein
Lindsay Whalen2022–2024BSI Scholar; UROP Grant Recipient; Honors thesisPursuing a Ph.D. at University of Illinois ChicagoValidating in silico predictions between bacterial NACHT proteins and their phage-encoded activators
Catalina Schuyler Gonzalez2022–2024 Research technician at National Jewish Health, laboratory of Drs. Leung and Goleva 
Melissa McEvoy2021–2023UROP Grant Recipient; University of Regensburg Scholarship AwardeePursuing a Ph.D. at Oregon Health and Science University 
Peace Holguin-Walth2021–2023UROP Grant RecipientStaff Research Associate at NYU School of Medicine 
Alfredo Vargas2021–2023Wuttke-Beckman Scholar; BSI Scholar; UROP Grant RecipientPursuing a master's degree at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus 
Rico Carale2021–2023UROP Grant Recipient; BSI Scholar; Honors ThesisJunior Research Specialist and PROPEL Scholar, Scharschmidt Lab, UCSFHow to beat a predator: Investigating the genetic determinants of resistance to Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus