Students | Animal Biology Graduate Group

Chioma Akukwu

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Maja Makagon

cjakukwu@ucdavis.edu

Tana Almand

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Professor Fabio Soares de Lima

tjalmand@ucdavis.edu

Montana Altman

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Anna Denicol

mdaltman@ucdavis.edu

Liqi An

Animal Biology Graduate Group

Molecular genetics, functional genomics, and bioinformatics in poultry. Major Professor: Huaijun Zhou

lqan@ucdavis.edu

My research interests include beef cattle nutrition and management, sustainable beef cattle production and enteric mitigation strategies to further reduce GHG production and improve performance and efficiency of beef cattle. Major Professor Frank Mitloehner

skaanderson@ucdavis.edu

Mitchell Angove

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Gene editing for wellness traits in livestock. Major Professor: Alison Van Eenennaam

mlangove@ucdavis.edu

Christian Bernal-Cordoba

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Noelia Silva del Rio

crbernalcordoba@ucdavis.edu

Abdul Rehman Bilal

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Viral diseases of poultry specifically avian reovirus (ARV) and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). I am interested in their molecular diagnosis and characterization studies that may help in understanding the epidemiology of these viruses contributing to their control and prevention strategies. Major Professor: Rodrigo Gallardo

arbilal@ucdavis.edu

Nicole Bonfiglio

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Lynette Hart

ncbonfiglio@ucdavis.edu

Jennifer Bowman

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Animal Biology Graduate Student Major Professor: Jackson Gross

jebowman@ucdavis.edu

Miranda Brauns

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Animal behavior and welfare. Major Professor: Amy Mclean

mgbrauns@ucdavis.edu

Juliana Candelaria

Animal Biology Graduate Student
Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

Female reproductive physiology - ovarian biology and follicular development. Major Professors: Anna Denicol

jcandela@ucdavis.edu

Maria Casale

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Genetics and Immunology applied to animal health Major Professor: Rodrigo Gallardo

mfcasale@ucdavis.edu

Dawn Cayabyab

Animal Biology Graduate Group

Mammalian pluripotent stem cells, Embryotic development, CRISPR/Cas9, production of transgenic livestock. Major Professor: Elizabeth Maga

ddcayabyab@ucdavis.edu

Wilson Coelho Jr.

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Fabio Lima

wmcoelhojr@ucdavis.edu

Francine De Castro

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Surveying and monitoring groundfish populations in Marine Protected Areas, my research interests include the long-term bioaccumulation of Persistent Organic Pesticides (POPs) in groundfish and salmon, and the synergistic effect of POPs with factors of climate change in these study species. Major Professor: Christine Pasparakis

fadelara@ucdavis.edu

Zarah Deutsch

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Welfare and Sustainable Aquaculture. Major Professor: Carly Moody

zdeutsch@ucdavis.edu

Valerie Weizhen Dong

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interests: I am interested in studying how environmental stress affects organisms at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels using colonial tunicates as a model. Major Professor: Dietmar Kueltz

vdong@ucdavis.edu

Toni Duarte

Animal Biology Graduate Student
Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

Research Interests: Meat Quality and Food Safety. Major Professor: Xiang (Crystal) Yang

tlduarte@ucdavis.edu

Rich Duong

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Usage of agricultural byproducts as a feed additive to reduce enteric methane emissions Major Professor: Matthias Hess

riduong@ucdavis.edu

Ayodeji Fagbohun

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Aquaculture, Fish Nutrition, Fish food quality and Aquatic animal welfare. Major Professor: Jackson Gross

aefagbohun@ucdavis.edu

Yasmeen Ghavamian

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Animal welfare, animal behavior. Major Professor: Kristina Horback

yghavamian@ucdavis.edu

Carly Guiltinan

Germ Cell Specification & Development, In Vitro Production of Gametes from Bovine Pluripotent Stem Cells. Major Professor: Pablo Ross

cguilti@ucdavis.edu

Hanna Hagler

Anticipatory behavior, animal behavior, animal welfare in zoos.

hehagler@ucdavis.edu

Lauren Hare

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Carly Moody

lvhare@ucdavis.edu

Ellie Harness

Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

Impact of bacterial association on mammalian stem cell function. Major Professor: James Murray

emharness@ucdavis.edu

Cirenio Hisasaga

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: The impact that duck and broiler management practices have on bird welfare. Major Professor: Maja Makagon

chisasaga@ucdavis.edu

Jennifer Jankovitz

Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

Major Professors: Trish Berger

Thomas Jara

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Myogenic and adipogenic differentiation of bovine embryonic stem cells for use in cultivated meat; developmental biology and embryology Major Professor: Anna Denicol

tcjara@ucdavis.edu

Raja Zabeeh Khan

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Applications of thermography in Donkeys and mules, Blood biochemistry of working equines Major Professor: Amy Mclean

zbikhan@ucdavis.edu

Nathan Kinsey

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Genetic disease, bioinformatics. Major Professor: Anita Oberbauer

natkinsey@ucdavis.edu

Matthew Klein

Quantifying and reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to beef cattle production, improved forage production and grazing management and agricultural policy with a focus on improving connections between various stakeholders. Major Professor: Frank Mitloehner

mlklein@ucdavis.edu

Lauren Kovanda

Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

Effects of organic acids on host defense peptide expression in porcine epithelial cells. Major Professor: Yanhong Liu

llkovanda@ucdavis.edu

Donna Li

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Quantitative genetics and precision livestock farming Major Professor: Hao Cheng

donli@ucdavis.edu

Sebsatian Lobo

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Transgenic animal generation and characterization. Gene editing in embryos. Environmental risk assessment of transgenic animals. Major Professor: Elizabeth Maga

selobo@ucdavis.edu

Lauren Maas

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Pathology of sudden cardiac death in thoroughbred racehorses Major Professor: Jessica Morgan

ltmaas@ucdavis.edu

Maia Machiela

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Lactation physiology and mammary gland biology. Major Professor: Russ Hovey

mmachiela@ucdavis.edu

Conor McCabe

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Methane inhibitors for beef and dairy cattle systems and modeling climate neutrality for the beef and dairy sectors. Major Professor: Frank Mitloehner

cjmccabe@ucdavis.edu

Stephanie McDonnell

Animal Biology Graduate Student
Animal Biology Graduate Group

Research Interest: Reproductive physiology using the cow as a model. Specifically, preantral folliculogenesis and improved culture systems for preantral follicles. Major Professor: Anna Denicol

spmcdonnell@ucdavis.edu

Sebastian Mejia Turcios

Animal Biology Graduate Group

Ruminant nutrition. Beef cattle. Working towards sustainability and the reduction of greenhouse gases emission from beef cattle production. Major Professor: Frank Mitloehner

semejiaturcios@ucdavis.edu

Leah Mellinger

Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

I am interested in how fish respond to environmental stressors ranging from biotic (such as parasites and pathogens) to abiotic (such as poor water quality and toxicants) and using those responses to map population health and potentially develop management tools for assessing population health. With the increasing threat of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors, developing strategies to assess how fish populations are coping is incredibly important. I am specifically interested in assessing Chinook salmon smolt physiological stress levels during their migration and smoltification as well as assessing forage fish species population health.

lmholmes@ucdavis.edu

Amanda Morton

Animal Biology Graduate Group

Researching the effect of FSH on isolated preantral follicles collected from bovine ovaries. Major Professor: Anna Denicol

ajmorton@ucdavis.edu

Eleanor Pressman

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Developing mechanistic models of animal production systems and using these models to identify ways to make animal agriculture more sustainable Major Professor: Ermias Kebreab

empressman@ucdavis.edu

Jiayi Qu

Animal Biology Graduate Group Student

Linear programming in animal agriculture. Major Professor: Hao Cheng

jyqqu@ucdavis.edu

Alice Rocha

Animal agriculture sustainability, using beef and dairy cattle as climate change solutions. Major Professor Frank Mitloehner

asrocha@ucdavis.edu

Saleh Salman

Animal Biology Graduate Student

The role of Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), Inhibins, and nerve growth factor-beta (NGF-β) in the reproductive performance and fertility of dairy cows Major Professor: Fabio Lima

smsalman@ucdavis.edu

Arup Ratan Sen

Animal Biology Graduate Student

My research focuses on improving microbial protein production in rumen by understanding energy utilization by rumen microbes. Major Professor: Timothy Hackmann

asen@ucdavis.edu

Yingxin Su

Animal Biology Graduate Group

Population genetics and genomics; wild-life conservation. Major Professor: Michael Miller

syxsu@ucdavis.edu

Cynthia Sun

Animal Biology Graduate Student

cyjsun@ucdavis.edu

Sudipta Talukder

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Antimicrobial Resistance of foodborne bacteria and Gut Microbiome. Major Professor: Xiang (Crystal) Yang

stalukder@ucdavis.edu

Erin Tracy

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: I am broadly interested in the study of both social and ecological aspects of aquatic conservation and in effectively communicating this research to natural resource managers, students, and the public. Major Professor: Dr. Andrew Rypel and Dr. Nann Fangue

eetracy@ucdavis.edu

Samantha Van Buren

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Research Interest: Canine genetics and genomics. Major Professor: Anita Oberbauer

slvanburen@ucdavis.edu

Wenjing Yang

Animal Biology Graduate Student

Major Professor: Huaijun Zhou

wenyang@ucdavis.edu