Pierce Lab, 2023
Jon Pierce, PhD
Principal Investigator
During his graduate career at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Jon Pierce studied the mechanisms for chemotaxis and taste discrimination in the nematode C. elegans with Dr. Shawn Lockery.
As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, he switched to a more medically relevant topic — studying the molecular basis for intoxication by alcohol. During this time, his elder son was born with Down syndrome, which, at the time, received little research attention. When he established his lab at The University of Texas at Austin in 2008, he was inspired to study the genetic basis for Down syndrome.
Here, a vibrant collection of researchers are dedicated to discovering the causes and potential cures for genetic disorders through innovative research.
staff
Susan Rozmiarek
Lab Manager
Cory Gentry
Lab Assistant
research team
Chelsea Webber
Postdoctoral Researcher
Chelsea is a postdoctoral fellow studying inflammation in the C. elegans model. Her current work in the Pierce lab focuses on exploring the molecular-genetic basis of immune cell activation. Chelsea hopes that this research will open new avenues to study the role of inflammation in C. elegans disease models. Chelsea completed her PhD in Pharmacology from Boston University, her thesis focused on modulating RNA-binding protein biology to decrease neuroinflammation caused by protein aggregation. In her spare time, Chelsea enjoys spending time with her bulldog “Sundae” and her cat “Muffin”, reading, and exploring Austin.
Ben Clites
Staff Scientist
Grace Wulffraat
Lab Technician
Andy Cardona
Graduate Student
Swetha Iyer
Graduate Student
Swetha is a graduate student in Pierce lab. She is interested in understanding how Autism Spectrum Disorder genes are implicated in cellular mechanisms underlying social behavior. To address this question, she is taking a quantitative genetics approach by leveraging the natural variation of social clumping behavior in wild strains of C. elegans. Outside the lab, she enjoys playing video games and tennis.
Lisa Wang
Graduate Student
Zheng Wu
Graduate Student
Annika Agnihotri
Undergraduate Researcher
Reece Jones
Undergraduate Researcher
Reece is a rising senior in the class of 2025, currently pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience with honors and a minor in business. Reece joined the Pierce lab as a sophomore and has primarily worked on the Down Syndrome overexpression screen, identifying abnormal phenotypes associated with axon migration/guidance, and coelomocyte activation in C. elegans. Outside of the lab, Reece enjoys writing for Catalyst, the Natural Sciences Council’s official publication site, exploring the Austin area, and spending time with his two cats.
Toyin Ogunbi
Undergraduate Researcher
lab alumni
Brooke Frohock
Emily Ricketson
Eva Beckett
Maria Noonan
Niels Levy-Thiebaut
Alyssa Marron
Ella DeMott
Lotti Brose
Nina Mourao
Sofia Valdivieso-Sinyakov
Katherine Perks
Keerthana Chakka
Julia (Xin) Fang
Alex Contreras
Shuge Sun
Stephanie Ro
Jesse Cohn
Ted Shi
Luisa Scott
LaShaun Oyibo
Momo (Wisath) Sae-Lee
Brooke Prakash
Pragati Kore
Natalie Wu
Vaishnavi Sankar
Nicole Zarate
Kaitlyn Friese
Jesse Degani
Shireen Toubbeh
Ibis Rojas
Solomon White
Shravika Lam
Dean Pfeiffer
Greg Ordemann
Tim Wang
Chintan Gohel
Rachel Yen
Deepthi Bannai
Sophie Sanchez
Abby Jaimes
Kaelin Rubenzer
Courtney Williams
James Groh
Avelina Petri
Briana Syed
Hannah Xu
Abigail Tyree
Caymee Bigham
Sofia Smith
Nima Rahman
Dawn Guzman
Ana Martinez
Mandi Severson
Ansley Fiorito
Kirstin Rollins
Anna Krauss
Manna Dellota
Kyra Clarke
Sarah Nordquist
Srija Seenivasan
Jennifer Nguyen
Kevin Ye
Bridgitte Palacios
Praveen Satarasinghe
Marsha Berkman
Michael (Moon) Lee
Aliyah Encarnacion
Celia Beron
Dylan Sucich
Mukund Pasapuleti
Shannon Lu
Matt Trisnadi
Lance Lopovitz
Andres Vidal-Gadea
Abhi Ganesh
Gabbe Zuniga
