People - Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research

HOFMAN WORKING GROUP

Dr. Courtney Hofman
Laboratory Co-Director
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Ancient DNA; Microbiomes; Historical Ecology; Mitogenomes; Human-Environment Interactions
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate and Academia.edu
Email: courtney.hofman@ou.edu

Rita Austin
PhD Student
Research Interests: Museum biomolecules and collections; conservation and curation techniques; differential biomolecule recovery; human pathogens; bioarchaeology; osteology
Email: rmaustin@ou.edu

Robin Singleton
PhD Student
Research Interests: Molecular and Conservation Anthropology
Email: rgsingleton@ou.edu

Kristen Rayfield
PhD Student
Research Interests: Molecular Anthropology; Oral Microbiome; Dental Calculus; co-evolution of pathogens and humans; paleopathology; bioarchaeology
Email: kristen.m.rayfield-1@ou.edu

Sterling Wright
Master’s Student
Research Interests: Microbiomes, Dental Calculus, Archaeogenetics, Bioarchaeology, Pathogenomics
Email: sterlingwright2016@ou.edu

Karissa Hughes – Undergraduate

VISITING SCHOLARS

Janet C. Buckner
Visiting Postdoc
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology
Iowa State University

Hannah Wellman
Visiting PhD Student
Department of Anthropology
University of Oregon

LaShanda Williams
Visiting PhD Student
Department of Evology, Evolution and Natural Resources
Rutgers University

ALUMNI

Mecca Djahedian – Undergraduate

Husayn Ramji – Undergraduate

KEMP WORKING GROUP

Dr. Brian Kemp
Laboratory Co-Director
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Ancient DNA; Forensics, Population History, Human-Animal Interactions
See also: OU Faculty Page
Email: bmkemp@ou.edu

Dr. Cara Monroe
Research Scientist
Research Interests: North American archaeology, ancient DNA, Forensic DNA, Population genetics, Cultural response to environmental and social change
See also: Academia.edu
Email: monroecara@ou.edu

Brittany Bingham
Research Assistant
Research Interests: Ancient DNA, Human Evolution, Peopling of the Americas, and Primatology.
Email: brittany.l.bingham-1@ou.edu

Raven Blankenship
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Research Interests: Human Evolution
Email: Raven.L.Blankenship-1@ou.edu

Mary Faith Flores
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Research Interests: Ancient DNA, Human-animal interactions, molecular biology
Email: mary.faith.c.flores-1@ou.edu

Golya Shahrokhi – Graduate Student

Upuli DeSilva – Undergraduate Research Assistant

Olivia Brooks – Undergraduate Research Assistant

Joy Li – Undergraduate Research Assistant

VISITING SCHOLARS

Joel Olvera
Graduate Student
Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia

Brandon Postoak
Medical Student
Oklahoma State University Medical School

ALUMNI

Ryan Frome – Undergraduate

Marie Labonte – Undergraduate

LEWIS WORKING GROUP

Dr. Cecil M. Lewis, Jr.
Laboratory Co-Director
Presidential Research Professor, Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Ancient DNA, Human Microbiome, Population Genetics; Disease-Associated Genetic Variation;
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate
Office Phone: 405-325-3415; Email: cmlewis@ou.edu

Dr. Tanvi Honap
Assistant Research Professor of Anthropology
Research Interests: Pathogen Evolution; Zoonotic Diseases; Ancient DNA; Microbiomes; Bioinformatics
See also: ResearchGate, LinkedIn
Email: tanvi.honap@ou.edu

Dave Jacobson
PhD Student
Research Interests: Reproductive Microbiome; Evolutionary Medicine; Population Genetics; Public Health; Brazil
Email: dkjacobson@ou.edu

Justin Lund
PhD Student
Research Interests: Molecular Anthropology; Ancient DNA; Population Genetics; Peopling of the Americas
Email: justinlund@ou.edu

Jacob Haffner
Master’s Student
Research interests: Molecular anthropology; Metabolomics; Paleopathology; Human microbiome; Epidemiology
Email: jacob.haffner@ou.edu

Abigail Gamble
Master’s Student
Research interests: Ancestry; Population genetics; Human microbiome; Bioarchaeology; Ancient DNA
Email: abigail.gamble@ou.edu

ALUMNI

Dr. Allison Mann – PhD

Dr. Andrew Ozga – PhD

Dr. Lauren Cleeland – PhD

Dr. Alexandra Obregon-Tito – PhD

MCCALL WORKING GROUP

Dr. Laura-Isobel McCall
Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research Interests: host-parasite interactions; microbial disease pathogenesis; microbiome and disease susceptibility; disease tropism; metabolomics; mass spectrometry; chemical cartography
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate, Laboratory
Email: lmccall@ou.edu

Shelley Kane
Research Technician

Dr. Ekram Hossain
Post-Doc

Danya Dean
PhD Student

Karina Flores
Undergraduate

Gautham
Undergraduate

Adwaita Ramesh Parab
Undergraduate

Chaoyi Wu
Graduate Student

ALUMNI

Danyang Li – Undergraduate

SANKARANARAYANAN WORKING GROUP

Dr. Krithi Sankaranarayanan
Laboratory Co-Director
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
Research Interests: Microbial Ecology; Biogeography, Evolution, and Phylogenetics; Microbiome Informatics; Microbiome-Host Interactions; Ancient DNA; Evolution in Hypersaline Ecosystems
See also: OU Faculty Page, ResearchGate, Laboratory
Email: ksankar@ou.edu

Dr. Sharmily Khanam
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Co-advised by Cecil Lewis
Email: khanams@ou.edu

Christine Woelfel-Monsivais
PhD Student
Research Interests: Forensic Microbiology, Metagenomics, Decomposition Microbiome
Email: christinewm@ou.edu

Samuel Miller
PhD Student
Research Interests: Human microbiome; Microbial Ecology; metagenomics, food microbiology; cave microbiology; white nose syndrome; anaerobes
Email: sammiller@ou.edu

ALUMNI

Dr. Nisha Patel – PhD

Jaycie Thaemert – PhD

Manny Donkor – PhD

STAFF

Elizabeth Young
Managerial Associate I
Email: elizabeth.s.young@ou.edu

Nihan Dilsad Dagtas
Research Fellow
Research Interests: Ancient DNA; Human-Animal Interactions; Population Genetics; Molecular Evolution; Phylogeography
See also: ResearchGate
Email: nihandd@ou.edu

RESEARCH AFFILIATES

Dr. Christina Warinner
Group Leader of Microbiome Sciences
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; University Professor of Biological Sciences