Marcy J. Balunas, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Program in Chemical Biology

Michigan Center for Infectious Disease Threats and Pandemic Preparedness

Email: mbalunas@umich.edu

Marcy received a dual B.A./B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Rochester, an M.S. in Plant Ecology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She conducted postdoctoral research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD) in conjunction with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Marcy began her independent career at the University of Connecticut Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Katie Mc Bride, M.S.

Research Staff and Lab Manager

Email: kathmcb@med.umich.edu

B.S. Microbiology - 2016 University of Tennessee, Knoxville
M.S. Microbiology - 2018 University of Tennessee, Knoxville

My career in science has taken me all over the place- from working in a food-pathogen detection lab in high school, to monitoring radioactive wastewater at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to studying the human gut microbiome. Now in Dr. Balunas' lab I am helping culture bacteria of interest in our search for novel natural products. Additionally, I am responsible for a lot of day-to-day operations as well as safety, general organization, ordering, and morale (that last one I made up, but I like to think it's true...). Outside of the lab you can find me walking my dog, bingeing the latest HBO-melodrama, or trying to learn the rules to a new board game.

Kojo Acquah, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Email: kacquah@med.umich.edu

Kojo received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Cape Town in 2021 with a thesis focused on tuberculosis drug discovery from marine invertebrates and South African actinomycetes. He received his MPhil and BSc in Chemistry from the University of Ghana. Kojo is interested in using metabolomics tools to identify and isolate bioactive specialized metabolites involved in host-microbe interactions. 

Dulce Guillén Matus, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Email: dulceg@med.umich.edu

I’m an oceanographer interested in the chemical ecology of marine microorganisms. I joined the Balunas lab in 2022 after earning my PhD in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD. My research focuses on the ecological roles of specialized metabolites from bacterial symbionts in marine invertebrates. I’m trying to gain insights into the interactions between host, environment, and microbiome that drive the evolution of bacterial specialized metabolism.

Jungmoo Huh, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Email: jmhuh@med.umich.edu

I got my B.S. in College of Pharmacy in Sungkyunkwan University and got a M.S. and Ph.D. (2018) from the College of Pharmacy in Seoul National University. I worked for 2 years (Nov. 2020- Oct. 2022) at the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR), University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. Now I am recently joined UofM here (Nov.2022-present)! I mainly worked on isolation, structural identification, method validation, and HPLC and/or MS analysis. In my spare time, I like watch sports, movies, and drama these days. 

Gillian Davidson

Ph.D. student - Cellular and Molecular Biology

Email: gxd@umich.edu 

Gillian graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021 with a BS in Biochemistry and minor in Sociology. She worked in Dr. Bryan Davies’ lab as an undergraduate student and research technician developing protein therapies against multi-drug resistant pathogens. Gillian is co-advised by the Balunas lab and Lyssiotis lab and is generally interested in using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to investigate the tumor microenvironment. 

Hobbies include: bouldering, drag shows, and living a Gen-Z life. 

Jennifer Nguyen

Ph.D. student - Medicinal Chemistry

Email: nguyenjn@med.umich.edu

I graduated from Ferris State University with a B.S. in Biotechnology and minor in Business Entrepreneurship in 2022. During my undergrad, I worked in Dr. Eric Nybo’s lab on the metabolic engineering of anthracyclines, a main class of chemotherapeutic drug. In the Balunas lab, my project focuses on characterizing bioactive metabolites present in bacterial isolates from a biofilm microenvironment using a metabolomic approach. In my down time, I enjoy reading, making/ eating food, and hiking.

Joey Krampen

Ph.D.  candidate - Microbiology & Immunology

Email: jkrampen@umich.edu

I graduated from Purdue University in 2020 with a B.S. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering and minors in Biotechnology and Management. During my undergraduate experience, I worked in the lab of Dr. John Tesmer performing structural biology experiments, and I also participated in the HHMI’s SEAPHAGES program to isolate novel bacteriophages and annotate their genomes. In the Balunas lab, my work focuses on using metabolomics to characterize the complexity of diverse biologic samples and investigating methods to improve how we elucidate unique features from complex samples. In my free time I enjoy rock climbing, watching movies, and hiking.

Luke Morrissette

Ph.D.  Rotation Student - Medicinal Chemistry

Email: lmorriss@umich.edu

I am a first-year Ph.D. student in the Medicinal Chemistry Program, investigating the metabolic fingerprints of E. coli strains. I graduated from Lawrence Technological University with a B.S. in Chemical Biology, where I worked with Dr. Shannon Timmons to synthesize compounds related to diagnosing and treating osteoarthritis. After graduating, I spent a year working in Dr. Peter Scott’s lab within the Michigan Medicine Department of Radiology. Since joining the program, I have become especially passionate about high-throughput drug discovery. In my free time, I enjoy playing pickleball, board games and darts and am training for my second annual Tough Mudder 15K.

Andrew Xi

Undergraduate Student

Email: xiandrew@umich.edu 

January 2024 - Present