People
Current Lab members
Marcy J. Balunas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
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 (2014) and BSc (2010) 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.
Former Lab members
Graduate Students
Dr. Robert Samples, Ph.D. 2022
Currently: Technical Director of Mass Spectrometry, Smith College
Dr. Sara Puckett, Ph.D. 2022
Currently: Scientist at Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Samantha Gromek, Ph.D. 2019
Currently: Research Scientist at Integrated Analytical Solutions
Dr. James deMayo, M.S. 2016
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Colorado Denver
Dr. Kasey Clark
Currently: Lecturer at the University of Liverpool
Dr. Amanda (Fenner) Davidson
Currently: Senior Scientist at Ginkgo Bioworks
Rotation Students
Hannah Boesger, Medicinal Chemistry, Fall 2022
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Karen Tan
Currently: Chemistry Lab Manager at Westlake University
Dr. Christopher Pavlik
Currently: Principal Chemist at Miller-Stephenson Chemical Company
Research Staff
Zachary Lane
Heather Winter
Lucas Gitzel
Jillian Garcia
Kristin Kipp
Ann-Chee Cheng
Undergraduate/Professional Students
Honors Thesis Students
Georgina Appiah-Pippim, McNair Scholar, Physiology and Neurobiology
Julie Costello, PharmD
Anna Liu, PharmD
Andrew Maxwell, McNair Scholar, Structural Biology and Biophysics/Chemistry
Brendan Stewart, University Scholar, Molecular and Cell Biology
Shekar Sunderesh, Molecular and Cell Biology
Anne Sung, Molecular and Cell Biology/Spanish
Geyang (Athena) Tao, PharmD
Ashley West, PharmD
Lyubina Yankova, PharmD
Mariam Zedan, PharmD
Bethlehem Abebe, McNair scholar
Edward Criscuolo, Undergraduate honors student
Shayna Real, Undergraduate student
Michael Kosover, Undergraduate honors student
Jack Mountain, Undergraduate student
Kailey Huot, Undergraduate student
Lava Kareen, PharmD student
Lilly Tartsinis, Undergraduate honors student
Alexander Trouern-Trend, Undergraduate student
Lucas Gitzel, Undergraduate student
Cindy Li, Undergraduate student
Oluwole Olugbile, Undergraduate student
Matthew Lin, Holster Scholar and Undergraduate honors student
Meggy Chen, Pharm.D. honors student
Taylor Riley, Undergraduate student
Allegra Molkenthin, High school student
Ahsum Khan, University of Rochester undergraduate student (REACH Program)
Sarah Leverett, Pre-Pharmacy honors student
Josh Baldino, Pharm.D. honors student
Sarah Chambers, Pharm.D. honors student
Tatyana Dyndikova, University of Rochester undergraduate student (REACH Program)
Samie Ahmed, Undergraduate student
Kristin Kipp, Undergraduate student
Aileen Yang, Undergraduate honors student
Ashley Kalinauskas, Undergraduate student
Sara Trevisani, Undergraduate student
Panama Lab Members
Cecilio Atencio, Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí, (Estímulos Program)
Jessica Avalos, University of California Santa Cruz (CREO Program)
Amanda Fenner, University of Iowa (CREO Program)
Brittany Graf, The College of New Jersey (CREO Program)
Manuel Grosso, Universidad de Panamá (Estímulos Program, CREO Program)
Sarah Herbst, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (UMEB Program)
Dioxelis López, INDICASAT
Rebecca Pike, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (CREO Program)
Jessica Schwartz, Franklin and Marshall College
Christina Wong, University of Rochester (CREO Program)
Daniel Wong, Universidad de Panamá (Estímulos Program)