DOREEN CUNNINGHAM - Research Professor
Ph.D - University of California, Berkeley
Doreen has a broad interest in evolution and development with focus on evolution of nervous systems. To address her research questions she is using the hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii and the frog Xenopus laevis as model organisms.
JENS H. FRITZENWANKER - Research Professor
Ph.D - Sars Center for Molecular Marine Biology/ University of Bergen, Norway

My interests are in the evolution and development of body plans and the diversity thereof. My main focus lies on the evolution of early anterior posterior patterning of the bilaterian body axis with focus on the evolution of the bilaterian trunk. I am also interested in the evolution of nervous systems. To address my research questions I am currently using the hemichordates Saccoglossus kowalevskii as research model. For more information please visit my ResearchGate profile.
Arifa Ahsan - Graduate Student (Department of Biology)
I am a second year graduate student in Biology PhD program.  I am highly fascinated by cell regeneration, nuclear architecture and epigenetics! My current project combines these interests, and aims to understand the intriguing regenerative capacity of Xenopus laevis through the lens of 3D genome organization in neural progenitor cells post spinal cord injury.
DILLON DAMUTH - Graduate Student (Department of Biology)
My research interests is the intersection of the fields of developmental biology, genetics, ecology, and toxicology. Specifically, I am interested in how environmental toxins may skew development, and consequently affect population dynamics. My research in the Silva Lab focuses on the developmental and genetic aspects, in studying protein-protein interactions involving transcription factors, and how these interactions contribute to the coordination, and progression, of cell fate decisions. To assess these questions, I study how Sox21-protein interactions influence the process of neurogenesis in our lab’s model organism, Xenopus laevis.
KAELA S. SINGELTON - Graduate Student  (IPN)
I'm a student  in Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN) whose research interests revolve around understanding the molecular signals required for proper nervous system development. As co-mentored student in both Elena M. Silva and Maria J. Donoghue's labs, my thesis research focuses on uncovering the similarities and differences in SoxC gene function, expression and regulation during neurogenesis in both  Xenopus laevis and Mus musculus in order to understand the transcriptional processes that seed a well organized and precisely functioning nervous system.
PABLO SILVA RODRIGUEZ -  Graduate Student (Department of Biology)
I’m a guatemalan first year PhD student at Silva’s lab. I’m a Fulbright fellow and I’m interested in the integration of developmental neurobiology, evolution and transcriptional regulation, trying to understand how developmental processes are regulated and if these are conserved among different taxa. Currently, I’m developing a zebrafish knockout of Sox21 using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to determine if the phenotype resembles those observed in mammals. Additionally, I’d like to determine if the role of Sox21 is conserved among fish and frogs (Xenopus laevis).