Become an IGB Fellow

The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a number of fellowships for truly exceptional young scholars who have completed their PhD within the last several years, and are looking for a stimulating and supportive interdisciplinary environment to carry out independent and collaborative research in the field of genomic biology. IGB Fellows will typically spend two to three years conducting research in one of several research themes in the institute, and ideally this research will also overlap with two or more of these thematic areas. An annual salary of $54,000 will be provided, with a yearly stipend of $7,500 to be used in support of research.

Fellows applications are currently closed. View previous IGB Fellows here.

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IGB FELLOWS

Rebecca Batstone

A native of Canada’s Capital Ottawa, Rebecca Batstone received her BSc (Honours) and MSc from Memorial University in Newfoundland where she conducted research on a variety of marine systems. Under the supervision of Dr. Suzanne Dufour, Rebecca’s masters research focused on a group of chemosymbiotic clams, the thyasirids, which house sulphur-oxidizing bacteria in their gills, periodically digesting them for food. For her PhD research, supervised by Dr. Megan Frederickson of the University of Toronto Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rebecca switched to the legume-rhizobium system to study how symbiosis evolves and is maintained over evolutionary time.

Rebecca became an IGB fellow in September 2018. As an IGB fellow, she will team up with researchers working on diverse systems united by the Infection Genomics for One Health (IGOH) theme. She will pursue how beneficial symbiotic bacteria adapt to changing environmental conditions. More specifically, Rebecca will combine an experimental evolution approach with whole-genome resequencing to understand the underlying genetic mechanisms governing such adaptation, especially the role of horizontal gene transfer.
Steven J. Burgess

Steven J. Burgess is from the United Kingdom. He received a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh (2007) and completed a PhD in molecular biology at Imperial College London, investigating metabolic engineering of green algae for biohydrogen production (2011). He then went on to undertake postdoctoral research into the evolution of gene expression patterns underpinning C4 photosynthesis in the lab of Prof. Julian Hibberd at the University of Cambridge (2011-2017) and briefly worked as an editorial community manager at eLife Sciences Publications (2017-2018) before moving to Illinois.

Steven's interests are in plant synthetic biology and genomics with a view to improving photosynthesis as part of combined scientific, social and political approaches for sustainable boosting of crop yields. As a result he joined Prof. Stephen Long's lab in 2018 to work on the Gate's Funded Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Project an is an IGB fellow in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change (GEGC) theme.
Taylor Canady

Taylor Canady received his B.A. at University of New Mexico and conducted undergraduate (NIH-IMSD) research with David Whitten. In 2017, Taylor completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University under the guidance of Bruce Armitage and Marcel Bruchez. His dissertation research focused on developing nucleic acid probes/systems for high affinity and selective hybridization between the designed probe/systems and target molecules of interest. He became an IGB fellow in the Omics Nanotechnology for Cancer Precision Medicine (ONC-PM) research theme in 2017, where he will focus on developing technologies to detect and screen nucleic acid cancer biomarkers in blood. In particular, Taylor aims to develop an impactful “liquid biopsy” to detect nucleic acid cancer biomarkers early on in tumor progression. Furthermore, this technology should provide a “real-time” snapshot of the cancer type, stage, and evolutionary response to treatment.
Mohea Couturier

Mohea Couturier completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at the University of Versailles in 2008, and then went on to complete her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Evry Val d’Essonne, in collaboration with the University of Paris Sud 11, in 2013. The work encompassing her PhD thesis was focused on determining the respective functions of two reverse gyrases, peculiar DNA topoisomerases IA characterized by their unique DNA positive-supercoiling activity, present in the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus P2.

Through her graduate career, she have developed an interest in the adaptation of microorganisms to their environment, especially in cellular responses involving change(s) into the structure of the DNA molecule. Thus, in 2014, she joined the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, at the Stockholm University in Sweden, to undertake postdoctoral research focused on uncovering the pathways influencing the regulation of the cell cycle in another hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon, Sulfolobus acidocaldarius DSM639, with a focus on the involvement of DNA methylations.

Moheaa became an IGB fellow in the Biocomplexity (BCXT) Theme in September 2018 where she will investigate the involvement of DNA methylations in the spatial organization of the archaeal genome using multidisciplinary techniques ranging from in vivo experiments to biophysical single-molecule in vitro methods.
Joseph Cross

Joseph L. Cross, Ph.D. is originally from Carbondale, Illinois. He completed his B.S. in Sport Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001), where he was also a member of the men’s basketball team. Joe went back to his hometown of Carbondale to obtain his M.S. in Sport Management from Southern Illinois University (2003). He recently completed his doctoral degree in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership (EPOL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2017). His interest includes leadership styles and program development among African American males at predominantly White institutions. Dr. Cross uses qualitative methods to explore his research interests. As a researcher Dr. Cross is motivated by his desire to give voice to the African American male, particularly surrounding issues of leadership styles of African American males who have developed programs for students in higher education.

Prior to joining IGB, Dr. Cross worked as an academic advisor in the College of Education. He also gained experience as a Research Specialist with CREA (Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment), where he collaborated with colleagues interested in the research of culturally responsive evaluation.
Marlies Hager

Marlies Hager received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017 under the guidance of Prof. Samuel H. Gellman. Her dissertation focused on the utility of chemically modified peptides as agonists of G protein-coupled receptors, which play critical roles in recognizing and responding to extra-cellular signals. Her results indicated that certain modifications could yield peptide agonists that activate only a subset of signaling pathways available to the native peptide.

Marlies began postdoctoral research with Prof. David M. Kranz in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Illinois in 2017. Her postdoctoral work focused on characterizing the activity of different classes of antigen receptors in primary mouse T cells. Marlies joined the Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People (ACPP) Theme in April 2018, where she will work to understand the impact of novel chemotherapeutics on the immune system, and to develop therapeutic strategies that combine chemotherapy with various immunotherapies to treat pets with cancer.
David Krist

David obtained a Chemistry PhD under the direction of Alexander Statsyuk at Northwestern University where he designed chemical crosslinkers and assay reagents to identify potential small molecule therapeutics targeting the human ubiquitin proteasome system. The wonder of ubiquitin signaling led David to the lab of Brenda Schulman at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and then Max Planck Biochemistry where he developed molecular tools to stabilize enzyme transition states in order to visualize them with cryo-electron microscopy. In September 2018, he joined the Mining Microbial Genomes (MMG) theme to study enzyme mechanistic aspects of host-pathogen interactions. David utilizes protein chemistry, structural biology, enzyme kinetics and bioinformatics to better understand how microbes populate human hosts.
Justin McGrath

Justin McGrath received his Ph. D. in Plant Biology from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 2009 under the direction Elizabeth Ainsworth. His dissertation research was focused on the effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone concentrations on leaf growth and canopy architecture in crop species. He was a post-doctoral scholar at Stanford University in the Center on Food Security and the Environment under the direction of David Lobell from 2009 to 2011. His research examined the effects of climate change on crop yield globally by developing statistical models using historical yield and climate data sets.

He became an IGB fellow in the Genomic Ecology of Global Change (GEGC) theme in October 2015, where he will provide guidance to develop a high-throughput mobile crop-phenotyping robot that will be applied to sorghum in genome wide association analysis. He will also use data collected from the robot to develop crop models to identify high-yielding genotypes. The robot system will greatly speed up the crop-breeding pipeline, providing both more energy and food to meet the quickly increasing demand caused by population growth.
Priyadarshini Pantham

Priya Pantham received her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2014 under the direction of Larry Chamley. Her dissertation utilized an integrated –omics approach - transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics - to identify molecular mechanisms of increased placental death in response to antiphospholipid antibodies, a risk factor for the obstetric syndrome preeclampsia. She was a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus under the direction of Thomas Jansson and Theresa Powell from 2014 to 2016. Her research was focused on investigating the placental mechanisms of developmental origins of adult diseases, using a baboon model of maternal undernutrition, and primary human placental trophoblast culture techniques.

She became an IGB fellow in the Computing Genomes for Reproductive Health (CGRH) theme in May 2016, where she will use high-throughput approaches to test hypotheses and identify genes involved in the pathophysiology of major obstetrical syndromes, such as preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). Her research will also apply a comparative genomic approach to elucidate the evolution of the placenta, specifically in humans and nonhuman primates, in order to identify the placental causes of obstetrical disorders in an evolutionary context. This research will contribute to the theme’s long-term goal of creating predictive models that can be used to develop personalized medicine-based treatments and interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes in the short and long term.
Daniel Ryerson

Daniel Ryerson received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2017 under the direction of Dr. Jongsook Kim Kemper. His dissertation research focused on understanding how bile acids and other fed state signals regulate metabolism in the liver. His work identified and characterized a new post-translational modification important for liver protection and maintaining bile acid homeostasis.

Daniel became an IGB fellow in June 2017 joining the outreach team where he will work to promote the cutting edge research being done at IGB. He will collaborate in managing the many distinct programs put on by IGB which strive to make science accessible to everyone including Pollen Power, Genome Day, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Citizen Scientist Program and the annual IGB Art of Science exhibition.