Current Lab Members
These are the successful young scientists making the research that happens in the lab possible.
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If you're on a computer, hover your mouse over the images to see what their area of focus is.
Samira Mahboub
Technician
Samira joined the lab in 2014 and has clocked hundreds of hours doing lipid analysis. Also an expert in plant growth.
Evan LaBrant
Graduate Student
Evan joined the lab in 2017. He is studying the molecular and structural components involved in thylakoid membrane biogenesis and ultrastructure. He’s interested in all things plastid biology including their evolutionary history, physiological functions, and morphological diversity. For fun, Evan is an amateur botanist, beginner beekeeper, and novice chef.
Zach Shomo, PhD
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Graduate Student
Zach joined the lab in 2018. He is studying the mechanism by which a critical freezing tolerance enzyme, SFR2, is activated.
Fangyi Li
Graduate Student
Fangyi joined the lab in fall, 2019 and is co-mentored by James Schanble. She brings expertise in large data and the willingness to work in fields. Her project attempts to improve field measurements of cold tolerance.
Jeremy Brown
Graduate Student
Jeremy joined in 2019 and is interested in how to use plants in unique ways to benefit society. We benefit from his high experimental standards. His project looks at the effects of antioxidants on plants.
Aline Rodrigues de Quieroz, PhD
Graduate student
Aline joined in 2019 and is co-advised with Katarzyna Glowacka. She brings her enthusiasm for discovery and her willingness to learn any technique. Her project combines photosynthesis and redox.
Jithesh Vijayan
Post-doctoral Researcher
Jithesh joined the lab in late 2019. He brings an encyclopedic knowledge of redox and enthusiasm. He helps direct a project which aims to further our understanding of manipulating a plants' redox environment.
Cailin Smith
Graduate Student
Cailin joined the lab in 2021. Her research is focused on identifying membrane contact sites between the thylakoid and inner envelope membranes of chloroplasts. She is also an amateur potter and gardener.
Harris Ebrahim
Undergraduate Researcher
Harris joined in 2020 and is interested in science broadly. We benefit from his work ethic, fabulous attitude, and creativity. His project looks at the role of kinases in severe low-temperature tolerance.
End (?) of Pandemic Party
August 2021: We celebrated the departure of REU awardee Elizabeth Balzani and fabulous researcher Tom Ramaekers. They're off to their next stages and we wish them well!
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Congratulations on your success and thank you for your contributions!
Dr. Allison Barnes
Graduate Student
2014 - 2019. Her dissertation describes how plants react to freezing and other stresses by modifying membranes. She is currently a post-doc with Rubén Rellán-Álvarez at North Carolina State University.
Mason McCormick
Undergraduate Researcher
Mason joined the lab in 2016 and left for a job in chemistry. Graduated UNL 2019.
Jenny Myers
Undergraduate Student
Jenny joined the lab in 2016 and graduated in 2018. She's now off being a graduate student at North Carolina State University.
Former Lab Members
Jamie Fuqua
Undergraduate Student
Jamie joined the lab in 2020. She brought expertise in plant anatomy and physiology and interest in patent law. Her project connected plant and bacterial growth using redox. She left to pursue graduate work in ecology.
Tom Ramaekers
Postbaccalaureate Technician
Tom joined in 2020 and is going to be a doctor. We all think he'll be great at it. He brought his desire to learn and his willingness to work hard. His project looked at salt stress and its affects on plant redox environments.
Ngoc Pham Thien Thao
Postbaccalaureate Technician
Ngoc joined in 2019 and is interested in medicinal plants. We benefitted from her excitement for learning new techniques. Her project looked at mechanisms used to protect membranes from freezing. She is now in graduate school in Chicago.
Samantha Surber
Undergraduate Researcher
"Sammi" joined the lab in 2018 working directly with Allison Barnes. She then pursued her own projects on the role of proton pumps during freezing tolerance, and a mysterious species which responded differently, cotton. She left to pursue graduate school at the University of Georgia.
Mahaa Nena
Undergraduate researcher
Mahaa joined the lab in 2018. She tested multiple methods of lipid extraction to determine the most effective, and published the research with us.
Max Regester
Postbaccalaureate Technician
Max joined in 2019 and left to be a doctor. He tested multiple methods of lipid extraction to determine the most effective, and published the research with us.
Joslin Ishimwe
Undergraduate Researcher
Joslin joined the lab in 2021. He brings expertise in biochemistry and interest in plant research. His project is cloning and characterizing a number of proteins that may be involved in lipid transfer.
Pacifique Muzigura
Undergraduate Researcher
Pacifique joined the lab in 2022. He brings his previous research experience in plants. He is working as part of a team to uncover plant signaling mechanisms during severe cold.
Hailey Olberding
Undergraduate Researcher
Hailey joined the lab in 2022. She brings her desire to learn and her willingness to work hard. Her project looks at the molecular responses of applying antioxidants to plants.
Sarah Heilman
Undergraduate Researcher
Sarah joined the lab in 2023 to explore a potential career in research. She brings a joy for learning and a willingness to be taught. She is working with Aline on photosynthetic effects of antioxidant application.
You next?
Undergraduate Researcher
If you want to experience research and you're also willing tosupport group needs (maintaining the research space), apply! We typically hire undergrads @ the end of summer or early fall.
You next?
Undergraduate Researcher
If you want to experience research and you're also willing tosupport group needs (maintaining the research space), apply! We typically hire undergrads @ the end of summer or early fall.
REBECCA ROSTON
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Rebecca moved to UNL in 2014.
A brief biography:
2003 B.S. UC Davis
2009 Ph.D. UC Davis with Kentaro Inoue
Focused on chloroplast protein targeting.
2014 Post-Doc. MSU with Christoph Benning
Focused on Plant Lipid Metabolism and Transport.
2014 - Current: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Focused on Membrane Remodeling and plant redox
2020 - Associate Professor
2023 - Associate Director, Center for Plant Science Innovation
Teaching:
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Macromolecular Structure and Metabolism, a beginning biochemistry course at UNL (BIOC431)
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Enzymes, a graduate level course on thermodynamics, kinetics, and mechanism of life's catalysts (BIOC 933)
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We Escaped!
Februrary 2019: We celebrated being awarded an NSF-CAREER award by going to an escape room. The escape room was bio-terror related, with us ransacking a "lab" to find the cure (NaCl--really?). We escaped with fifteen minutes to spare, but only managed to save Canda from the ravages of the disease...
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Go team!
Summer 2015: The Roston Lab Travels First Class
Back row: Alexi Lauray, Samira Mahboub, David Logan
Middle row: Ali Meyers
Front row: Allison Barnes, Carol Roston, Rebecca Roston