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 and cold tolerance, she is now leading a large project in the lab.
Evan LaBrant
Graduate Student
Evan joined the lab in 2017. He is studying 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.
Dr. Fangyi Li
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Fangyi joined the lab in fall, 2019 and completed her PhD in Complex Biosystems in Dec, 2024, co-mentored by James Schnable. Her work may change how some photosynthetic traits are measured and taught me how little we still know about plant cold tolerance!
Dr. Jeremy Brown
Post-doctoral researcher
Jeremy joined in 2019 and completed his PhD in Biochemistry in March, 2025. His work, with that of Aline and Jithesh, shows that a small archaeal antioxidant may have large agricultural impacts.
Allan Tullis
Undergraduate Researcher
Allan joined the lab in the fall of 2024. He is exploring options and is bringing his strong work ethic and his willingness to excel. Thanks!
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.
Alondra Torres
Graduate Student
Alondra joined the lab in 2024. She brings expertise in protein analysis and protein interaction. Her project is characterizing chloroplast membrane interactions.
Joslin Ishimwe
Graduate Student
Joslin joined the lab in 2021 as an undergraduate, and returned in 2024 as a Master's student in Computer Science. He brings significant expertise and interest in plant research. His project is generating models of cold tolerance.
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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Former Lab Members
Congratulations on your success and thank you for your contributions!
Dr. Allison Barnes
Ph Done
2014 - 2019. Allison's dissertation describes how plants react to freezing and other stresses by modifying membranes. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow and Project Manager with the USDA in Raleigh, North Carolina
Dr. Zachery Shomo
Ph Done
2018 - 2024 Zach's dissertation describes the mechanism through which an enzyme critical to freezing tolerance, SFR2, senses cold severity. He is currently doing post-doctoral research with Frank Harmon at UC Berkeley.
Dr. Aline Rodrigues de Quieroz
Ph Done
2019 - 2024. Aline's dissertation describes the effects of exogenously applied antioxidants on plant growth, particularly on photosynthesis.
She is currently with Corteva.
Dr. Jithesh Vijayan
Post-doctoral Researcher
2019 - 2024. Jithesh's encyclopedic knowledge of redox and enthusiasm for systems-level biology helped direct a project which resulted in two patents, and multiple manuscripts, which were held for the patents. In a team, he pioneered plants redox responses to exogenous addition of CoM.
Dr. Fangyi Li
Ph Done
2019 - 2024 Fangyi's dissertation describes a more effective way to measure whole-field photosynthetic fluorescence parameters and the metabolic and genetic players in cold acclimation in sorghum varieties.
Did you know?
Caesalpinia echinata
Brazil is named after a tree! It is a tree used for timber and wood products, and commonly sold in the US as "brazilwood".
Mason McCormic
Undergraduate Researcher
Mason joined the lab in 2016, graduated UNL in 2019 and is now working in the chemistry industry. He is a co-author on a paper!
Jennifer Myers
Undergraduate Researcher
Jenny joined the lab in 2016 and graduated in 2018. She's now off being a PhD student at North Carolina State University.
Harris Ebrahim
Undergraduate Researcher
2020 - 2024
Harris graduated and is pursuing a medical degree. We appreciate his contributions to the lab in all projects, but especially cold severity sensing.
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 graduated in 2020 and is doing a PhD at the University of Georgia.
Mahaa Albusharif
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. She's now pursuing a medical career.
Maxwell Regester
Postbaccalaureate Technician
Max joined in 2019 and graduated in 2021. He tested multiple methods of lipid extraction to determine the most effective, and published the research with us. He's in medical school now studying to be a doctor.
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.
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.
