People

J.F. Brinkworth, PhD.
Principal Investigator

Evolution of immune function, variation in infectious and chronic disease, severe infection, primate health, evolutionary medicine, sustainability.                                                                      NIOSH-approved spirometry certified, NPS-CPT

jfbrinkw@illinois.edu

Grace Shaw, MSc.
PhD Student, Biological Anthropology          NIOSH-approved spirometry certified
jgshaw2@illinois.edu

Research interests include the effects of physical and psychological stress on epigenetic regulation of immune function during severe infections. Labor-health embodiment. Sepsis, COVID-19, public health.

Abby Long
PhD Student, Biological Anthropology

 

 

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Brett Stallone-Dwyer
MS, MA
PhD student, Biological Anthropology
Epigenetics underlying immunological responses to complex trauma, PTSD, and other mental health disorders.

Natasha Mazumdar 
B.A.
PhD student, Biological Anthropology          NIOSH-approved spirometry certified

Interests: role of neural reward in physical activity, SARS-CoV-2, evolution of human endurance running 

Allison Westenbrau
Lab technician
B.A. in Biological Anthropology

Allison is a primary contributor to the neutrophil and plague projects, and has a background in horse care and wine tasting.

PhD Alumna/Alumni

Negin Valizadegan, PhD Anthropology
Research Specialist in the LifeSciences           HPC-Bio, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign lab affiliate 

My research is on the link between blood microbiome and immune system response to LPS-mediated sepsis and other infectious diseases in human and non-human primates. I am interested in host-microbiome interactions and bioinformatics analysis of NGS data. Check out my website here.

Jack Pallotto
Molecular and Cellular Biology

 

Rachel Miller                                                          Integrative Biology 

Amy Palma                                                            Family studies

Jasmin Leyva
Molecular and Cellular Biology

 

Isabella Cheung                                                   Molecular and Cellular Biology

Alumna/Alumni of the lab

  • Jingchen Li
  • Will Widdick
  • Demetri Marmoutsos
  • Minkyu Woo
  • Nicole Mittelsteadt
  • Analisa Soare
  • Yaravi Suárez Cedeño
  • Sharajonnie Adams
  • Bianca Biages
  • Harsha Namburi
  • Keaton McClure
  • Sarthak Prasad
  • Tricia Avent
  • Kalina Brzostowski
  • Rithik Prakash
  • Vijeth Narra
  • Heather Hicks
  • Alexander Alvarado
  • Priya Bhatt
  • Nicole Mischak
  • Sofia Rivera
  • Joey Callahan
  • Jocelyn Rubi
  • Lily Velez
  • Kyle Boshardy
  • Negin Valizadegan
  • Katy Simmons
  • Shubansh Jain
  • Emilia Gibes
  • Mia Salerno
  • Haley Fuocco
  • Alex Albuixech-Robinson
  • Kamile Aleksaite
  • John Noam
  • Rachel Rusen