LAUREN E. FUESS
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Lauren grew up in Atlanta, GA and completed her BS in Marine Biology from College of Charleston. She earned her PhD from the University of Texas at Arlington where she first fell in love with both immunology and symbiosis. After completing her PhD, she spent 2 years as a postdoc in the Bolnick Lab at UConn studying ecological and evolutionary immunology in stickleback. Lauren’s work continues to be focused on concepts in ecological and evolutionary immunology. Her primary interests relate to interactions between symbiotic relationships and the immune system. When not in lab, Lauren loves traveling, eating good food, and spending time with her horse.
CALEB BUTLER
POSTDOC
Caleb (they/he) is from Sherman, a small town near Dallas, Texas. In 2019, Caleb graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BS in Biology and Microbiology and worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Mydlarz Coral Immunity Lab. Caleb then earned their PhD in Ecology at the Pennsylvania State University in the LaJeunesse Symbiosis Ecology & Evolution Lab. Throughout his doctoral work, Caleb became fascinated with the biodiversity of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates that corals rely upon, and studied specificity of the symbiosis in Indo-Pacific reef-building and soft corals. In the future, Caleb hopes to continue investigating the basic principles of specificity in the symbiosis, and how it has become so ubiquitous across Phylum Cnidaria. In their spare time, Caleb likes to cook and hangout with his cats.
ISSY CHANGSUT
PHD CANDIDATE
Issy is a first-year doctoral student. She recently graduated from Texas State University with a Master’s in Biology. Her Master’s thesis focused on the interplay between immunity and symbiosis in the facultatively symbiotic coral Astrangia poculata. Prior to her Master’s, she graduated from Roger Williams University where she majored in Marine Biology and minored in Public Health and Spanish. She completed an undergraduate thesis on the development of protocols for spawning and reproduction of Astrangia. For her PhD, she will be working on investigating the capacity for immunological priming in corals. Outside of research, Issy enjoys working out and reading.
SOFIA DIAZ DE VILLEGAS
PHD CANDIDATE
Sofia grew up in Miami, Florida surrounded by the marine wonders of the Florida Keys and the Everglades National Park. She graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies during which time she participated in various ecological projects that sparked her interest in research. After college, she joined Dr. Andrew Baker’s Coral Reef Futures Lab at the University of Miami where she conducted research on the genetic resilience and symbiont flexibility of corals exposed to thermal stress. As a member of the Fuess lab, she will investigate the role of symbionts in bleaching and immune response.
ERIN SHILLING
PHD CANDIDATE
Erin joined the lab to begin her PhD in August 2022. She is a Texas native who grew up in Dallas and attended undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin. Before returning to Texas, Erin was previously the lab manager at the Coral Reef Health and Ecology Lab with Dr. Joshua Voss in Fort Pierce, Florida, where she also had completed her Master’s degree in Marine Science and Oceanography. Erin’s master’s research involved comparing the effectiveness of in situ intervention treatments for corals affected with stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). For her PhD, she will be working on improving the understanding of how and why different coral species and individuals vary in susceptibility to SCTLD. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, baking, and hiking.
CARLY TRAVERS
MASTERS STUDENT
Carly grew up in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and earned her B.S. in Biology from Florida International University (FIU). As an undergraduate, she joined the Environmental Epigenetics Lab, where she worked on projects exploring how resilience and phenotypic differences manifest in the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis. She also conducted research in Bermuda, investigating the effects of artificial upwelling on local coral species. Now a member of the Fuess Lab, Carly is studying the potential for immunological priming in Cnidarians.
SYDNEY DUTTON
TECHNICIAN
Sydney grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia and just graduated in May 2024 from Penn State with her BS in Biology and minors in Marine Science and Earth and Sustainability. Her undergraduate research at Penn State focused on the co-evolutionary relationship between dinoflagellates in the genus Cladocopium and their cnidarian hosts, mainly corals. In the Fuess Lab, Sydney will be helping to run an experiment funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, focusing on how different environmental stressors affect a coral’s immune system. Outside of the lab, Sydney enjoys reading, working out, and traveling.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS
Chloe Poenisch: 2025-present
Amelia Rae Perez: 2025-present
Audrey Reynolds: 2025-present
Kelsie Phelps-de Gala: 2025-present
Adriana Velez-Brunes: 2025-present
Catie Ritchey: 2024-present
Chavez Gentles: 2024-present
Eros Baua: 2024-present
Roh-Allah Jalil: 2023-present
Lindsey Kastner: 2023-present
ALUMNI
Erin Borbee, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2021-2025– Assistant Professor, Southwestern University
Utpal Smart, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2023– Assistant Professor, Texas A&M San Antonio
Rachel Howard, Postdoctoral Researcher, 2024-2025– Postdoc, University of Texas at Arlington
Natalie Villafranca, MS Biology, 2021-2023 – PhD Student, Kenkel Lab, University of Southern California
Hannah Hughes, MS Aquatic Biology, 2022-2023– Program Faculty, TXST
Noah Tjandra, MS Biology, 2023-2025
Haley Womack, BS Microbiology, 2021-2023– PhD Student, Nichols Lab, University of Denver
Peyton Abdelbaki, BS Biology, 2022-2024
Anabel Martinez, BS Wildlife Biology, 2024
Louis Oviedo, BS Biology, 2022-2025
Samantha Wright, BS Microbiology, 2023-2025