Saravanan Thangamani, MS, PhD, Principal Investigator
Dr. Saravanan Thangamani is a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the SUNY Upstate Medical University. He is also the Director of SUNY Center for Environmental Health and Medicine, and Vector Biology Laboratories. He is an expert in vector-borne diseases, specifically tick-borne and mosquito-borne diseases caused by pathogens such as the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, Powassan virus, Heartland virus, Chikungunya virus, West Nile virus and Zika virus. His research attempts to: (1) understand the environmental factors contributing to the emergence and reemergence of vector-borne diseases in the United States; (2) develop anti-tick vaccines; (3) develop novel transmission control methods, including the development of transmission blocking vaccines for mosquito and tick-borne diseases; (5) vector determinants of arbovirus transmission; (4) effect of co-infections on the clinical outcome of Lyme disease.
E-mail: thangams@upstate.edu
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Erin Reynolds BS, Lab Manager & Research Associate
Research Projects:
1. Development of small animal models for arbovirus infection and pathogenesis.
2. Pre-clinical evaluation of vaccines and therapeutics against vector-borne pathogen infections.
3. Tick colony maintenance
4. Education and Outreach
5. Managing lab operations
Dakota Paine, Graduate Student
Research Project:
Immunomodulation at the tick-virus-host interface during Powassan virus transmission.
Jessica Crooker, MD/PhD Graduate Student
Research Project:
Impact of co-infections on the clinical outcome of Powassan encephalitis and Lyme disease
Ivona Petzlova, Research Associate
Research Project:
1. Rearing & maintenance of mosquito colonies.
2. Mosquito vector competency studies.
3. Education and Outreach
Jacob Nelson, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Research Project:
Isolation and characterization of new/novel field isolates of Powassan virus and Deer tick virus
Ben Andrews, Research Associate
Research Project:
Community-engaged tick surveillance to track the emergence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in New York
Joelee Tooley, Research Associate
Research Project:
Community-engaged tick surveillance to track the emergence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in New York
Alex Schmidt, Research Associate [student employee]
Research Project:
1. Upstate Tick Testing Program
Isaiah Bonilla, PrepUp Student
Research Project:
1. Impact of insect-specific virus on the vectorial capacity of Aedes mosquitoes to transmit Zika virus
Lab alumni
Dr. Meghan Hermance, PhD
Graduate Student, Post-doctoral fellow, and Research Scientist.
Current status: Assistant Professor, University of South Alabama
Dr. Allen Esterly, PhD
Graduate Student, and Post-doctoral fellow
Current status: Post-doctoral Fellow, Yale University
Dr. Charles Hart, PhD
Graduate Student, and Post-doctoral fellow
Current status: Scientist, US Army
Dr. Dar Heinze MD, PhD
Graduate Student.
Current status: Research Fellow, Boston Medical Center
Dr. Rodrigo Santos, PhD
Post-doctoral fellow
Current status: Research Scientist, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Payal Maharaj, PhD
Post-doctoral fellow
Current status: Research Scientist, CDC
Jahnavi Bhaskar, MS
Research Associate
Current status: Research Scientist, UC Berkeley
Lane Warmbrod, MS
MS Student
Current status: Biosecurity and Biosafety analyst, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Ian Patterson, PhD
Post-doctoral fellow
Current status: Assistant Professor, Queen's University, Canada
Nicole Hausser, MS
Research Associate
Current status: Research Associate, UTMB Galveston
Jing Huang, BS
Research Associate
Current status: Retired
Alicia Quattropani, BS
Research Associate
Current status: MPH student, London School of Tropical Medicine
Jordan Popov, BS
SURP Student
Current status: Columbia University
Bryce Linehan, BS
BS Student
Current status: SUNY ESF
Kayleigh Filkins, BS
Research Associate
Current status: Graduate Student, University of Rochester
Erin Hassett, MS
Research Associate
Current status: Graduate Student, SUNY ESF
Serena Bradley, BS
SURP Student
Current status: Skidmore College
Gary Wang
Research Associate
Current status: Graduate student, Syracuse University