Current Lab Members
Joshua Bembenek
Principal Investigator
Josh started the lab in 2012 to use the worm to investigate mechanisms of cytokinesis. He did his thesis work in Hongtao Yu’s lab at UT Southwestern working on the regulation of mitotic exit in human cells. He then worked with John White at UW Madison using multiphoton and other microscopy techniques to investigate cytokinesis in C. elegans. After John’s retirement he worked with Yixian Zheng at the Carnegie Institute and then Gyorgyi Csankovszki’s lab at UM.
Josh likes outdoor activities and references to outdated pop culture nobody understands.
Chris Turpin
Postdoc
Chris joined the lab as a technician in 2014, finished his PhD in the lab and is now continuing on as a postdoc. He completed his undergraduate education in Oregon and got started in research working with ants. Currently, he is trying to figure out how separase is regulated during cortical granules exocytosis. He enjoys making in utero movies of C. elegans oocytes and early embryos. He also really enjoys getting results. Chris spends his free-time thinking about the lab. He also enjoys cycling, bullet journaling and other hipster fads.
Shane Kowaleski
Graduate Student
Shane joined the lab in the Fall of 2023 and is making great progress studying the regulation of vesicle transport in the oocyte. A graduate of Detroit Mercy, Shane is learning worms and cell cycle regulation quickly!
Hayden Norris
Technician
Hayden joined the lab in 2022 and got the new lab at Wayne State up and running! A graduate from UM Flint, Hayden has been working on various projects including the mechanism(s) that regulate vesicle transport in the oocyte.
Alexis Bridgewater
Technician
Alexis just started in the lab Spring of 2024 and has been helping get the lab organized and move projects forward. A jack of all trades, Alexis has built some 3D printed objects for the lab and is sharing her skills with adobe illustrator, in addition to getting started with worms.
Former Lab Members
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Postdoctoral Research Associates |
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Michael Melesse |
2016-2019 |
Postdoc at Oak Ridge |
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Aude S. Ada-Nguema Peden |
2014-2015 |
Went to Law School |
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Diana Mitchell |
2012-2014 |
Instructor in University of Idaho |
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Graduate Students |
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Chris Turpin |
2016-2022 |
Postdoc in our lab |
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Xiaofei Bai |
2013-2018 |
Postdoc in Andy Golden's lab at NIH |
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Ryan Simmons |
2014-2015 |
BCMB Graduate student in Mariano Labrador’s Lab |
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Technicians |
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Dillon Sloan |
2016-2020 |
Graduate student at UNC |
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Chris Turpin |
2014-2016 |
BCMB Graduate Student |
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Lindsey Uehlein |
2012-2014 |
Parker Hannefin |
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Undergraduate Research Assistants |
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Bailey Peters |
2018-2021 |
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Ryan Troll |
2019-2020 |
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Joseph Benthal |
2016-2019 |
Graduate student at Vanderbilt |
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Alicia Salamanca |
2016-2019 |
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Kylie Schall |
2017-2019 |
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Kayla McCracken |
2018-2019 |
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Bolorzul Dorjsuren |
2016-2018 |
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Jody Toperzer |
2016-2017 |
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Paige Parker |
2015 |
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Ben Nebenfeuhr |
2014-2016 |
Postbac at NIH, grad student at CU Boulder |
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Brandon Reagan |
2014 |
Graduate student in Tessa Burch-Smith’s lab |
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Krishine Gosine |
2013-2015 |
Medical School |
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Quincey Caylor |
2013-2015 |
Technician in Bill Kelly’s lab at Emory |
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Amirah Anderson |
2013-2014 |
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Keith Arnwine |
2013 |
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Marion Laforest |
2012-2015 |
Masters degree |
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Taylor Winkler |
2012 |
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High School Students |
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Chris Niemenski |
2022 |
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Roksha Doddabele |
2016-2017 |
Undergraduate at Duke |