Silvie Huijben, PhD
Associate Professor
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Research interests | Publications
“At the helm of this wonderful crew below, who make the real magic happen!”
Graduate students
Sergio Serrato – PhD candidate
Sergio is a Biology PhD Candidate in the School of Life Sciences. His research interests are 2-fold: #1) Understand how parasites regulate their growth rate when starting at different densities and #2) Investigate the impact antimalarial drug usage has on the competitive interactions between drug resistant and susceptible malaria parasites. The main goal of these projects is to improve our understanding of parasite biology and determine whether resistant management strategies can suppress the spread of resistant parasites.
Donald Ward – PhD candidate
Don is a PhD student in the lab with a broad array of research interests that encompass both the laboratory and field arenas. 1) He is currently assessing the target-site and metabolic resistance of field-caught Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus in Maricopa County, AZ. 2) He is interested in the contact efficacy of insecticide-spraying operations in both Maricopa county and by mosquito control units, in general, as a function of land cover and residual deposition on various substrates. 3) He is interested in insecticide resistance as a function of the physiology and ecology of mosquito vectors.
MacKenna Berg – 4 + 1 Undergraduate student
Since the summer of 2022, Mackenna has been working as an undergraduate researcher in the lab. Her project focuses on assessing insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Maricopa County by detecting kdr mutations, specifically focusing on the V1016I and F1534C loci. As a 4+1 master’s student, she plans to expand her research to investigate insecticide resistance in other species of mosquitoes, specifically interested in Culex tarsalis.
Undergraduate students
Max Martinez – Honor’s thesis student
Max has been working in the lab since Fall 2022 when he was a freshman. He assisted Sergio and Xyonane with the malaria parasite cultures, collecting samples and perform qPCR. He currently works on his Barrett Honor’s thesis and aims to determine whether competition between two different strains of malaria is direct or indirect using transwell plates. He plans to attend medical school after graduation, with possibly a masters degree in between.
Sophia Koutsogiannis – Honor’s thesis student
Sophia has been a part of the lab since Spring 2023, where she has worked under Brook Jensen on her Resistance Management and Resistance Reversal projects. She currently is working on her honors thesis by serving as the genotyping team lead under Brook Jensen. Sophia plans on pursuing a PhD in Evolutionary Biology once she graduates in spring 2025.
Jack Reihing – Undergraduate Researcher
Jack has been working in the lab since the Spring of 2023. He assists Brook Jensen, Donald Ward, and Eliana Cheroske on their projects. Jack has a keen interest in infectious disease, and plans to attend medical school after graduating in 2025.
Roman Lombardo – Undergraduate Researcher
Roman Lombardo, a sophomore, is assisting Brook Jensen on analyzing wing length variations in mosquitoes. Roman became part of the lab after his enrollment in a class focused on studying mosquito-borne diseases in the fall semester of 2023. Despite his diverse interests across various research areas, Roman is inclined towards a potential future focus on food and nutrition, with specific interest in algae.
Tamuyen Truong – Honor’s thesis student
Tamuyen has been in the lab since Spring 2024 after working on the resistance reversal project in the lab’s first CURE in Fall 2023. She is a member of the genotyping team that works with Brook Jensen, assisting in all of the molecular aspects of the resistance management project. Tamuyen hopes to expand her knowledge of insecticide resistance through an honors thesis in the near future.
Ashlyn Maag – Undergraduate Researcher
Ashlyn has been in the lab since Fall 2023, joining while taking the CURE course. She works with Don Ward, previously assisting with the rearing of field-caught Culex mosquitoes in Fall 2023. She is now working on performing DNA extractions and PCR on Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. After graduation, Ashlyn hopes to work toward a career in research and possibly pursue a master’s degree.
Autumn Roberts – Undergraduate Researcher
Autumn has been working in the lab since fall of 2023 as an undergraduate researcher. She is a part of the rearing team and helps ensure that the Aedes agypti and CMAVE culex mosquitos are taken care of properly and in a timely manner. She is also on the electric fields project, figuring out the best way to repel mosquitos using electricity. After she obtains her biomedical science degree, she hopes to attend medical school to become an ear, nose, and throat doctor.
Honorary lab members
These talented young lab members play a vital role in keeping the creative juices of the PI flowing and the mind sane. They’ve since grown quite a bit, but don’t look as adorable anymore in lab coats.
Huijben lab group pictures
Huijben lab Spring 2022
