Southeast Missouri State University
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Grace Lewis
Grace is a Biomedical Science major who plans to become a biomedical researcher. She is currently assisting an investigation on how diet and density affect growth, development, and immune responses in crickets |
Kat McConnell
Kat is a Wildlife and Conservation Biology Major and is pursuing minors in Equine Science and Companion Animals. She is assisting research on how dietary manipulation affects immune responses in wolf spiders. She plans to become a zookeeper. |
Logan Oleson
Logan is a Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology Major who plans to attend graduate school and research amphibians and reptiles. She is assisting on a project investigating the effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids on wolf spider immune function. 
Rebecca Witty
Rebecca is a Microbiology major and a chemistry minor. She plans to attend medical school to become a pathologist. She is assisting with immunoassay development 
Kyra Lathrop
Kyra is studying Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology. She plans to attend graduate school and is interested in wildlife biology and mammalogy, She is assisting investigations of the effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids on wolf spider immune function and diet and density effects on cricket immune function |
Marissa Wright
Marissa is a Biology major on the Pre-Physician Assistant track. She plans to attend PA school upon graduation. She is assisting with investigations on how climate can affect the reproductive strategy of cricket frogs and how diet manipulation affects immune responses in female wolf spiders 
Allison Knaust
Allision is a Microbiology major who is still considering her future plans. She is assisting the investigation of the effects of climate on cricket frog reproductive strategies. 
Jordan Henderson
Jordan is a Microbiology, Cellular, and Molecular Biology Major who plans to attend graduate school. He is currently researching the effects of microbiota manipulation on gut development and immunity in threespine stickleback. |
Murray State University
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Reem Turkmani
Reem is on a pre-med track. She is studying Psychology with a double minor in Chemistry and Cell Biology and intends to enroll in a MD/PhD program. She is is currently assisting with a systematic review of immune function trade-offs in insects.
Reem is on a pre-med track. She is studying Psychology with a double minor in Chemistry and Cell Biology and intends to enroll in a MD/PhD program. She is is currently assisting with a systematic review of immune function trade-offs in insects.
Past Members
Lindsey Dewey
Lindsey graduated from Murray State University in 2020 with a B.S. in Biology. She has worked for the Montana Conservation Corps and AmeriCorps. She is currently a graduate student at Southeast Missouri State University in Fritz Lab, where she is investigating the effects of beaver recolonization on high desert streams. She is a coauthor of a manuscript on the investigation of physiological trade-offs between reproductive effort and cellular immune responses in female wolf spiders, which was published in Physiological Entomology. |
Andre Gregory
Andre graduated from Murray State University in 2021 and plans to become a chiropractor. He now attends Logan University. He is a coauthor of a manuscript on the investigation of physiological trade-offs between reproductive effort and cellular immune responses in female wolf spiders, which was published in Physiological Entomology. |
Fleurcey Auguste
Fleurcey is majoring in Biology. She is currently considering her future career options. She helped quantify the encapsulation response of wolf spiders and plans to investigate other aspects of arthropod immunity in the future. |
Tiara Garbuzinski
Tiara is majoring in Biology. She plans to pursue a research career and is particularly interested in Marine Biology. She helped quantify the encapsulation response of wolf spiders and plans to investigate other aspects of arthropod immunity in the future. |
