People in the Lab
Click on name for personal page
Todd Castoe
Lab Principal Investigator
Professor | Biology
Assoc. Dean for Research| College of Science
Scientific Director | North Texas Genome Center
Justin Bernstein
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
Population Genetics and Hybridization
Sierra Smith
Postdoctoral Fellow
Venom and Gene Regulatory Network Evolution
Yannick Francioli
Ph.D. Student
Rattlesnake hybridization and population genetics
Sid Gopalan
Ph.D. Student
Venom and Gene Regulatory Networks, Single-cell Approaches
Hannah Guss
Ph.D. Student
Population Genetics of Schistosome parasites
Claire Kim
Ph.D. Student
Gene Regulatory Network Evolution
Kaas Ballard
Ph.D. Student
Venom and Gene Regulatory Networks
Graduate Student Alumni
Aundrea Westfall
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2023
2023 - present Postdoctoral Fellow at UTSW
Zachary Nikolakis
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2023
Kathleen Ivey
M.S. - Graduated December 2022
2023 - present Adj. Professor at Northeast Early College (Denver)2022 - 2023 Forensic Laboratory Scientist - Dallas County
Richard Orton
M.S. - Graduated May 2021
Blair Perry
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2021
Post-doc in the Castoe Lab - May - September 2021
2021 - present NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington State University in Dr. Joanna Kelley's lab.
Andrew corbin
Ph.D. (Co-advised with Paul Chippindale) - Graduated Aug. 2020
2020 - present Bioinformatics Associate at Genentech | Analyzing CRISPR/Cas9 functional screens.
Drew Schield
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2018
Post-doc in the Castoe Lab - May 2018 - Jan 2020
2024 - Assistant Professor, University of Virginia
2020 - 2023 NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder in Rebecca Safran's Lab.
Giulia Pasquesi
Ph.D. - Graduated November 2019
2019 - present Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder in Edward Chuong's Lab.
Nicole Hales
Ph.D. - Graduated November 2020
2021 - present Sales Executive at 10x Genomics.
2020-2021 Research Associate at the UNT Health Sciences Center, managing their Genome Center.
Richard Adams
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2019
2023-present Assistant Professor at University of Arkansas
2021-2022 Assistant Professor at Georgia College
2019-2021 Postdoctoral Fellow at Florida Atlantic University, in Michael DeGiorgio’s Lab.
Daren Card
Ph.D. - Graduated August 2018
2023 - present Computational Biologist at the BROAD Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
2018 - 2023 Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard, in Scott Edwards’ Lab.
Audra Andrew
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2017
2022 - Content Writer at Thermo Scientific
2018 - Postdoctoral fellow at UTSW
2019-2022 MCAT instructor at UWorld
Jacobo Reyes-Velasco
Ph.D. - Graduated May 2015 (Co-advised with Jonathan Campbell)
2021 - 2023 Postdoctoral Associate in Axel Meyer's lab at the University of Konstanz.
2015 - 2021 Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU-Abu Dhabi with Stephane Boissinot.
Other Past Castoe Lab Members
Kyle Chi – Undergraduate Researcher – Fall 2017-Fall 2018 – Medical Student at McGovern Medical School
Kris Row – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2016-Summ.2018 – Ph.D. Student with Luke Frishkoff
Nour Louzon – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2016-Summ.2017
Acacia Young – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2016-Summ.2017 – Ph.D. Student UTSW
Marelize Snyman – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2016-Summ.2017 – Ph.D. Student w/ Sen Xu
Ola Moussa – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2014-Spring2016
Angelica Garcia – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2014-Fall2014
Lexi Alexander – Undergraduate Researcher – Summ. 2014-Fall2014
Nyimah Waynewood – Undergraduate Researcher – Spring 2014-Summ.2014
Austin Jinks – Undergraduate Researcher – Spring 2014-Summ.2014
Mohamad Elzaim – Undergraduate Researcher – Spring 2014-Summ.2014
Jessica Stephens – Undergraduate Researcher – Fall 2013-Spring.2014
Zachary Rodriguez – Undergraduate Researcher (McNair Scholar) – Summ. 2014-Fall2014 – M.S. Student at LSU
Elizabeth Nguyen – Undergraduate Researcher (Honors Thesis) – Spring 2013-Summ.2013 – Pharmacy School
Laura Drzich – Undergraduate Researcher (McNair Scholar) – Summ.2014-Fall2014 – Medical Tech School
F.Nicole Proctor – Undergraduate Researcher – Spring 2013-Summ.2013
Zia Flossman – Undergraduate Researcher – Spring 2013-Summ.2013
Rachel Wostl – Laboratory Technician – Fall 2012-Summ.2013 – UTA Biology Lab Coordinator
Kyle Shaney – Ph.D. Student – Spring 2013-Fall 2013 – Ph.D. Student with Eric Smith