We have a new graduate student: Welcome LyAndra!!

LyAndra Lujan joined the Singh lab in June 2021 as a doctoral graduate student. In 2019 LyAndra received her B.A. in Evolutionary Anthropology from the University of New Mexico where she focused on human population genetics. She then spent a year in the Department of Ornithology at UNM studying population genetics and computational genomics in hummingbirds. LyAndra’s research focuses on using population genetics and computational genomics to investigate the evolution of proteins involved in meiotic recombination in arthropods and vertebrates. Outside of work she enjoys tending to her growing plant collection and lifting heavy weights.

Audra Joins the Singh Lab!

Audra McClure-Begley moved to Eugene from Boulder, Colorado in April 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID19 lockdown.  While in CO she worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado-Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, as well as earning both her BS in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology and MS in Data Analytics. When not working, Audra loves nothing more than the natural world and prides herself in her ability to see beauty in all kinds: from the plants and ants to the quails and whales, and everything in between! She spends her free time gardening, exploring the outdoors, spending time with her many rescued animals (pictured with her chicken Agnes), traveling, and has a secret love for adrenaline adventures. 

Audra is currently pursuing a secondary master’s in science management and leadership from Webster University and is looking forward to applying her programming and statistical data analysis skills to the biology side of science.

Hellos and Goodbyes in 2019…

Fall 2019 brought two new faces to our laboratory: Dr. Amanda Bonner earned her Ph.D. from Scott Hawley’s Lab at the Stower’s Institute for Medical Research. She joins us as a Post-doctoral researcher. In addition, Lukas MacMillen, a Junior in the Department of Biology is our new undergraduate researcher. Welcome to them both!

We are sad to say good-bye to our two exceptional Research Assistants, Josh Coleman and Tahmineh Esfandani who both left us in the month of December. Josh is currently training for a Clinical Laboratory Science career with plans to move to Texas in the Summer of 2020 for his clinical rotation. Along with her husband and son, Tahmineh has moved to College Park, Texas where she is a Senior Research Associate in the Blackmon Laboratory at Texas A&M. Although we miss them both, we wish them the best of luck as they each pursue their new lives in the longhorn state.