WATER AND LIFE INTERFACE INSTITUTE
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission, Vision, Values
    • Institute Themes & Structure
    • Team
    • Code of Conduct
    • Scientific Advisory Board
    • Researcher Spotlight
    • Contact Us
  • Research
    • Overview
    • Surviving the Solid State
    • Rehydration & Recovery
    • Molecular Engineering
    • Evolutionary Dynamics
    • Integration of Themes
  • Training
    • Overview
    • Summer Internship Program
  • Careers
  • Events
  • Outreach
    • Overview
    • Seed Germination Necklace
    • Seed Longevity Experiments
    • Tardigrade Hunting
  • Publications
  • Resources
    • Training

WALII team

WALII operates as a virtual research institute that brings together scientists and trainees from nine institutions across the United States to collaborate and cross-train on nine major projects. Each project is carried out by labs at 3-7 institutions, led by a
​Co-PI from different institutes, and uses a wide range of tools, biological systems, and disciplines.
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Institute Director

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Seung Yon (Sue) Rhee

Director - Plant Resilience Institute, Michigan State University
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Plant Biology, and Plant, Soil, and Microbes, Michigan State University

theme 1: surviving the solid state

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​Thomas boothby, theme lead

Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology, University of Wyoming
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Shahar sukenik, project lead

Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of California, Merced
Project:
Is glass strength associated with protective capacity?

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Marisa otegui, project lead

Professor of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Project: How do cellular structures change during dehydration to solid-state?

theme 2: rehydration and recovery

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Christina walters, theme lead

Supervisory Plant Physiologist, USDA-National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation
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sterling field, associate lead

Postdoctoral Fellow, Michigan State University
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Hugo TAPIA, project lead

Assistant Professor of Biology, California State University Channel Islands
Project: How does partial re-hydration affect desiccation tolerance?

theme 3: molecular engineering

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Alex HOLEHOUSE, theme lead & project lead 

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University in St. Louis
Project:
Rational design of de novo proteins for desiccation tolerance in cells and organisms

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Steven BOEYNAEMS, project lead 

Assistant Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
Investigator at Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital
Project: Molecular rules of membraneless organelle water responsiveness

theme 4: evolutionary dynamics

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Robert VANBUREN, theme lead & project lead

Assistant Professor of Horticulture, Michigan State University
Project:
Identify conserved and lineage-specific molecular responses to anhydrobiosis

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Moises EXPOSITO-ALONSO, project lead 

Assistant Professor of Global Change Biology, University of California Berkeley
Freeman Hrabowski Scholar, Howard Hugues Medical Institutes (HHMI)
Project: Identify genetic determinants underlying desiccation tolerance by mining natural variation in seed germination across A. thaliana populations

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Rose MARKS, project lead 

Assistant Professor of Plant Biology, University of Illinois
Project:
Developing the resurrection grass Microchloa caffra as a new system for evolutionary genetics of desiccation tolerance

Animation & Visualization

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Janet IWASA

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, University of Utah School of Medicine ​

Administrative team

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Elena Lazarus

Scientific Coordinator, Michigan State University
Trainees
Senior Research Associates
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Flavia Bossi

Rhee Lab
​Carnegie Science

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Hannah Tetreault
​
USDA-​NLGRP
​

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Seif Tekaya

Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Silvia Sanchez Martinez
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

Postdoctoral Researchers
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Maliheh Esfahanian

Moi Lab
​Carnegie Science


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Rachel Torrez
 Iwasa Lab
Univ. of Utah


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Margot Riggi

 Iwasa Lab
Univ. of Utah


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Sofia Romero
Sukenik Lab
UC Merced

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​Olivia Maria Silva Carmo
Boeynaems  Lab
Baylor College of Medicine

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Purva Karia

Rhee Lab 
​Carnegie Science


Lab Managers
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Lisa Hill
​USDA-​NLGRP

Graduate Student Researchers
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Aidan Flynn
Holehouse Lab
​Washington Univ. St. Louis

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Cathy Mercado
VanBuren Lab
​Michigan State Univ.


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Garrett Ginell
Holehouse Lab
​Washington Univ. St. Louis

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Kara Hunter
Sukenik Lab
​UC Merced

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Nicolas Mendez
Boeynaems  Lab
Baylor College of Medicine

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Tyler Gonzalez
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Alison Flynt
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Chloe Grabb​
Rhee Lab
​Michigan State Univ.


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Jarrod Reister
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Kenny Nguyen
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Serena Lotreck
VanBuren Lab
​Michigan State Univ.

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Vindya Kumara
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming


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Anna Pardo
VanBuren Lab Michigan State Univ.

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Ethan Weiner
Otegui Lab
Univ. of Washington Madison

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Jenny Schuster
VanBuren Lab Michigan State Univ.

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Manuel Cubillos
Boeynaems  Lab
Baylor College of Medicine

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Shraddha KC
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Azeem Horani
Sukenik Lab
UC Merced

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Evan Saldivar
Rhee Lab
​Carnegie Science


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John Ramirez
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming


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Miffy Wu
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Sourav Biswas
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

Research Assistants and Technicians
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Andrew Scheil
Rhee Lab
Michigan State Univ.

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Shaima Ibrahim​
USDA-​NLGRP


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Annie Walgen
Boothby Lab
​​Univ. of Wyoming

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Sheila Ferer
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Jacob Gantz
Rhee Lab
Michigan State Univ.

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Vincent Nicholson
Boothby Lab
​Univ. of Wyoming

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Keegan Pham
Moi Lab
​Carnegie Science


Undergraduate Student Researchers
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Alejandra Arroyo
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Dakarai Young
Rhee Lab
Michigan State Univ.


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Gaby Amador
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Alina Vane
Tapia Lab
​CSU Channel Islands

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Edie Gollub
Sukenik Lab
UC Merced

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Griselda Padilla
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Alisha Greenlaw
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Elisha Vil
Rhee Lab
Michigan State Univ.

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Jailene Martinez
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Brandon Reyes
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Emily Heltsley
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

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Ryan Brener
Tapia Lab
CSU Channel Islands

Visiting Scholars
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Ann Hui Liu
 Iwasa Lab
Univ. of Utah

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Neusa Steiner​
​Federal Univ. of Santa Catalina
​​USDA-​NLGRP

WALII Alumni
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Anthony Trent
Boothby Lab Alumni
​Univ. of Wyoming


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Jack Cox
Rhee Lab Alumni
​Carnegie Science


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Laura Santos e Silva

Flemming Lab
Alumni
Michigan State Univ.

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Michael Ozolins​
Flemming Lab Alumni
Michigan State Univ.

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Will Dwyer ​
Rhee Lab Alumni
​Carnegie Science


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Ariana Fobbs
Rhee Lab Alumni
​Michigan State Univ.


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Jacob Loeffelholz
Boothby Lab Alumni
Univ. of Wyoming

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Margaret (Grace) Flemming
Flemming Lab Alumni
Michigan State Univ.
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Robyn Zallen
Flemming Lab
Alumni
Michigan State Univ.

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Ava Kloss-Schmidt
Rhee Lab​ Alumni
Carnegie Science

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Kap Kapoor
Rhee Lab Alumni
Michigan State Univ.


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Matt Chansler

Flemming Lab Alumni
Michigan State Univ.

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Selena Rice
Rhee Lab Alumni
Carnegie Science


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Emma Meese
Boothby Lab Alumni
​Univ. of Wyoming


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Loretta Klecker
Flemming Lab Alumni
Michigan State Univ.

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Maxwell Packebush

Boothby Lab Alumni
​Univ. of Wyoming


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Siavash Heshmati
Flemming Lab
Alumni
Michigan State Univ.

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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
“WALII operates in part out of
Michigan State University. We acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. We affirm Indigenous sovereignty and hold Michigan State University accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.”
National Science Foundation logo.
WALII is funded by NSF DBI grant #2213983
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission, Vision, Values
    • Institute Themes & Structure
    • Team
    • Code of Conduct
    • Scientific Advisory Board
    • Researcher Spotlight
    • Contact Us
  • Research
    • Overview
    • Surviving the Solid State
    • Rehydration & Recovery
    • Molecular Engineering
    • Evolutionary Dynamics
    • Integration of Themes
  • Training
    • Overview
    • Summer Internship Program
  • Careers
  • Events
  • Outreach
    • Overview
    • Seed Germination Necklace
    • Seed Longevity Experiments
    • Tardigrade Hunting
  • Publications
  • Resources
    • Training