Current Members
Henry Chung, Associate Professor
Born in the sunny island of Singapore, Henry obtained his Diploma in Biotechnology from Ngee Ann Polytechnic before receiving degrees from Curtin University and The University of Melbourne. He continued his Ph.D. at The University of Melbourne and a postdoc in Sean Carroll’s lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison before coming to Michigan State University.
Zhuo Chen, Ph.D. student (GGS program) (2022-)
Zhuo received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in veterinary medicine from Sichuan Agricultural University. He is current studying the roles of lipids in Drosophila reproduction.
Rajanikanth C, Research Associate (2023-)
Raj received his Ph.D. from the University of Mysore. He is current working on determining how the biosynthesis of pheromones evolve across Drosophila species.
Yibo Gu, Undergraduate (2023-2024), Ph.D. student (GGS program) (2024-)
Yibo received his bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory diagnostics from Michigan State University. As an undergraduate, he worked with Zinan on determining the roles of MtnF in Drosophila.
Ignatius Putra Andika, Ph.D. student (2024-)
Ignatius received his master’s degree in Entomology from Michigan State University in 2018, working with John Wise on insecticides used to control Spotted Wing Drosophila. After working for a few years, Ignatius returned to MSU for his Ph.D., now researching on how gene regulation evolve between closely related species.
Nathaniel Fellows, Undergraduate (2024-)
Nathaniel is a current undergraduate in the lab.
Kelly King, Undergraduate (2025-)
Kelly is a current undergraduate in the lab working with Zhuo Chen on aging and male fertility in Drosophila.
Tyler Irving, Undergraduate (2025-)
Tyler is a current undergraduate in the lab working with Ignatius Andika on the evolution of gene regulation.
Sasha Palmkoeck, Undergraduate (2025-)
Sasha is a current undergraduate in the lab working with Zhuo Chen on aging and male fertility in Drosophila.
Alumni
Jordy Hernandez, Research Technologist II / Lab Manager (2024-2025)
Jordy received his M.S. in Entomology from Michigan State University working with Professor Anthony Cognato. He is current working on various exciting projects in the lab! Jordy is currently a research technologist at the University of Kansas.
Saniya Henderson, Master’s student (2023-2025)
Saniya received her bachelor’s degree in human genetics in from Michigan State University in 2023. As an undergraduate, Saniya worked on developing methods to culture different species of nematode species on carrots. She is currently working on determining the genetic basis and physiological consequences underlying a CHC polymorphism in a Drosophila species. Saniya is current a research technologist in Andrea Glassmire’s lab at MSU Entomology.
Haosu Cong, Ph.D. student (2019-2024)
Haosu (Susu) received his Bachelor’s degree in Plant Protection from Northwest A&F University in 2018 and joined the lab in Spring 2019. His research focuses on elucidating the evolutionary and genetic basis of CHC dimorphism in various Drosophila species.
Ishu Kudapa, Undergraduate (2023-2024)
Ishu was an undergraduate in the lab working on different projects.
Eryl Bevan, Ph.D. student (rotation) (2024)
Eryl was a PhD rotation student in the lab. He is currently a PhD student in the Ganz lab at MSU.
Zinan Wang, Ph.D. student (2017-2021), Research Associate (2022-2024)
Zinan received his Master’s degree in Entomology from Louisiana State University in 2017 and did his undergraduate studies in Beijing Forestry University in China. He joined the lab in Fall 2017. His current research focuses on investigating the underlying genetic basis of desiccation resistance in desert Drosophila species. Zinan is currently an Assistant Professor in the University of Kentucky.
Ava Loc, Undergraduate (2024)
Ava was an undergraduate in the lab, working on various projects, and developing materials for the MSU Bug House.
Benjamin Lutz, Undergraduate (2024)
Ben was an undergraduate in the lab, working with Raj.
Shilpi Mohanty, Undergraduate (2023)
Shilpi was an undergraduate in the lab, working with Zinan. She is now an undergraduate at the University of Michigan.
Bella Balabuszko-Reay, Undergraduate (2023)
Bella was an undergraduate in the lab, working with Susu and Raj.
Elisabeth Darling, Ph.D. student (co-advised with Dr. Marisol Quintanilla) (2020-2023)
Elisabeth (Ellie) was a Ph.D. student co-advised by Henry and Dr. Marisol Quintanilla working on he basis of host preferences in Pratylenchus root lesion nematode species and designing molecular tools to identify and distinguish between morphologically similar species. She is now a postdoc at UC-Riverside.
Taylor Hori, Undergraduate (2022-2023)
Taylor was an undergraduate research assistant majoring in entomology at Michigan State University. She worked with Zinan studying the synthesis of CHCs in Drosophila.
Samantha Kalchik, Undergraduate (2021-2023)
Samantha (Sam) was an undergraduate student majoring in Genomics and Molecular Genetics with a minor in German. She was working in the Chung Lab as a Professorial Assistant and is currently working with Susu with his research on CHC dimorphism in various Drosophila species.
Loren Campbell, Undergraduate (2022)
Loren Campbell was an undergraduate research assistant majoring in entomology at Michigan State University.
Nadia Sbisa, Undergraduate EROF intern (2022)
Nadia was currently a student at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, where she is studying for two associate degrees: an AS in Mathematics and an AS in Chemical/Physical sciences. She is currently an undergraduate at the University of Michigan.
Jian Pu, Research Associate (2017-2021)
Jian received his Ph.D. from Nanjing Agricultural University and started a postdoc at MSU in April 2017. Jian’s research focuses on determining how the evolution of gene regulation can lead to the diversification of CHCs and other pheromones. Jian is now an associate professor at Sichuan Agricultural University.
Cole Richards, Undergraduate (2019-2021)
Cole was an undergraduate student majoring in Microbiology with a minor in Entomology. He was working on the evolution of desiccation resistance in Drosophila species and investigating the function of fatty acyl-CoA elongase genes in D. melanogaster. Cole is now working for the Michigan Milk Producers Association.
Ellie Camerato, Ph.D. student (rotation) (2021)
Ellie hails from Akron, Ohio, and completed her Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a minor in Chemistry in 2018 from Kent State University. She recently completed her Master’s in Entomology at Michigan State (2021), studying phylogenetic relationships of longhorn beetles.
Elaina Giannetti, Undergraduate (2021)
Elaina was a summer undergraduate student who worked with Zinan and Susu on identifying CRISPR/Cas9 edited Drosophila flies. Elaina is now an associate researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Mei Luo, Visiting Ph.D. student (2017-2019)
Mei (May) was a visiting Visiting Ph.D. student from Jiangxi Agricultural University in China funded by the China Scholarship council (CSC). Mei’s research focuses on the understanding how insects respond to heavy metal pollution and on the evolution of insect metallothioneins. Mei is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Ian Paulsen, Undergraduate (2018-2019)
Ian was an undergraduate entomology student in the Chung lab from 2018-2019.
Caitlin Peffers, Undergraduate (2017-2018)
Caitlin was an undergraduate entomology major at MSU investigate the expression of pheromone synthesis genes in the Spotted Wing Drosophila, D. suzukii. She has gone on to do a Master’s degree at Ohio State University.
Chung Lab 