People
Kalani Gast
Hometown: Fort Pierce, FL
Past Education: BS Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida
Kalani completed a Bachelor’s in Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida. As an undergraduate, she studied the effect of the herbicide Paraquat on the gut microbiome in Drosophila melanogaster. She transitioned into industry by working as a microbiologist screening foods for pathogens that cause food-borne illness. Kalani joined the lab in July 2021, and is currently interested in probiotic bacteria, CRISPR-Cas systems, bacteriophage, and the gut microbiome.
Ourania (Rania) Raftopoulou
Hometown: Athens, Greece
Past Education: BSc in Crop Science & MSc in Food Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Rania completed her Bachelor’s in Crop Science at the Agricultural University of Athens in Greece. As an undergraduate, her research focused on the identification of endemic epiphytic yeasts from pistachio nuts that could be applied as biological agents for the control of aflatoxins. Afterward, she completed her MSc in Food Science at the same university in Greece. Her Master’s was focused on two main objectives: a) creating machine learning models for the estimation of chicken spoilage through multispectral imaging and, b) evaluating the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in chicken nuggets using mathematical models. Rania started her Ph.D. in Microbiology in 2019 and worked for three years on assessing the impact of the biofilm lifestyle on the virulence of Listeria monocytogenes and its behavior on apples. She joined our lab in April 2022 and is currently working on bioengineering probiotic bacteria using CRISPR.
John Beckley
Hometown: Congers, NY
Past Education: BS Biochemistry Boston College; MS Microbiology Illinois Institute of Technology
John completed his Bachelor’s in Biochemistry at Boston College and spent over 10 years in the food and beverage industry before transitioning back to academia for his Master’s in Microbiology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Working as a food safety consultant, he provided scientific and regulatory support for the industry in the US and abroad. John joined the lab in August 2022 and is currently interested in developing CRISPR technology, engineering bacteriophages, and studying the gut and soil microbiomes.
Emma Jager
Hometown: Efland, North Carolina
Past Education: BS Microbiology, BS Mathematics, NC State University
Emma completed Bachelor’s degrees in Microbiology and Mathematics at NC State University before transitioning to industry and working as a production scientist in a fermentation department. As an undergraduate she participated in a summer research experience learning about modeling biological systems, and spent a semester searching for an elusive RNase P gene in the genome of an archeote. She joined the lab in January 2023 and is working on better understanding lactobacillus-bacteriophage dynamics.
Grace Fuller
Hometown: Biloxi, Mississippi
Past Education: BS in Environmental Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi; MS in Agronomy with an emphasis in Weed Science from Mississippi State
As an undergraduate student at the University of Southern Mississippi, Grace performed a point-center quarter analysis of Ragland Hills, a mixed forest outside of Hattiesburg, MS. During her time as a graduate student at Mississippi State, she researched the allelopathic potential of chromosome substitution (CS) cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) lines. After receiving her master’s degree, she worked in the Biology Department of Mississippi State as a lab manager. There, Grace worked on transforming Elephant Grass (Miscanthus ssp.) to increase its efficacy as a bioenergy crop. Grace joined the lab in March 2023, and is interested in learning more about and developing genome editing tools.
Jiyong (Tim) Shin
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Past Education: BS Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyung Hee University, South Korea; MS Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Tim completed a Bachelor’s in Food Science and Biotechnology at Kyung Hee University in South Korea. As an undergraduate, his research focused on developing various amplification-based detection methods for lactic acid bacteria strains and allergens. Following that, he completed his MS in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His Master’s research was centered on developing CRISPR/Cas12a-based systems for detecting antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Tim joined the lab in August 2023 and is currently interested in the applications of the CRISPR-Cas system in probiotic bacteria.
Sydney Baker
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Education: AS, Wake Technical Community College; BS in Microbiology and Minor in Biotechnology, North Carolina State University
Sydney completed a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at North Carolina State University in 2024. She joined the CRISPR Lab in May 2023 as an undergraduate researcher and continued on as a Ph.D. student in July 2024. Sydney’s undergraduate research involved characterizing and testing CRISPR-Cas systems, as well as engineering a portable delivery mechanism for said systems. Now, she is interested in developing and testing genome editing tools, CRISPR-based and otherwise, for industrially relevant probiotic bacteria.
Ben Heckmann
Hometown: Leverkusen, Germany
Education: BS Bioprocessing Science, Minor in Biomanufacturing and Business Management, North Carolina State University
Ben completed a Bachelor’s in Bioprocessing Science at North Carolina State University. As an undergraduate, he studied the bioprospecting and cultivation of wild strains of yeast. He is currently working on his Master’s research pairing genetic and microbiological techniques to characterize wild Saccharomyces Cerevisiae during fermentation operations.
Undergraduate Students
Catherine Merigliano
Kevin Bolin
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Education: BS in Bioprocessing Science, BS in Food Science, Minor in Biomanufacturing , North Carolina State University
Kevin is working to complete his Bachelor’s Degree in Bioprocessing and Food Science. He joined the lab in June 2024 as an undergraduate researcher. He is interested in understanding CRISPR-Cas systems as a tool for genetic engineering in soil and probiotic bacteria.
