Group Members

Jae Young Choi (PI)

Jae is an Assistant Professor in Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and was a postdoc at New York University. Jae is interested in combining population and functional genomics to understand the evolution and function of the natural variation observed within plant populations.

Email: jaeyoung.choi@ku.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Surbhi Kumawat (Postdoctoral researcher)

Surbhi received her Ph.D. from Panjab University studying the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and conducted plant phenomics study to investigate the effects of silicon supplementation in presence of heavy metal stress. She is a plant functional geneticist who combines quantitative genetics and genome editing to understand the molecular basis of plant traits. Check out a recent profile of Surbhi from ASPB on the 25 Most Inspiring Women in Plant Biology

Email: surbhi@ku.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Naseem Samo (Postdoctoral researcher)

Naseem conducted her Ph.D. research in the Laboratory of Epigenetics at the Institute of Plant Molecular Biology of the Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences and received her PhD from the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic. Her research focused on understanding the role of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) in the transition from seed to seedling. She integrated state-of-the-art sequencing technologies with laboratory experiments to investigate the mechanistic basis of developmental and metabolic transitions during early seedling development. In addition, she implemented CRISPR/Cas9 to manipulate PRC2-regulated pathway genes and explore the significance of PRC2-mediated repression in facilitating the vegetative transition of emerging seedlings.

Contact: samonaseem@ku.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Askhan Shametov (Graduate student)

Khan is a Ph.D. graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He received a MSc from the University of Minnesota. He is interested in understanding the genomic basis of ecological and morphological diversification of Metrosideros across the Hawaiian islands. Ultimately interested in elucidating the evolutionary mechanisms of adaptive radiation allows us to understand how biological diversity arise and promote sustainable conservation strategies.

Contact: a269s268@ku.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Linh Nguyen (Graduate student)

Linh is a M.A. graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She received a B.S. in Biology and Data Analytics from Denison University. She is interested in studying telomere variations and plant evolution from the genomic perspective.

Contact: l233n428@home.ku.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Joyce Cortez (Undergraduate student)

Joyce is a undergraduate student majoring in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology (BS) and Environmental Studies (BS). Joyce is currently working at the Choi Lab as part of the KU Center for Undergraduate Research program. Joyce is researching the phenotypic consequence of telomeric variation in Monkeyflowers.

Contact: joycecortez@ku.edu

Kate Hirschfeld (Undergraduate student)

Christine Nguyen (Undergraduate student)

Cole Crenshow (Undergraduate student)

Thomas Bernas (Undergraduate student)

Minhee Koo (Undergraduate student)

Lab alumni

Stephanie Sage: Lab technician (2023-2024)
Audrey Combs (Colorado College): Summer REU student (2024)