
Who we are
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Dr. Catherine (Cathy) A. Hernandez
Principal Investigator
​Bio: Before starting at USC in Jan. 2026, Cathy completed her PhD in the Koskella lab at UC Berkeley in 2021, studying coevolution between phages and the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. She did her postdoctoral training from 2021-2025 in the Turner lab at Yale University, pivoting to marine phage-host interactions.

Sarah McNesby
Post-bac​
Graduation Year: TBD​​​​
Major: TBD
Minor: TBD
Research Interests: TBD

Aniyah Henderson
Undergraduate​
Graduation Year: 2029​​​​
Major: Accelerated M.S. in Biological Sciences
Minor: Environmental Studies
Research Interests: Prophage effects on environmental and human health

Hannah Kaplan
Undergraduate​
Graduation Year: 2027​​​​
Major: Biological Sciences
Minor: Anthropology
Research Interests: Prophage identification and prediction in bacterial genomes

Emily Peterson
Undergraduate​
Graduation Year: 2026​​​​
Major: Biological Sciences
Research Interests: Bacterial phage defense systems

Mary Ann Zyglocke
Undergraduate​
Graduation Year: 2028​​​​
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry
Research Interests: Bacteriophage ecology and evolution

Lab Mascots
Mia and Josie
Year: 8 and 2​​​​
Major: Animal Nutrition
Minor: Insect Behavior
Research Interests: The physics of toy springs