Address
Department of Biology
Emory University
1510 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30322
U.S.A.

 

Office and lab numbers
Office:   1017 Rollins Research Center
Phone:  404.727.0817
Lab:       1081 Rollins Research Center
Phone:  404.727.7019
Fax:       404.727.2880

 

Emails
Todd:   tschlen@emory.edu
Nate:   nmortim@learnlink.emory.edu
Neil:     nmilan@emory.edu
Erin:     ekeebau@emory.edu
Sophia:   yzhan52@emory.edu

People

Todd Schlenke, PI
Todd received his B.A. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley
and his Ph.D. in Zoology from UT Austin.  He was a postdoc at
UC Davis and an NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellow at Cornell
University.  He is now an assistant professor at Emory University. 
The Schlenke lab studies the evolutionary genetics of rapidly
evolving traits in Drosophila, such as immunity against pathogens
and resistance to insecticides.

Nate Mortimer, Postdoc
Nate received his B.S. in Biology and his Ph.D. in Genetics and
Molecular Biology from Emory University.  He is identifying and
characterizing parasitic wasp venom proteins, as well as
designing a genetic screen for identifying self-encapsulation
loci.

Kate Hutchence, Postdoc
Kate received her M.Biol.Sci. in Zoology from the University of
Sheffield and her Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from the University
of Liverpool. She is using the Drosophila Genetic Referenece
Panel to map natural genetic variation in hemocyte load and wasp
resistance.

Neil Milan, Graduate Student
Neil received his B.S. in Environmental Biology and Management
from UC Davis.  He is working on the horizontal transfer of
transposable elements between flies and their parasitic wasps,
and the role of plant secondary compounds on fly immune
competence.

Erin Keebaugh, Graduate Student
Erin received her B.S. in Genetics from UGA.  She is studying the
molecular biology and evolution of candidate genes in Drosophila’s
immune response against parasitic wasps.

Lita Bozler, Masters Student
Lita received her B.S. in Conservation Biology from Arizona State. 
She is studying the role of a transposable element insertion in
Drosophila simulans' resistance against DDT and other insecticides.

Balint Kacsoh, Undergraduate/Masters Student
Balint is an undergraduate at Emory in the joint Biology Dept
BS/MS program. He is studying the phylogenetic origins of
melanotic encapsulation as well as the host ranges of our
parasitic wasp strains.

Rahul Paul, Undergraduate Student
Rahul is an undergraduate at Emory. He is mapping the insertion
site of a P-element mutation in D. melanogaster that causes flies
to be completely susceptible to parasitic wasp infection.

Susanna Brantley, Undergraduate Student
Susanna is an undergraduate at Emory. She is studying the role of
the JAK/STAT signalling pathway in the D. melanogaster immune
response against parasitic wasps.

Sophia Zhang, Lab Technician
Alice received her B.S. in Sports Medicine from Xian University
and her M.S. in Information Technology from American
Intercontinental University.  She keeps the lab a well-oiled
machine.

Lab Alumni

• Idrees Syed was an undergraduate student who joined us for the Summer of 2010 from from UPenn to work on the
  energetic cost of immune responses against wasps.
  
• Ethan Silverman was an undergraduate at Emory who worked in the lab from 2008-2009 to generate visible mutations
  in wasps for use in genetic mapping.
• Amit Bery was an undergraduate at Emory who worked in the lab from 2007-2010 to identify the pathogens that
  naturally infect D. melanogaster populations in the Atlanta area.
• Mark Luskus was an undergraduate student who joined us for the Summer of 2008 from Kenyon College as part of the
  Emory SURE program, to work on karyotyping wasps.
• Cuong Nguyen was an undergraduate student who joined us for the Summer of 2007 from Marta Wayne’s lab at the
  University of Florida, to work on wasp microscopy.
• Stephanie Weldon was an undergraduate at Emory who worked in the lab from 2006-2007 as part of the SIRE program,
  on developmental rates in wasps.
  

Joining the lab

Postdocs
Potential postdocs are encouraged to contact Todd.  We anticipate having funding for another postdoc, although
interested applicants should also be ready to apply for their own funding, such as the NIH NRSA and NSF fellowships.

Graduate students
Emory graduate students considering rotations and potential graduate students interested in coming to Emory
should contact Todd.  At Emory, professors live in departments while graduate students live in programs.  Todd is a
member of the Biology Department and is affiliated with the PBEE (population biology, ecology, and evolution) and
GMB (genetics and molecular biology) Programs, which are administered through the GDBBS (graduate division of
biological and biomedical sciences).  The application deadline for admission to Emory graduate programs occurs
around January 3rd of each year - the application page can be found here.

Undergraduate students
There are frequently positions available for undergraduate students to conduct research in the Schlenke lab. 
Potential undergraduate researchers should email Todd a description of their science background and interests
and should be able to contribute at least ten hours a week to the lab.

Resources
Emory has abundant resources and a great collaborative research environment.  The Schlenke lab takes advantage
of Emory’s DNA sequencing and proteomics core facilities, as well as the PBEE, GMB, and Biology Department
seminar series.  We are also part of  the Emory Fly Group (totaling about 10 labs, including our lab neighbor,
Yun Tao) and the Invertebrate Host-Parasite Interaction Club (which includes two other Emory professors working
on insect-parasite interactions, Nicole Gerardo and Jaap de Roode, as well as faculty from Georgia Tech).