Selected Witman Lab Alumni

Previous Graduate Students

K. Kevin Pfister, Ph.D.
Thesis title: The outer arm dynein ATPases of Chlamydomonas
Ph.D. received: January, 1984 (Department of Biology, Princeton University)
Present position: Professor Emeritus, Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA.

Diane Casey, Ph.D.
Thesis title: Molecular structure of the outer dynein arm docking complex
NIH Predoctoral Fellow: September, 2000 to August, 2003
NSF-Japan Monbusho Summer Program: June, 2001 to August, 2001
Award: Dean’s Award, UMass Chan Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences 
Ph.D. received: May, 2003 (Department of Cell Biology, UMass Chan)
Present position: Medical Scientific Champion at the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada.

Maureen Blomberg-Wirschell, Ph.D. 
Graduate student: March, 1999 – February, 2004 (Witman lab)
Thesis title: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ODA5
Ph.D. received: February, 2004
Present position: Research Scientist, Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO.

Yuqing Hou, Ph.D.
Graduate student: June, 2001 – February 2007 (Witman lab)
Thesis title: Genetic analysis of intraflagellar transport
Award: Zelda Haidak Memorial Scholar, Dept. Cell Biology, UMass Chan 2003-2004
Present position: Instructor, Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Dept. Radiology, UMass Chan.

Previous Postdoctoral Trainees

Stephen M. Penningroth, Ph.D.
NIH Postdoctoral Trainee: April, 1977 July, 1978
Present Position: Executive Director, Community Science Institute, Inc., Trumansburg, NY, and Consultant, Cornell University

Cerli Rocha Gattass, Ph.D.
Visiting Research Fellow: December, 1977 December, 1980
Present Position: Tenured faculty member, Institute of Biophysics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Charlotte K. Omoto, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: October, 1979 September, 1980
NIH NRSA Fellow: October, 1979 September, 1980
Present position: Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA

Sumio Ishijima, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: April, 1984 - March 1986
Present position: Tenured faculty member, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

Timothy Otter, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: August, 1983 August, 1986
NIH NRSA Fellow: August, 1983 - December, 1984
NIH NIRA: April, 1985 - August 1986
Recent academic position: Buchanan Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Albertson College of Idaho, Caldwell, ID
Current position: Vice President for Life Sciences, Crowley David Research, Eagle, ID

Harold J. Hoops, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: June, 1982 August, 1987
NIH NRSA Fellow: June, 1982 May, 1985
NIH NIRA: June, 1985 August, 1987
Present position: James and Julia Lockhart Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo, Geneseo, NY

Jean Luc Gatti, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: January, 1987 - April, 1989
Present position: Charge de Recherche (Tenured Research Scientist), Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Monnaie, France

Anthony G. Moss, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: June, 1986 - September, 1992
NIH NRSA Fellow: March, 1988 - February, 1990
Present position: Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Stephen M. King, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: March, 1983 - October, 1993
Present position: Professor, Department of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, University of Connecticut Health Science Center, Farmington, CT

Cynthia J. Horst, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: September, 1989 - June, 1994
NIH NRSA Fellow: May, 1991 - April, 1993
Present position: Associate Professor with tenure, Department of Biology, and
former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Carroll College, Waskesha, WI

Anthony Koutoulis, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: March, 1994 to January, 1996
Present position: Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, University of Tasmania, Australia

Curtis G. Wilkerson, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: July, 1989 to March 1998
Present position: Associate Professor in Systems Biology and Director of Proteomics Facility, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Gregory J. Pazour, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: August, 1991 to July, 1997
NIH NRSA Fellow: April, 1992 to March, 1995
Instructor of Cell Biology: July, 1997 to July, 1999
Research Assistant Prof. of Cell Biology: July, 1999 to June, 2002
Present position: Professor, Program in Molecular Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA

Jovenal San Agustin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: September, 1989 to April, 1998
Instructor of Cell Biology: April, 1998 – June, 2006
Present position: Retired

Saeko Takada, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  September 1995 to February, 1996 (WFBR)
Instructor:  May, 2006 to October, 2006 (UMass Chan)
Present position:  Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Karl Lechtreck, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: October, 2004 to January, 2006 
Research Assistant Prof. of Cell Biology: February, 2006 to July, 2011 
Present position: Associate Professor, Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.

Antonio Castillo-Flores, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow: January, 2008 – August, 2011
Present position: Research Scientist at GeBiS (Genomic Biomarkers Systems), The University of Melbourne, Australia

Jason M. Brown, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  August, 2008 – August, 2014
NIH NRSA Fellow:  July, 2009 – July, 2011
Present position:  Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Salem State U., Salem, MA

Tomohiro Kubo, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  April, 2013 – February, 2016
Fellowship:  Uehara Memorial Foundation Research Fellowship, April 2013 – March 2014
Present position:  Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy & Structural Biology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan

Junya Awata, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  October, 2005 – March, 2016
Present Position:  Research Associate, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University, Boston, MA

Branch Craige, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  August, 2007 – February, 2015
NIH NRSA Fellow:  March, 2009 – March, 2011
Instructor:  March, 2015 – July, 2018
Present Position:  Research Scientist, Dept. of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Tyler Picariello, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  January, 2015 – August, 2019
Present Position:  Senior Scientist, Dyne Therapeutics, Waltham, MA

Lei Zhao, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow:  October, 2016 – October, 2019
Present Position:  Principal Investigator, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China