Garima Saxena is pursuing a PhD in biology in Dr. Stevens Brumbley’s lab at the University of North Texas. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in zoology from Mumbai University, India, with first class honors. She also has a master’s degree in environmental science from Mumbai University, India. She then worked for two years as a research assistant in the Department of Zoology, University of Mumbai, India before joining Dr. Brumbley’s lab. She is looking for incidences of horizontal gene transfer in algae by using bioinformatics and molecular biology approaches which include entropy based segmentation, agglomerative clustering and natural transformation experiments. She can be contacted at GarimaSaxena@my.unt.edu.

Najwa Alharbi is a graduate student at the University of North Texas, Denton. She obtained her bachelor's degree and  master’s degree from King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi Arabia, in microbiology . Her master’s thesis was focused on the production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) by Azotobacter species and studying factors affecting PHBs production and degradation. She also reported using waste materials like apple peels, orange peels, and shrimp chitin, as carbon sources to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Najwa can be contacted at nooooga@hotmail.com.

Saifun Nahar obtained her bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. She obtained her master’s degree from the same university with a GPA of 3.85 (out of 4). She has done previous research in microbiology at the University of Chittagong, under the supervision of Dr. Abul Manchur.  This research was focused on antimicrobial metabolites produced by soil bacteria. She started pursuing a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology in the spring of 2014, in Dr. Stevens Brumbley’s lab at the University of North Texas. She is working on the production of novel polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) in transgenic sugarcane. She can be contacted at saifunnahar@my.unt.edu or ripasaifun@yahoo.com.

Adiji Olubu is a graduate student in Dr. Stevens Brumbley’s lab at the University of North Texas. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, with first class honors. After graduating, he worked for one year as a graduate assistant in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, before deciding to pursue a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at UNT. He is looking for a means of bio-controlling the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus using transgenesis and paratransgenesis strategies. He can be contacted at AdijiOlubu@my.unt.edu.

Trever Huffer has an associate’s degree of applied sciences from Collin College in Plano, Texas. Trever graduated in December 2013 with a bachelor’s in chemistry and biology and a minor in Spanish from the University of North Texas. He started pursuing a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology in the spring of 2014, under the supervision of Dr. Stevens Brumbley. Trever worked as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Brumbley’s lab since October 2011. Trever’s current research focuses on the development of an efficient and reliable system to produce commercially valuable transgenic algae for the production of industrial chemicals. Trever can be contacted at TreverHuffer@my.unt.edu.

Das Petranova graduated from the University of North Texas in May 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus on plants, magna cum laude. Since graduating, Das has worked in Dr. Brumbley’s lab and Dr. Ayre’s lab as a lab technician, bringing with her 12 years of practical plant experience. Das is pursuing a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry in Dr. Brumbley’s lab at UNT. As a researcher, Das is focused on biopolymer production in commercially useful plants. This includes the creation of a laboratory model for C4 grasses. Das is also the president of the UNT Botanical Society. Das can be contacted at KristinBeuke@my.unt.edu.