Principal Investigator
Laura Buttitta
Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Laura obtained her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 2004. She then joined Dr. Bruce Edgar's lab as a postdoc at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. There she began using Drosophila as a model system to study cell cycle regulation. Laura's lab opened at UMich in Jan. 2011 and studies how the cell cycle is shut off in quiescent cells, such as differentiated or stem cells, using both Drosophila and mammalian cell systems.
Staff
Deena Damschroder PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Deena earned her B.A. in Biology from Arcadia University and her PhD from Wayne State University in 2021. She joined the Buttitta lab in November 2021 and is studying polyploidy in the adult Drosophila brain.
Elizabeth Fogarty PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Elizabeth received a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. She joined the Buttitta lab in November 2019 and is studying how developmental chromatin dynamics contribute to cell cycle exit.
Graduate Students
Navyashree Ramesh
Graduate Student
Navya is a PhD student in U. Michigan's Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology program. She joined the Buttitta Lab in April 2022, She is interested in studying the polyploidy and endocycling in the Accessory Glands of different species of Drosophila. She is also studying cell death and regeneration in the Drosophila Ejaculatory Duct and investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in this process.
Outside of lab Navya likes cooking, Hiking & partying.
S. Jaimian Church
Graduate Student
Jaimian earned his bachelor's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan in 2017. He then joined the Buttitta lab as a Master's student and completed his MA degree in April 2019. Jaimian is now a PhD student in our MCDB program and is studying the Drosophila accessory gland as a model for prostate cancer.
Elli Buchert
Graduate Student
Elli received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan in 2012, and her M.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Eastern Michigan University in 2016. Elli joined the Buttitta Lab in April 2019 and is studying Gene Regulatory Networks in the Drosophila wing
Ariana Afrakteh
Masters Student
Ariana is working with Allison on the Drosophila accessory gland. She completed her MCDB Bachelors in May 2022 and is now working toward her Masters in Biomedical Engineering at U. Michigan.
Undergraduates
Joseph Dixon
Undergraduate
Joe is working with Jaimian and Allison to examine gene expression and cell growth in the Drosophila Accessory Gland.
Ava Nicely
Undergraduate
Ava is working with Elli & Liz to examine gene expression patterns in the Drosophila pupal wing. Ava is a Biology, Health, and Society (BHS) major with a minor in Spanish.
Tom
Mascot
Tom is our lab mascot. An ancient writing tool unearthed by the "Kraus" archaeology expedition in 2018. Tom reminds us of how we really should be writing....
