Bobby Jones, PhD

Dr. Bobby Jones received a BS in Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2010, an MA in Biology from Fisk University in 2014, and a PhD in Microbiology from Meharry Medical College in 2021. Dr. Jones is performing his postdoctoral research under the mentorship of Samantha Giordano-Mooga, assistant professor in the School of Health Professions at UAB, developing curriculum-based strategies that will improve the resiliency of undergraduate students as well as combining classroom and basic science research to assess the stress and mental health of students. He has a strong passion for teaching students of all levels in the field of science and mentoring students both in class and in the laboratory.

Annesha King, PhD

Dr. Annesha King received her BS in Biology from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) and her Ph.D in Neurobiology from the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB). She joined the UAB IRACDA-MERIT Postdoctoral Scholars program in September 2021 to gain the training necessary to further develop her teaching, technical skills, and critical thinking, all of which are important for a successful future career as a professor.

Dr. King is currently under the mentorship of Dr. Nicole Riddle, whose research lab focuses on epigenetics, chromatin, and exercise Biology in Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). Dr. King's projects aim to: 1) determine if HP1a, HP1B, and HP1C form dimers at common binding sites and to elucidate whether there is a preference for hetero- or homodimerization and 2) investigate the importance of HP1 function in the genome by locating and mapping these various DNA interactions.

Dr. King is the current secretary and co-chair of professional development in the UAB Black Postdoctoral Association (BPDA). She will be teaching at Oakwood University under the guidance of her teaching mentor, Dr. Melissa Richardson. When she is not in lab, you can find her hiking, exploring new restaurants, watching horror or anime shows, and gardening.

Mariana Dupont, PhD

I am a Vision Scientist researcher with an interest in retinal vascular health and structure, particularly in individuals with Sickle cell Disease (SCD). I completed a Ph.D. in optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Currently, I am an IRACDA/MERIT postdoctoral fellow, a Program that provides Postdoctoral Scholars with outstanding research and teaching experiences while improving the recruitment of students from underrepresented groups into the field of biomedical research. During my six years of higher-level studies, I had the valuable opportunity to work with NASA experts as one of five individuals utilizing the advanced VESsel GENerational (VESGEN) software. This powerful tool enables the quantification of crucial vascular parameters within 2D vascular trees, networks, and tree-network composites.

My main research interest is focused on how differences in vascular changes as measured by VESGEN in individuals with SCD can be used to detect small changes in other areas of the body. SCD affects approximately 1 in 500 African American births and 1 in 3600 Latino births. Among those with SCD, proliferative retinal complications occur in about 70% of all individuals. Over 900 adults with SCD are treated annually at UAB. These adults have undergone routine laboratory, radiographic, and procedural evaluations as per standard of care over the last three decades, as care has improved for SCD. Additionally, many of these adults were treated as children at UAB. Thus, there is now a large patient cohort with varying phenotypes and genotypes from which to assemble a retrospective study. This work will be done in collaboration with the Kirklin Clinic at UAB and the UAB Eye Clinic research center. This retrospective study aims to examine retinal vascular changes using NASA-based software known as VESGEN to determine associations in patients with SCD. VESGEN will also be used to detect retinal vascular changes in SCD individuals in comparison to their genotype. SCD individuals with previously captured images taken during yearly examinations will be identified at the Sickle Cell Center located at the Kirkland Clinic.

Amanda Clark, PhD

Dr. Clark is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed a B.S. in Molecular Biology at UAB and a Ph.D. in Biology at Auburn University. Amanda is passionate about integrating computational thinking and data science into undergraduate biology education, the evolutionary dynamics of complex systems, and comparative multi-omics for human disease modeling.