PhD students
Katie Martin
Katie received a B.S. in biology from Fairfield University, where she worked extensively with sea turtles, and an M.A. in evolutionary biology from Stony Brook University. While at SBU, she studied the evolutionary patterns of antimicrobial peptides in bats as related to the incidence of white-nose syndrome. During her Ph.D., Katie plans to use genomics and transcriptomics to investigate the evolution of sea turtle immune systems and disease resistance. She is broadly interested in disease ecology and conservation.
Twitter: @KaptainRose
Personal research website
Erin received a B.S in Marine Science-Biology from the University of Tampa where she explored the metabolic effects of the amphibian disease chytridiomycosis on the invasive Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis). Following graduation Erin spent four years at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory working in cancer biology before returning to study amphibian disease ecology once again. Erin’s other primary research interests include conservation biology, genetics and ecological physiology. In her Ph.D Erin plans on studying the disease dynamics of a novel protist in the Perkinsea phylum and the iridovirus Ranavirus sp. on native and invasive amphibian hosts.
Jenna Palmisano
Email: Jenna.Palmisano@ucf.edu
Jenna received her BS from Stetson University where she was involved in ecological research and environmental activism. For four years now, she has assisted a cohort of PhDs with studies of snake fungal disease in dusky pygmy rattlesnake populations. Jenna also worked at Medtoxin Venom Laboratory for several years to expand her knowledge of herpetofauna and venomous snake handling. Before returning to disease ecology and the southeast, Jenna traveled to the southwest to study the urban ecology of tiger rattlesnakes and Gila monsters in AZ and to detect Gila monster presence in southwestern NM. Now back in FL, her research focuses on the invasive pentastome parasite, Raillietiella orientalis, which primarily exploits snakes as definitive hosts. In the Savage Lab, Jenna will focus on assessing the pressures of R. orientalis on native herpetofauna by characterizing the disease landscape of R. orientalis and using molecular techniques to understand how the hosts respond to pentastomiasis (the disease caused by R. orientalis).
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