Ileana Pérez-Rodríguez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator
e-mail: ileperez@sas.upenn.edu
EDUCATION
January 2012: Ph.D. Microbial Ecology – Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
June 2005: B.S. Biology – University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
LINKS
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WOeRqdkAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ileana_Perez-Rodriguez3
Abhijit Manna, Ph.D.
Research Associate
e-mail:manna123@sas.upenn.edu
EDUCATION
November 2018: Ph.D. Microbiology- Madurai Kamaraj University, India
September 2011: M.Sc. Microbiology- University of Burdwan, India
June 2009: B.S. Microbiology- University of Burdwan, India
LINKS
httphttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z3Bi-P4AAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Abhijit-Manna
Isabella Viney, M.Sc.
Research Specialist
e-mail: iviney@sas.upenn.edu
EDUCATION
2022: M.Sc. in Microbiology- University of Arizona
May 2019: B.S. in Biology- University of Pennsylvania
Qianhui Hua
Research trainee
e-mail: qianhuih@sas.upenn.edu
EDUCATION
August 2025: M.Sc. in Chemical Sciences- University of Pennsylvania
June 2022: B.S. in Chemistry- University of Delaware
Ricky Wang-Polendo
Undergraduate Researcher from Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research, and Hayden Scholar
e-mail: rwangp@seas.upenn.edu
EDUCATION
May 2027: B.S. in Bioengineering and Biology- University of Pennsylvania
NOTE: We are always happy to discuss undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate research opportunities available in the laboratory. Please contact Professor Pérez-Rodríguez for more information.
Crystal Glasper and Juan Agudelo (June 2025-August 2025)
Penn Research Experience for High School Students (for High School Students): Both students participated in (i) the cell quantification of steady-state microbial growth experiments of anaerobic hydrogenotrophic bacteria at different temperatures, and in (ii) phylogenomic analyses of subseafloor crustal cultures.
Maya Kreger (January 2023-May 2025)
Biology undergraduate researcher working on Senior Thesis titled “Microbiology of chemosynthetic Metal-Reducers from the Subseafloor Ocean Crust”.
*started as Ph.D. student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Fall of 2025
Leah Van Dyke (October 2021-May 2023)
EES/Biology undergraduate researcher working on Senior Thesis titled “Microbial physiologies of anaerobic primary producers from the crustal subseafloor of the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank”.
*started as Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the Fall of 2023
Jacob Cote (June 2022-August 2022)
Rotation project for the Cellular and Molecular Biology (CAMB) Ph.D. Program (within Microbiology, Virology and Parasitology): phylogenetic identification of chemosynthetic As(V) and Fe(III) reducing microorganisms from subseafloor crustal fluids of the Juan the Fuca Ridge flank.
Gabriel Gonsalves Bertho (October 2021-May 2022)
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering undergraduate researcher working on the cultivation of chemosynthetic Fe(III) reducers from the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank.
*started as Ph.D. student at Yale University in the Fall of 2023
Jessica Choi, Ph.D. (October 2017-October 2021)
Postdoctoral Research Projects: (i) microbe-mineral interactions between thermophilic chemolithoautotrophs and asbestos minerals, (ii) phylogenomic and cellular fatty acid analyses for Geothermobacter sp. strains EPR-M and HR-1, and (iii) enrichment and isolation of anaerobic hydrogenotrophs from subseafloor crustal fluids of the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank.
*started as postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan in October of 2021
Michael Samuel and Marina Morales (June 2021-August 2021)
Penn Learning Experiences in the Natural Sciences (LENS) Summer Program Project (for High School Students): Microbial cell sizes of anaerobic (nitrate, sulfur and carbon dioxide reducers) hydrogenotrophic microorganisms as a function of optimal growth temperature, optimal growth pH and optimal growth salinity conditions.
Eric Ellison (February 2019-May 2020)
Master of Environmental Studies (MES) Capstone Project: “Examining the physiological limits of deep-sea vent bacteria, Caminibacter mediatlanticus and Thermovibrio ammonificans, during hydrogenotrophic sulfur reduction”.
*started as Ph.D. student at Yale University in the Fall of 2020
Charlotte de Vaulx (January 2019-September 2019)
Wharton/EES undergraduate researcher working on Senior Thesis titled “Determining the bioenergetic landscape inhabited by Caminibacter mediatlanticus“.
*started as Master student at the University College London in the Fall of 2020
Isabella Viney (January 2018-August 2019)
Biology undergraduate working on biomass generation and collection, as well as nitrogen fixation confirmation studies, for Geothermobacter sp. strains EPR-M and HR-1.
*started as Master student at the University of Arizona in the Fall of 2020
Sabrina Elkassas (August 2017-December 2018)
EES Undergraduate Senior Thesis: “Enrichment and isolation of chemosynthetic bacteria for bioremediation of asbestos hazards”.
*started as Ph.D. student of the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in the Fall of 2020
