Dr. Nolwenn M Dheilly was hired at Stony Brook University (SBU) as an assistant Professor in 2015 as part of a multi-department cluster hire in Genomics. She is a faculty member of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS).
Before joining SBU, she served for 2,5 years as a Postdoctoral research associate at the UMR MIVEGEC (Infectious Diseases and Vectors : Ecology, Genetics, Evolution and Control) in Montpellier, France and at the UMR 2EI ( Ecology and Evolution of Interactions) in Perpignan, France, and for 1 year as a postdoctoral research associate at the UMR 100 Ifremer in Brest, France. She received her PhD from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia in 2010 studying sea urchins immune responses. General interests include the evolution of Host-parasite interactions. She is particularly interested in studying the evolution of the immune system, and the role of highly variable molecules in invertebrates. Other primary interests include symbiosis and the role of host- and parasite-associated microorganisms in resistance and virulence.
Follow @DheillyNM
email: nolwenn.dheilly@stonybrook.edu

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Megan A Hahn (PhD Student) initially joined the lab in 2015 to complete as a MS student but decided to stay a little longer. She studied Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She was involved in a project at Florida International University where she looked at the effects of nutrient enrichment on dark spot disease in the scleractinian Siderastrea siderea.  During a study abroad experience at James Cook University (Australia) she developed a new passion for the study of genomics and parasites, and upon returning to North Carolina she assisted with a project comparing the genetic and symbiotic make-up of select sponge species collected over a wide geographic range.  Her PhD thesis project focuses on the interaction between the parasite Schistocephalus solidus and microbes.  For this purpose, she is characterizing the cestode bacterial and viral microbiome, and how infection impact the microbiome of its Threespine stickleback host, Gasterosteus aculeatus.
Follow @Meg0593
email: megan.hahn@stonybrook.edu

Christopher Brianick (MS student) joined the lab in summer 2018. Previously, he studied Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources with a focus on fish parasites at Rutgers University. He completed two projects while at Rutgers, the first was on how parasites in anadromous Alewives vary during their life span. The second was focused on how parasite diversity varied along a river continuum. During this time he became deeply interested in parasite-host interactions and how parasites can influence host behavior, fitness, and evolution. His master’s thesis aims at understanding how hosts adapt to new selection pressures when they colonize a new environment where they are exposed to new parasites. For this purpose, he will characterize parasite infra-populations of parasites in Threespine Stickleback populations that have been recently introduced to lake habitat, and test host resistance to the highly prevalent cestode parasite Schistocephalus solidus.
email: christopher.brianick@stonybrook.edu

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Clara C Tucker (Undergraduate) joined the lab in 2016. A student in the Honors College, she is studying Biology at Stony Brook University. She is co-author on a research project aiming at characterizing at the response of earthworms (Eisenia fetida) to rubber crumble used in artificial turf fields (Chemosphere, 2017). She became interested in the intersection between biology and programming during her time in the lab, and she plans to pursue her passion in graduate school. Currently, she is investigating the combined effects of pH and temperature on the microbiome of Atlantic Silverside’s larvae (Menidia menidia) using 16S targeted sequencing.
email: clara.tucker@stonybrook.edu

Nita W Wong (Undergraduate) joined the lab in 2018. She is a Biochemistry and Spanish Language and Literature double major and a member of the Honors College at Stony Brook University’s class of 2021. Presently, she is characterizing the vertical and horizontal transmission and geographic distribution of three new virus species associated with the cestode parasite Schistocephalus solidus and its Threespine stickleback host.
email: nita.wong@stonybrook.edu

ALUMNI:

Stefanie Sforza (Undergraduate) spent a semester in the lab in 2018 as a freshman. She maintained copepod cultures, performed experimental infection with Schistocephalus solidus, and participated in the development of a method to maintain S. solidus procercoids in vitro for functional experiments.

Wilderness Obermann, (Undergarduate) graduated with honors in Spring 2017. In the lab, she investigated the effect of diel-cycling hypoxia on the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) response to prolonged hypoxic event

Karin Schweitzer, (Undergraduate) graduated in Spring 2016. In the lab, she investigated the effect of Threespine Stickleback infection by the cestode parasite Schistocephalus solidus on fish buoyancy. She is now a PhD student in SoMAS, under the supervision of Dr. Jackie Collier.