Caiti Smukowski Heil, PhD
Asst. Professor, NC State University
Prior to my gig as a new Assistant Professor at NC State, I was a PhD student at Duke University with Mohamed Noor and a postdoc at the University of Washington with Maitreya Dunham. Outside of the lab, you can find me hanging out with my family and my cats, Monkey & Business. I like listening to podcasts, yeast fermentations, and exploring the great outdoors.
Nathan Brandt
Lab Manager
Jessica McNeill
Lab Technician
Jessica joins the lab as a Research Technician and an NC State alumna, having graduated from the university in 2019 with a B.S. in Human Biology, a B.A. in Anthropology, and a passion for evolutionary science. Her current work supports research on the effects of environmental factors such as temperature on meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces yeasts. Outside the lab, Jessica enjoys doodling in her sketchbook, participating in public science outreach at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and exploring cool new places with her husband Morgan.
Elizabeth Moore, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Elizabeth joins the Heil, Irwin, and Dunn labs as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, studying the costs and benefits of mutualisms between nectar yeasts and bee pollinators. Prior to starting at NCSU, Elizabeth was a PhD student with Joel Kingsolver at UNC Chapel Hill, where she investigated the effects of climate change and high temperature stress on host-parasitoid interactions. Outside of the lab, Elizabeth is an avid equestrian who serves as a barn manager at JoyRide Equestrian, LLC. She spends most of her free time training her horse, exploring nature to find interesting insects to identify, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Enrique Schwarzkopf, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Enrique is a dry lab biologist interested in the role of recombination in the evolutionary process. Before joining the Heil lab, he was a PhD student at Washington State University in Omar Cornejo's lab.
Margot Ruffieux
PhD Student, Functional Genomics
Margot is studying domestication in Saccharomyces
Undergraduate Researchers
Lindsey Wilson
Lindsey is a senior working on characterizing local nectar yeasts.
Nico Sevier
Nico is a senior working on domestication of yeasts to baking environments.
Amani Petway
Amani is a sophomore working on beneficial hybridization.
You? We are recruiting PhD students!
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Former Lab Members
Alexxis Gutierrez, Undergraduate Researcher, 2021-22
Lauren Bailey, M.S. in Functional Genomics, 2020-22
Mili Jimenez, Undergraduate Researcher, 2021-22
Anna Cormack, Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-21
Amilcar Rodriguez, Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-21
Caiti Lahue, Technician in Dunn and Heil labs, 2019-21
Musa Malik, Undergraduate Researcher, 2019-20