Lab members
Marta Maria Gaglia (she/her) – associate professor, Institute for Molecular Virology and Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology; member, Carbone Cancer Center
Marta grew up in Torino, Italy, and lived in Trieste, Italy and London, UK, before moving across the pond to do her graduate studies with Cynthia Kenyon at UCSF and her postdoctoral training with Britt Glaunsinger at UC Berkeley. After ~11 years in California, she moved to Boston to start her own lab at Tufts University School of Medicine in 2014. She and the lab moved to Madison and University of Wisconsin in fall 2022. In her free time, she reads fantasy and mystery novels, plays board games, makes paper flowers, does yoga and goes on snorkeling holidays.
Rae Daly – postdoctoral researcher; previously graduate student in the CMDB program at Tufts University
Cynthia Feng – graduate student in the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program at UW-Madison
Cynthia relocated to Madison from Canada, where she grew up in Mississauga and completed her undergrad and Master’s studies at McGill University in Montreal. She spent a few years working in curriculum development for undergraduate science students and in medical communications for healthcare industries before pursuing a PhD in the Gaglia Lab studying influenza virus. Outside of the lab, Cynthia is enjoying exploring her new city through indie bookstores, weekend brunch, hiking trails, and live concerts.
Jack Foster – UW-Madison undergraduate intern
From a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, Jack is studying biology and data science at UW Madison. While this picture is an exception, one can always catch him wearing Boston team merchandise as he loves repping his city. He is currently working in Gaglia Lab with Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and its effects on viral defense. In his free time, Jack loves to run, play video games, and listen to music.
Charles Hesser – postdoctoral researcher
Charles grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended UC San Diego for his BS and MS degrees before moving to UC Berkeley for his doctoral research, where he studied Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus lytic reactivation with Britt Glaunsinger. He then moved to Northwestern University in Chicago for his postdoctoral training with Derek Walsh studying how vaccinia virus counteracts host antiviral responses. In October 2023, he moved to Madison to continue his postdoctoral training in the Gaglia Lab. In his free time, he enjoys swimming, biking, hiking, going to the gym, and reading/watching detective series.
Machika Kaku – graduate student in the Immunology program at Tufts University
Machika grew up in Southern California but moved to Pittsburgh in search of better weather in 2013. There, she received a degree in biology from Carnegie Mellon University while finding a passion for researching immunology and proteomics in Jon Minden’s lab. For one summer, she worked at Allergan where she studied the pharmacokinetics of a therapeutic antibody to treat age-related macular degeneration. After graduating, she worked at Immunetrics for 6 months collecting cytokine data from literature to help model the drug kinetics of autoimmune therapeutics. She moved to Boston for a PhD at Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2017. In John Coffin’s lab, she studied the role of HIV genomic integration sites in relation to host cell longevity. She currently resides in the idyllic paradise of Madison where she studies interferon regulation by Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus in Marta Gaglia’s lab. She enjoys roaming spacious greenways with her dog, as well as biking, cooking, running, and painting her nails.
Deepak Kumar – scientist I
Deepak comes from Rishikesh, a small town located in the foothills of the Himalaya in India. He attended GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar for his BVSc & AH and MS in Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology. He then worked as a faculty in Veterinary Public Health at College of Veterinary Science, Tripura University and Pantnagar University in India. Prior to his PhD, he worked on characterizing antimicrobial resistance in foodborne bacterial pathogens. He then moved to Kansas State University (KSU) to pursue his PhD with Dr. Douglas Marthaler studying swine viruses and viral phylogenetics. His PhD research focused on developing recombinant protein based indirect ELISAs and investigating antibody response to Rotavirus A and C in swine. He continued his postdoctoral training at KSU characterizing Japanese encephalitis virus antigens for swine vaccine and reverse genetics system for African swine fever virus. In Gaglia lab, he works with Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV). His hobbies include fishing, playing volleyball and spending time with his kids.
Guillermo Najarro (he/him) – postdoctoral researcher
Guillermo was born and raised in California. He is a first-generation Salvadoran college graduate who received his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Merced. Right after college, he pursued and obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Specifically, his PhD work in Dr. Carolina Arias’s group focused on exploring the modulation of the cells’ Unfolded Protein Response in the context of Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Marta Gaglia’s lab, where he continues his training as a virologist. His hobbies include gaming, music, reading, walking, gym, and writing.
Alessandra Setaro – graduate student in the Immunology program at Tufts University
Ali grew up in Connecticut and obtained a BA in biology with a minor in public health from Boston University. During college, Ali studied the pathway of maternal serotonin to the embryo and fetus under Dr. Harvey Kliman in the Reproductive and Placental Research Unit. After graduating from college, Ali was a research assistant in Dr. Michael Seaman’s lab in the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, working on clinical trials for HIV/AIDS vaccines and therapies, as well as COVID-19 vaccines. Pursuing an interest in viruses and host pathogen interactions, Ali joined the Gaglia Lab to explore the role of the influenza protein PA-X on the host innate immune response, and moved with Marta to UW. In their free time, Ali enjoys visiting botanical gardens, going to museums, and learning new recipes.
Lia Sweeney – UW-Madison undergraduate intern
Lia is originally from Northern California. She is a sophomore microbiology student at UW-Madison.
Alumni
Timothy Bond – MSc student, now medical student at Tufts University
Matthew Butnaru – PhD student, now staff scientist at Harvard University
Veronica Canarte – undergraduate student, now PhD student at Emory
Jorge Cervera – undergraduate student, now MSc student at Copenhagen Business School
Sarah Dupont – undergraduate student, now program director at Greater New Bedford Community Health Center
Léa Gaucherand – PhD student, now postdoc at University of Strasbourg
Isabel Gilabert – undergraduate student
Saw Htun – MSc student, now research assistant at Stanford University
Amrita Iyer – undergraduate student, now clinical research coordination at MGH
Justin Kusiel – MSc student, now resident at Medical University of South Carolina
Kathryn Lasseter – research assistant, now lab operations & safety manager, Northeastern University
Rachel Lent – PhD student and postdoc, now scientist at TScan Therapeutics
Rachel Levene – PhD student, now scientist at Enanta
Claudia Mañán-Mejías – postbac student, now PhD student at Tufts University
Mayra Miranda – undergraduate student, now finishing undergraduate degree at Cornell University
Alvaro Monago Sanchez – undergraduate student, now PhD student at Universidad Francisco Vitoria
Idalia Myasnikov – research assistant
Leo Palmer – undergraduate student, now working at Organogenesis
Keyera Randolph – undergraduate student, now PhD student at UTSW
Rachel Richards – undergraduate student, now PhD student at UPenn
Hembly Rivas – postbac student, now PhD student at Harvard University
Summer Schmaling – research assistant, now research assistant at Brown University
Nishali Shah – undergraduate student, now medical student at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Tate Tabtieng – PhD student and postdoc, now scientist at Generate Biomedicines
Collaborators
Denys Khaperskyy – Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Craig McCormick – Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada