Meet Our Team
Principal Investigator
Flora Rutaganira
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and OF Developmental Biology
Flora received her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Davis and her Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from UC San Francisco under the mentorship of Prof. Kevan Shokat. In 2017, she became fascinated by choanoflagellates and joined the laboratory of Prof. Nicole King at UC Berkeley as an HHMI Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow. Based on her research on choanoflagellate kinase signaling in the King lab, Flora started her lab, the FUNR lab to study the origin of cell communication in animals at Stanford University in the departments of Biochemistry and Developmental Biology. She hopes that the work in her lab will uncover how molecule sensing was integrated with core signaling pathways during the evolution of animals, and uncover core principles of animal cell signaling.
Email: FUNR[at]stanford.edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
Julio Fierro Morales
Postdoc - Cell Biology
I study the role of choanoflagellate focal adhesions. I completed my PhD at the University of Utah in Biochemistry.
Email: julfi023[at]stanford.edu
Senior Research Staff
Guadalupe Peña
Life Sciences Professional
I am establishing microscopy techniques to probe phosphotyrosine signaling in choanoflagellates. I completed my PhD at UC Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology.
Email: gepena9[at]stanford.edu
Graduate Students
María Nguyễn
Biology
I study the role of Src signaling in choanoflagellate biology.
Email: marianguyen[at]stanford.edu
Jia Zheng Woo
Biochemistry
I study the functions of lectins in choanoflagellate biology.
My favorite protist: Symbiodinium
Email: jiazwoo[at]stanford.edu
Hannah Reeves
Biochemistry
I study the role of focal adhesion kinase in choanoflagellate biology.
Email: hlreeves[at]stanford.edu
Bri Johnson
Biology
I study molecules that regulate choanoflagellate-bacterial symbiosis.
Email: baj56[at]stanford.edu
Mariann Guzman-Espinoza
Developmental Biology
I study the role of Ableson tyrosine kinase in choanoflagellate biology.
Email: marianng[at]stanford.edu
Rotation Experiences
Stanford Graduate Students
We are not currently accepting new graduate students into the lab, but are open to providing opportunities for Stanford graduate students to research choanoflagellates during their rotation. Email Flora for more details.
Post-Baccalaureate Researchers
Iliana Hernandez
LIFE SCIENCES PROFESSIONAL
I am studying the ancestry of protooncogenes and tumor suppressors with choanoflagellates.
Email: ilianash[at]stanford.edu
Ronan Manning
Life Science Professional
I generate bioinformatic workflows for the FUNR Lab.
Email: rmanning[at]stanford.edu
Kennedi Scales
REACH POSTBAC SCHOLAR
I study the role of focal adhesions in choanoflagellates with Julio, and will also study the role of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 receptor tyrosine kinase (IGF-1R) in choanoflagellates.
Email: kennedi[at]stanford.edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Silvia Castillo Burgos
Stanford University - Class of 2027
I am a Human Biology major who studies how bacteria induce S. rosetta colony formation. I train new undergraduates in the FUNR lab on how to maintain research supplies.
Email: si1via[at]stanford.edu
Joncarlo Estrada
SAN MATEO COLLEGE
I am participating in the Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 Summer Community College Outreach Program (CCOP) and studying the role of Src signaling in S. rosetta with María.
Email: joncarlo[at]stanford.edu
Muzie Aden
Stanford University - Class of 2029
I am a freshman who recently joined the FUNR lab to maintain research supplies and work towards a project that quantitatively assesses choanoflagellate feeding in different conditions.
Email: muzamil[at]stanford.edu
Chelsea Salazar
Stanford University - Class of 2029
I am a freshman who recently joined the FUNR lab and am working with Bri to study choanoflagellate-bacterial symbiosis.
Email: csal0129[at]stanford.edu
Chandra Park
Stanford University - Class of 2029
I am a freshman who recently joined the FUNR lab to maintain research supplies and work towards a project that compares RNA transcripts in different choanoflagellate cell states.
Email: chanpark[at]stanford.edu
Former Team Members
Name (Position, Academic Year)
Emma Esterman (Graduate Student Rotation, 2023)
Nils Dormanns (Master’s Student, 2023-2024) – PhD candidate in Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Biophysics (Utrecht University)
Scott Berger (New Science PhD Fellow, 2022-2024)
Yeganeh Foroughijabbari (Master’s Student, 2024) – PhD student in Neuroscience (IPNP-Pairis)
Elionel Botello-Cornejo (Undergraduate in Stanford Summer Research Program, 2024) – PhD student in TETRAD (UC San Francisco)
Nora Carlos (CCOP Spring Undergraduate Intern, 2025)
Cole Lee (CCOP Summer Undergraduate Intern, 2025)
Viky Villanueva (ChEM-H Postbac, 2023-2025) – PhD Student in Chemistry (UC Santa Barbara)
Yvette Morales Porter (Life Science Research Professional, 2022-2025) – PhD Student in Microbiology (UC Davis)