Meet Our Team
Principal Investigator
Flora Rutaganira
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and 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 (from Flora’s government name: Florentine Uwamahoro Novotny Rutaganira) 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
Fellows & Senior Scientists
Lupe Pena
Senior Staff Scientist
I am establishing expansion microscopy techniques for choanoflagellates. I completed my PhD at UC Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology.
Email: gepena9[at]stanford.edu
Open Positions
Postdocs
We have positions open for postdocs.
Email Flora (FUNR[at]stanford.edu) to schedule a meeting.
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 choanoflagellate-bacterial symbiosis.
Email: baj56[at]stanford.edu
Post-Baccalaureate Researchers
Yvette Morales
Life Sciences professional
I am identifying new molecules that induce choanoflagellate development.
Email: ymorales[at]stanford.edu
Iliana Hernandez
Life Sciences assistant
I am studying the ancestry of protooncogenes and tumor suppressors with choanoflagellates.
Email: ilianash[at]stanford.edu
Viky Villanueva
CHEM-H/IMA Postbac
I am generating SH2 probes to study phosphotyrosine signaling in choanoflagellates.
Email: vikyvill[at]stanford.edu
I am developing selectable transgenic markers in choanoflagellates.
Undergraduate Researchers
Ronan Manning
MAcalester College
I am annotating choanoflagellate genes using orthogroup inference.
Email: rmanning[at]stanford.edu
Open Positions
Undergraduate researchers
We have positions open for summer undergraduate researchers participating in the Stanford Summer Research Program.
Email Flora (FUNR[at]stanford.edu) to schedule a meeting.
Rotation Students
Former Team Members
Name (Position, Academic Year)
Emma Esterman (Graduate Student Rotation, 2023)
Nils Dormanns (Master’s Student, 2023-2024)
Yeganeh Foroughijabbari (Master’s Student, 2024)
Elionel Botello-Cornejo (Undergraduate in Stanford Summer Research Program, 2024)