People

Lab Photo 2026

Principle Investigator

Adler R. Dillman Professor & Chair, Department of Nematology, UCR Joined UCR faculty in February, 2015 Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford, 2013-2014 PhD, Caltech, 2012 BSc, Brigham Young University, 2006 adlerd@ucr.edu

 

Postdoctoral Scholars

Manisha Mishra PhD, Academy of Science and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India, 2016 MSc, Academy of Science and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India, 2008 manisha.nbri@gmail.com

 

Graduate Students

Connor Goldy Microbiology, UCR BSc, UCR, 2022 cgold019@ucr.edu

Lanie Bavier Microbiology, UCR BSc, UCR, 2024 lbavi001@ucr.edu

Janice Montoya Biology, UCR jmont181@ucr.edu

Robert Pena Biomedical Sciences, UCR BSc, UCR, 2024 robert.pena@email.ucr.edu

 

Visiting Students

Undergraduate Students

Joseph Nguyen, Biology, UCR

Fayez Eyabi Biology, UCR fayez.eyabi@email.ucr.edu

 

 

Previous Trainees

Perla Achi Former Graduate Student PhD, Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, UCR, 2026 Perla Achi is currently a postdoc at UCR in Niels Groen’s Lab.

Pakeeza Azizpor Former Graduate Student PhD, Microbiology UCR, 2026 Pakeeza Azizpor is currently a postdoc at Stanford in Matthias Garten’s Lab.

Kyle Anesko Former Graduate Student PhD, Environmental Toxicology UCR, 2025

Aklima Lima Former Graduate Student PhD, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UCR, 2024.

Ogadinma K. Okakpu Former Graduate Student PhD, Biomedical Sciences, UCR, 2023. He is currently a Research Scientist with BPS Bioscience in San Diego, CA.

Jake Schurkman Former Graduate Student PhD, Microbiology, UCR, 2022. He is currently a Research Scientist with Maine Molecular Quality Controls Inc (MMQI) in Saco, ME.

Sophia Parks Former Graduate Student PhD, Environmental Toxicology, UCR, 2021. She is currently a Group Leader at a Hospital Research Facility.

Dennis Chang Former Graduate Student PhD, Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, UCR, 2019. He is currently a Technical Application Scientist with Thermo Fisher Scientific in San Diego, CA.

Tiffany Baiocchi Former Graduate Student PhD, Biochemistry, UCR, 2019. She is currently an Associate Professor at Los Medanos College in California.

 

Lab Alumni

Postdoctoral Fellows
-Anil Baniya – Postdoctoral researcher 2021-2025. He wanted to resume his focus on plant-parasitic nematodes and decided to join Bao Lam Huynh’s lab at UCR as a postdoc in 2025.
-Harpal S. Dhillon – Postdoctoral researcher 2020-2023. He left our lab to accept a position as a Research Scientist at Corteva Agriscience.
-Dihong Lu – Postdoctoral researcher 2015-2020. He is a stay-at-home dad, working to start his own company in Boston.
-Sudarshan Aryal – Postdoctoral researcher 2015-2017. He is currently a Senior Scientist in Nematology at Syngenta.

Senior Scientists
-Irma De Ley – Senior Scientist 2019-2023. She has retired.
-Chunji Li – (Associate Professor) Visiting scholar from Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. 2018-2019.
-Rasa Cepulyte-Rakauskien – Visiting scholar from Nature Research Centre, Institute of Ecology, Laboratory of Chemical and Behavioral Ecology, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2018.
-Keyun Zhang – (Associate Professor) Visiting scholar from Nanjing Agricultural University, China. 2016-2017.

Graduate Students (former trainees listed above)
-Pierluigi Perfetto – University of Bari, Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences (DiSSPA), Italy. 2024-2025
-Jiranun Ardpairin – Royal Golden Jubilee PhD Program, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Thailand, 2023.
-Chanakan Subkrasae – Royal Golden Jubilee PhD Program, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Thailand, 2021-2022.
-Sara Elias – Visiting PhD student, Department of Experimental Biology, Masaryk University, Czech Republic, 2021-2022.
-Chaitra Bhat – Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, 2021.
-Ericka Agredano- Rotating PhD. Candidate, Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, UCR 2020.
-Swatadipta Chakroborty- Rotating PhD. Candidate, Biochemistry, UCR 2019.
-Todd Lenz – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics, UCR 2018.
-Sally Padayao – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UCR 2018.
-Jordan Lillibridge – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology, UCR 2017.
-Tynan Young – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UCR 2016.
-Jacob MacWilliams – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UCR 2016.
-Angela Reinert – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics, UCR 2015.
-Mateo Espinosa – Rotating PhD. Candidate, Microbiology, UCR 2015.

Undergraduate Students
-Rose Adrianza – (Biology, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2023-2024.
-Nandini Mannem – (Neurobiology, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2023-2024.
-Diego Chavez – (Cell, Molecular, and Systems Biology, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2021-2024.
-Praveen Ravindar – (Biology, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2022-2023.
-Stephanie Martinez-Beltran – (Microbiology, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2021-2023. She is currently a PhD student at UC Davis.
-Brittany Anabenawa-Appiah – (Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2022-2023.
-Fayez Eyabi – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2022-2023.
-Danika Del Real – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2021-2023.
-Sarah Gadalla – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2021.
-Meritte Lotfy – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2021-2023.
-Sarah Burroughs – (Biochemistry Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2022.
-Natalie Langarica – (Pre-Business Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2022.
-Ivy Ryness – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2022.
-Isaiah Claudio – (Biology, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2020-2022.
-Susan Nguyen – (Biochemistry, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2022.
-Jasmine Bedi – (Biochemistry, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2022.
-Hao He – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2020-2021.
-Alireza Hamidzad – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2021.
-Khanh Huynh – (Bioengineering Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2020.
-Kunal Ram – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2020.
-Brandon Lukwago – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2020.
-Nikhil Prabhakar – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2019-2020.
-Kamren Monalo – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2018-2019.
-Cody Stoelk – Undergraduate intern visiting from BYU, 2019.
-Bailey Benson – Undergraduate intern visiting from BYU, 2019.
-Kassandra Kin – (CMDB Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2016-2019.
-Valentina Alonso – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2017-2019.
-Nathan Mercado – (Biochemistry Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2017-2019.
-Damian Juncaj – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher 2018-2019.
-Christian Bowman – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2018.
-Shyon Nasrolahi – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2017-2019.
-Hector Villa – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2017-2018.
-Lauren Braun – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016-2018.
-Gillian Wright (Biochemistry Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2017.
-Sara Reyes – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2017.
-Paul Medina – (CMDB Major, transfered to UCLA) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016-2017.
-Lauren Allison – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016-2017.
-Carter Gerke – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016-2017.
-Sowgand Bashiri – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2017.
-Grant Lee – (Biology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016.
-Claudia Sepulveda – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2015-2016.
-Andrea Chy – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016.
-Sullivan Truong – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016.
-Jeanette Barriga-Hernandez – (Microbiology Major, UCR) – Former undergraduate researcher, 2016.

Old Lab Photos

Lab Picture 2025

Lab Picture (2024)

Lab Picture (2023)

Lab Picture (2021)

Lab Picture (2020)
Group photo of the Dillman Lab taken in October 2020 via Zoom.

Lab Picture (2019)Group photo of the Dillman Lab taken on May 30,2019 by UCR/Stan Lim.

Lab Picture (2016)Group photo of the Dillman Lab taken on December 1st, 2016.