Lab Alumni | Alfred's Lab

Lab Alumni Members

Juncheng (Alex)

Visiting Ph.D Student
Juncheng is a visiting Ph.D student from South China Agricultural University. Juncheng has been working on bioinformatics and molecular breeding of trees during his Ph.D study in China. Currently, He is involved in multiple projects including one yeast hydrization for protein-promoter interaction of GA2ox1. He is conducting phenotyping of lettuce RIL population for QTL mapping. His effort also goes to miRs/DOG1 projects.

ShuoMian (Bella)

Visiting Scholar
Bella is a visiting scholar from Hebei Agricultural University. She is an expert in mushroom breeding and cultivation. She is applying LED light to different developmental stages of various mushroom species to examine the LED light effect on accumulation of antioxidant and other nutrients. She is also conducting multiple phenotyping of lettuce RIL mapping population for QTL mapping. Bella Alex and Chi also involve in LED light effect on production of leafy vegetables.

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Cindy

Ph.D Student
Cindy is a new Ph.D student on plant breeding program. Before she joined Huo’s lab, she studied at UC-Davis for her Master degree. Cindy is a graduate student with strait As, and her expertise is seed biology and RNAseq library preparation. Her research will focus on transposon tagging using the snapdragon mutagenesis system. She will surely get involved in other projects.

Danisa Camarena

Intern
Danisa interned in our lab through a biotechnology program at Valencia College. Within a semester time, she gained hands-on experience in tissue culture, hydroponic, and collecting data samples. She also bakes delicious cookies.

Manuel Pereira

Intern
Manuel is an aspiring biochemist that is interested in studying the growth of plants and the sustainability of plants in harsh conditions. He is a hot sauce aficionado and aspires to one day making a hot sauce himself.

Julian Ginori, click here to see his personal page.
Ph.D. Student

Julian is pursuing a PhD degree in Environmental Horticulture, with a specialization in plant breeding and genetics. He is currently working on the development of heat stress tolerance in Begonia and applying that knowledge towards the newly formed begonia breeding program. Since its start, the begonia germplasm collection has reached over 150 species and cultivars.

Mengfei Lin (Emma)

Visiting Ph.D Student
Emma is a visiting Ph.D student from South China Agricultural University. Emma worked on bioinformatics and tested TPS genes in Arabidopsis for her Ph.D study in China. Currently, she is involved in multiple projects including GA2OX gene in lettuce and overexpression genes in Petunia. She will also continue testing TPS genes in Arabidopsis using CRISPR technology.

DiYing Xiang (Daisy)

Visiting Scholar
Daisy is a visiting scholar from Hebei Agricultural University. She is an expert in ornamental plants breeding. She is testing post harvest, promote flowering, and delay flowering in foliage plants using LED light in combination with different chemicals.

Dominic Vu

Intern
Dominic is an intern from Valencia's Biotechnology program. He has completed his internship and gained many lab skills including genotyping, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and Tissue culture. Currently, he is focusing on his project on propagation of Hop under LED light while learning how to do plants Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Yuvraj Khamare (UV)

Intern
UV worked on a "Hydroponic" projects with Matt. He was testing different wavelengths of L.E.D light and their effects on vegetables. He was also maintaining our tissue culture and greenhouses. He likes to collect coins from different countries and he enjoys gardening. He is currently a PhD Student under Dr. Marble in Weed Science at UF.

Amaris Aramanda

Intern
Amaris is an intern from Valencia's Biotechnology program. She is interested in using plants for biofuel and she hopes to gain lab experience here for her future study.

Hanna Baz

Intern
Hanna was working on seed priming with carbon nanoparticles. She is also a teacher at Valencia college. She came to us from the Biotech Program at Valencia college.

Abigail Plontke (Abby)

Intern
Abby was working on plant tissue culture and helping in our greenhouse for begonia breeding. She also helped with carbon nanoparticle rooting study's in the lab. She came to us from the Biotech Program at Valencia college.

Yuliia Honcharuk

Intern
Yuliia was volunteering with the lab for her Nursing program that she plans to attend. She is already a registered nurse and plans to further her degree.

Jim Wang (Himmy)

Visiting Scholar
Himmy was a visiting scholar from China as was working on germination of petunia plants for phenotyping.

Alex Moriz-Long

Intern
Alex joined the lab in Spring 2020. He is currently working on greenhouse management and tissue culture. He is also working on plant transformations and carbon nanoparticle rooting studies.

Manish Tiwari, Ph.D

Post Doc
Manish joined the lab in the Winter of 2020. Manish will investigate the role(s) of small RNAs as intermediaries in maternal environment effects on tomato seed quality. He is going to use a combined approach of the transgenic and nanoparticle-based application of small RNAs for functional characterization of their role during tomato reproductive biology.

Zuraima Hernandez

Intern student and Lab Technician
Zury helps our lab members with plant transformation and learning different molecular biology techniques. She enjoys many outdoor activities especially running. She is currently working in Dr. Chen's lab.

Guiluan Wang (Grace), Ph.D. (2019-2022)
Visiting Scholar/Postdoc

Grace joined the lab in the summer 2019. As part of her research program, Grace is developing host-silencing trapper plants to be used in biological control of whitefly in nursery plant production. She is also developing DNA-free gene-editing method for horticultural crops.

Torikul Islam, Ph.D. (2021-2022)
Post Doc

Torikul Islam joined Dr. Alfred’s lab in the summer of 2021. His research aims are- Identification and characterization of small RNAs that are responsive to maternal environmental temperatures during seed development and germination of tomato. He is also working on the development of innovative suitable methods for the practical application of small RNAs in controlling seed development. His future goal is crop improvement through small RNA application.

Prasanna Kharel (2021 to 2022)
Lab Technician

Prasanna is helping our lab members with plant transformation and learning different molecular biology techniques. He graduated from Department of Agronomy at UF in 2021 with a Master degree. He is planning to apply for a Ph.D. program at UF in 2022.

Frank Lian
Ph.D. Student (2018-2022)

Frank joined our lab in Fall 2018 and he is currently working on his project for Snapdragon transposon and develop protocols for snapdragon genetic transformation.

Julian Ginori, click here to see his personal page.
Ph.D. Student (2017-2023)

Julian is pursuing a PhD degree in Environmental Horticulture, with a specialization in plant breeding and genetics. He is currently working on the development of heat stress tolerance in Begonia and applying that knowledge towards the newly formed begonia breeding program. Since its start, the begonia germplasm collection has reached over 150 species and cultivars.

Lab Alumni Members

Danisa Camarena Intern Danisa interned in our lab through a biotechnology program at Valencia College. Within a semester time, she gained hands-on experience in tissue culture, hydroponic, and collecting data samples. She also bakes delicious cookies.

Manuel Pereira Intern Manuel is an aspiring biochemist that is interested in studying the growth of plants and the sustainability of plants in harsh conditions. He is a hot sauce aficionado and aspires to one day making a hot sauce himself.

DiYing Xiang (Daisy) Visiting Scholar Daisy is a visiting scholar from Hebei Agricultural University. She is an expert in ornamental plants breeding. She is testing post harvest, promote flowering, and delay flowering in foliage plants using LED light in combination with different chemicals.

Amaris Aramanda Intern Amaris is an intern from Valencia's Biotechnology program. She is interested in using plants for biofuel and she hopes to gain lab experience here for her future study.

Hanna Baz ​ Intern Hanna was working on seed priming with carbon nanoparticles. She is also a teacher at Valencia college. She came to us from the Biotech Program at Valencia college. ​

Abigail Plontke (Abby)​ Intern Abby was working on plant tissue culture and helping in our greenhouse for begonia breeding. She also helped with carbon nanoparticle rooting study's in the lab. She came to us from the Biotech Program at Valencia college. ​

Yuliia Honcharuk Intern Yuliia was volunteering with the lab for her Nursing program that she plans to attend. She is already a registered nurse and plans to further her degree.

Jim Wang (Himmy) Visiting Scholar Himmy was a visiting scholar from China as was working on germination of petunia plants for phenotyping.

Alex Moriz-Long​ Intern Alex joined the lab in Spring 2020. He is currently working on greenhouse management and tissue culture. He is also working on plant transformations and carbon nanoparticle rooting studies.

Zuraima Hernandez Intern student and Lab Technician Zury helps our lab members with plant transformation and learning different molecular biology techniques. She enjoys many outdoor activities especially running. She is currently working in Dr. Chen's lab.

Frank Lian Ph.D. Student (2018-2022) Frank joined our lab in Fall 2018 and he is currently working on his project for Snapdragon transposon and develop protocols for snapdragon genetic transformation.