Principal Investigator

Megan completed her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and worked for several years under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Wong at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI). She received her PhD in Immunology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth under the mentorship of Dr.  William Green, where she studied innate immune mechanisms contributing to LP-BM5 murine retroviral pathogenesis and immunodeficiency. She completed her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Deborah Fuller at the University of Washington and evaluated pre-clinical nucleic acid vaccines against HIV, ZIKV, HBV, and SARS-CoV-2.

Interests outside of lab: Running, cooking, playing games, hiking, and spending time with her family.

Pronouns: she/her

Email: meganoc@uw.edu

Lab Manager & Research Scientist/Engineer I

Studied Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on exploring host immune responses in HIV and SARS-CoV-2 co-infection models. Passionate about making science more accessible, Semira works to grow her skill set as a scientist and become an advocate towards BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) women in STEM.

Research Interests: virology, pathobiology, vaccine therapeutics, public health

Interests outside of lab: visiting cafes/restaurants, all forms of RnB/Afrobeats/Hip-Hop, anime, improving on her Tigrinya

Pronouns: she/her

Email: sberaki@uw.edu 

Research Scientist/Engineer I

BS in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from University of Washington. Her work in the lab investigates how the gastrointestinal and respiratory microbiomes impact disease outcomes.

Outside the lab Zo loves reading, hiking and playing D&D! 

Pronouns: she/her

Email: zohark@uw.edu

Graduate Student: DLMP MS

Matthew is a master’s student in the Laboratory Medicine program. Their research background is in anatomical biology of Perciforms. Since Covid, they were privileged to join a Global Health and public health organization at the University of Washington, tackling contemporary infectious diseases dilemmas and applying medical research both internationally and locally in Seattle. They are excited to join the O’Connor lab to deepen their skills in translational medicine, with a perspective more form the bench side.

Outside the lab Matthew likes art, coffee and cooking. So, you could find them in museums, a café or the kitchen.

Email: matmi@uw.edu 

Volunteer

Research interests: Immunology, virology, vaccinology, cellular therapy, immunotherapy.

If Lindsey were a cell, she would be a macrophage because she likes to eat

Pronouns: she/her

Email: lindn14@uw.edu 

Undergraduate Researcher

Majoring in Biochemistry and Economics with an interest in virology, immunology, infectious diseases, and bioeconomics.

Aashna loves dad jokes. Why did the bacteria cross the microscope? To get to the other slide.

Pronouns: she/her

Email: adoshi26@uw.edu