ABOUT US
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OUR TEAM
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Tonia Schwartz, PhD
Associate Professor
Principal Investigator
Dr. Tonia Schwartz started her research career as an undergraduate at Iowa State University working with Drs. Bonnie Bowen and Carol Vleck using genetic markers to study populations of jays and to determine the sex of penguins. While doing a Masters of Science at University of South Florida with Dr. Steven Karl, she obtained a foundation in Population and Conservation Genetics while deciphering the population structure of gopher tortoises. Before starting her PhD she spent four years in Australia conducting research on diverse topics including fisheries management, speciation and hybridization, molecular evolution of metabolic proteins, and sexual selection. As a genetics PhD student at Iowa State University she was an NSF-IGERT fellow in Computational Molecular Biology, a NSF-GK12 fellow, and was advised by Drs. Anne Bronikowski and Jo Anne Powell-Coffman for her dissertation identifying how molecular stress response networks can diverge between natural populations of garter snakes that are at either end of the pace-of-life continuum. She was awarded a James S. McDonnell post-doctoral fellow in complexity science, which she took to University of Alabama at Birmingham to work in the Office of Energetics with Drs. David Allison and Julia Gohlke. During this time she studied transgenerational affects of stress on metabolism, reproduction, and longevity, and the evolution of molecular networks. In 2015 she was hired as an Assistant Professor at Auburn, and thus the Schwartz lab of Functional and Ecological Genomics was established.
Dr. Danielle Rivera
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Danielle Rivera comes to the Schwartz Lab fresh off a Postdoc with Drs. Rayna Bell (California Academy of Sciences), Nathan Hostetter and Jaime Collazo (USGS/North Carolina State University) focused on sequencing Caribbean skink genomes and aiding US Fish & Wildlife in their Species Status Assessments of skink species (genus Spondylurus) within the Caribbean US. She got her PhD at the University of Texas at Arlington with Dr. Matt Fujita studying phylogenomics of Neotropical herps, and her Masters at the City College of New York with Dr. Ana Carnaval studying Brazilian skinks. She is joining the Schwartz lab on the SMAL Project, working on the evolution of molecular networks among lizards and snakes in the Channel Islands.
Fun Fact: Danielle loves organizing, spending time with her bearded Dragon (Stefan), and casually birding.
Dasia Simpson
PhD Candidate
Native to Atlanta, Georgia. Dasia's career passion is to communicate science to young audiences. Her current project focuses on the stress response of both vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. Specifically, she studies the stress repsonse at the transcriptomic level in Sceloporus undulatus, the eastern fence lizard, when exposed to heat and fire ant envenomation. She is also intrigued by Daphnia pulicaria, a microscopic water crustacean, and the selective pressures that enable populations to survive in toxic algae.
Fun (Weird) fact: I love seafood but I think fishes, really all organisms bigger than a daphnid, that live in water are creepy.
Taylor McKibben
PhD Student
I completed my B.S. at Auburn University. I am now conducting my PhD research in the context of the SMAL project, using genomic tools to test for divergence in diet and gut microbiome function between island dwarf and mainland populations of reptiles.
Fun Fact: Taylor is a SCUBA instructor
Anet Filipova
PHD STUDENT
I join the lab from Bulgaria. I am interested in reptile conservation genomics. I am currently working on quantifying telomeres in reptile populations to understand aging in the wild. Additionally, I am working on a collaborative project with Dr. Jeff Goessling from Eckerd College to study gopher tortoises and the effects of head starting on molecular stress resistance and life history traits in gopher tortoises.
Fun Fact: I collect guitar picks.
Sagar (Ocean) Bhowmik
PHD STUDENT
I am a PhD Student from the mystical landscapes of Bangladesh. I'm on an exhilarating quest to decode the enigmas of biological sciences. Currently, I'm immersed in two captivating projects: the "Damage Fitness Project" and the intriguing "Dwarf Reptile Project." Specifically, I'm currently focused on assessing DNA damage and intricately crafting aptamers for precise protein quantification. Moreover, I find joy in the world of molecular dynamics and simulations, where I play with atoms and molecules to decode life's intricate dance.
Fun Facts: Beyond the lab's walls, I capture fleeting moments through the lens of my camera, finding art in science and life. And when time permits, I'm an explorer at heart, venturing into uncharted territories.
Join me in this odyssey of curiosity as we journey together to decipher the universe's most cryptic puzzles.
https://ibhowmik49.wixsite.com/sagar
Stephen Tansie
PHD STUDENT
I join the lab from Ghana. I am using whole genome sequencing data, I am currently conducting a metagenomic analysis to identify and classify the microbes in the blood of Pituophis catenifer captured from island and mainland populations. I also intend to explore the evolution of microbial (bacterial) virulence between these two populations.
Alexis Lindsey
MS STUDENT
I’m a first year masters student from Huntsville, Alabama and I’m passionate about southeastern herpetofauna. My current project focuses on exploring the molecular mechanisms behind dwarfism exhibited in a number of reptile species on the Channel Islands. I also work with the Memphis Zoo’s Louisiana Pinesnake captive breeding program.
Fun Fact: my favorite animal is a mud snake!
Ali Amer
PHD STUDENT
Originally from Pakistan, I graduated with a BS in Biochemistry in 2023 from Ohio Wesleyan University. Broadly, my interests include understanding the interactions between physiological and molecular systems and how they modulate animal behavior. Currently, I am working on the Damage-Fitness project investigating the molecular measures of cellular damage, protection and repair.
Fun Fact: In his spare time, Ali enjoys going out on hikes and recently climbing.
Brynleigh Payne
PHD STUDENT
Brynleigh is from Alabaster, Alabama. She graduated from Auburn in Genetics while conducting molecular sexing within the Aging Anoles project. She is using Nanopore sequencing to quantify sex chromosome telomeres in anoles and now in zebra finches to understand sex-specific effects of stress on DNA damage.
Fun Fact: Brynleigh studied abroad in Costa Rica for a course focused on biodiversity, conservation, and sustainability.
Noah McAfee
Undergraduate Researcher
Noah is a Sophomore at Auburn. He is working on the SMAL project using Genetics to conduct molecualar sexing to identify the which of our samples are from male or female Alligator Lizards.
Elizabeth
Pedigo
Undergraduate Researcher
Elizabeth is from Madison, Mississippi, and is majoring in genetics with a pre-medical concentration. She a member of the Delta Zeta sorority and the Auburn University Honors College. Her current goal is to attend medical school and to become a general surgeon, but I also have considered getting a PhD to continue my journey as a researcher.
Quinn
Johnston
Undergraduate Research
Quinn is from Athens, Alabama and is majoring in Genetics with Pre-Med concentration. She is working on the evolution of gene expression patterns of IGF1 and IGF2 hormones and IGF1R and INSR receptors across amniotes.
Chelsea Cochran
Undergraduate Research
Chelsea is a Genetics major from Madison, Alabama. She is also pursuing a minor in Anthropology. In the lab, she assists in developing a meta-analysis that explores IGF hormone levels in humans and helping with the Gopher Tortoise conservation project.
ALUMNI
Postdoctoral Fellows
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Researchers
FACILITIES
THE MOLECULAR LAB
The Molecular Lab contains 6 graduate student desks spaces, animal processing area, and 4 bench spaces. Equipment includes standard centrifuges, PCR machines, refrigerators, -80°C and -20°C freezers, agarose gel electrophoresis, PAGE and Western Blotting set-up, power supplies, gel imager, water bath, incubator, stir plates, rotators, shakers, balances, lab pH meter and portable environmental (pH, salinity, an dissolved oxygen) meter, standard pipettes and electronic multichannel pipettes, a refrigerated centrifuge including a rotor for 96 well plates and a bucket rotor (Heraeus Megafuge), a Tissue Lyser II (Qiagen) for high through-put DNA, RNA, and protein isolations, and two Percival Incubators for organismal experiments.
Our colleagues in our department and neighboring labs are very generous with sharing equipment. We have access to a CFX96 Real-time PCR detection system (BioRAD), ImageQuant LAS 4010 imaging system (GE Health Sciences), and a BioTeK Synergy HTX Multi-mode Plate Reader (BioTek) for fluorimetric ROS assays, colorimetric enzyme assays, and ELISAs for protein quantification; a Nanodrop and QuBit for DNA, RNA and protein concentration, a Covaris Sonicator and BluePippen for DNA size selection for DNA library preps. Schwartz also has access to equipment for mitochondrial isolation and measurements of oxygen consumption including the following equipment: Oxytherm System (Hansatech Instruments) for mitochondrial respiration measurements, Potter-Elvhjem PTFE pestle and glass tube for mitochondrial isolation.
We have an anti-room to the molecular lab that we use as a meeting room, lunch room, and coffee chats.
THE (REPTILE) CELL CULTURE ROOM
The Cell Culture room has a laminar flow hood, two water-jacketed CO2 incubators, liquid nitrogen Dewar for cell storage, Eve automatic cell counter, EVOS XL Core Digital Imaging System for cell and tissue culture applications, water bath, refrigerator, and pipets.
ANIMAL ROOM
This indoor facility is a room (650 ft2) that houses a live reptile and amphibian collection used for outreach via the Auburn University Museum of Natural History (AUMNH), and is used for experimental research. This animal room contains space and racks for an 400 individual lizard cages. This room is equipped with work counter space and a sink.
OUTDOOR EXCLOSURES
Our outdoor facility is referred to as “The Aviary” (historical reasons) and is an outdoor facility for set up of semi-natural environments. It is at a locked and secure location about 1 mile from the Department of Biological Sciences (DBS) on Auburn University’s Main Campus. The Aviary is a Department of Biological Sciences facility used by many organismal biologists in the department. This facility has been completely renovated (financially supported by DBS and the College of Sciences and Mathematics) with adjustable cages over a 32 x 82 ft area that can be arranged into replicate enclosures for short term and long term experiments.