People

Ed Browne

Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Microbiology & Immunology

Genetic Medicine Building
epbrowne@email.unc.edu

Hometown: Auckland, NZ
Undergraduate: University of Auckland
MSc: University of Auckland
PhD: Princeton University
For fun: Playing jazz, brewing beer (Gold medalist 2011, Boston homebrew competition!), and embarrassing my kids with dad jokes

Jackson Peterson

Graduate Student jjp@live.unc.edu

Hometown: Williamsburg, VA
Undergraduate: College of William & Mary
Current research: Molecular biology of HIV transcription and repression by histone deacetylases
For fun: Hanging out with my partner and pets, playing computer games, attending bachelorette-viewing parties, answering biology questions at my desk, and going to chik-fil-a with my labmates

Samuel Burgos

Graduate Student sburgos@unc.edu

Hometown: Yabucoa, Puerto Rico
Undergraduate: University of Puerto Rico – Humacao
Current research: Understanding how CTCF affects chromatin and HIV latency
For fun: Playing video games, DnD, driving, (playing >>> watching) random sports, joking around in general!

Cat Lewis

Graduate Student catlewis@email.unc.edu

Hometown: Chicago, IL
Undergraduate: Northwestern University
MS: College of William & Mary
MA: Duke University
Current research: Understanding the role of HIV accessory proteins and gag/pol in HIV latency establishment
For fun: Playing soccer, running, hiking, climbing, dancing, cooking and eating

Julia Huff

Graduate Student juhuff@email.unc.edu

Hometown: Willow Grove, PA
Undergraduate: Ursinus College
Current research: Studying/optimizing methods of LRA delivery for HIV latency reversal.
For fun: Read, paint, and hanging out with friends

Urja Bhatt

Graduate Student urja22@email.unc.edu

Hometown: Valsad, Gujarat, India
Undergraduate: D.Y. Patil University
MS: Brandeis University
Current research: Effect of delta9-tetrahyrdocannabinol on immune system of people with HIV on anti-retroviral therapy
For fun: Still figuring out the triangle 🙂

Ashokkumar Manickam

Postdoctoral Fellow ashokkumar_manickam@med.unc.edu

Hometown: Kanchipuram, India
BPharm: The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai
MTech: PSG Tech, Coimbatore, IndiaPhD: ICMR- National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis and University of Madras, Chennai, India
Current research: Defining epigenetic factors that regulate HIV latency and expression in patients with HIV who use cannabinoids
For fun: Playing cricket, playing with son

Airlie Ward

Laboratory Technician airlie.ward@unc.edu

Hometown: Wilmington, NC
Undergraduate: University of North Carolina
Current research: Characterizing the role of SETD2 in HIV latency
For fun: Reading fantasy and romance novels, crocheting

Elizabeth Bennett

Undergraduate Student escearce@email.unc.edu

Hometown: Raleigh, NC
Current research: Characterizing the HIV provirus in latency 
For fun: Running, reading, and coffee 

Yun Ma

Undergraduate Student yma2@unc.edu

Hometown: Tianjin, China
Current research: Identifying sites where HIV integrates into the human genome and studying the local chromatin environment of integration sites and HIV expression using computational approaches.
For fun: “The Dream of the Red Chamber” is my favorite book (and only the first 80 chapters count)!

Undergraduate Student tamoore@email.unc.edu

Tristan Moore

Undergraduate Student tamoore@email.unc.edu

Hometown: Belews Creek, NC
Current research: Assessing ability of Tat-Vpr fusion protein to reverse HIV-1 latency
For fun: Catching up over coffee with my friends and being a campus ambassador for Good Molecules skincare!

Lab alumni

Arturo Salvador Roman Longoria, BS (former Research Technician)
Clinical Lab Operator II, Natera

Sanjana Haque, MPharm, PhD (former postdoc)
Regulatory Associate, Clinical Protocol Office
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Allison Rowley, MS (former Research Specialist/Lab Manager)
Project Manager, Clinical Research Unit
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center