Vamsi J Nalam, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management
Colorado State University
1177 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Office (970)-491-4189
Current Lab Members
Elizabeth Blotevogel
Research Technician
Elizabeth is our lab manager and contributes to several projects. She is currently working on the soybean translatome in response to aphid infestation and on developing synthetic peptides to control spread of PVY.
Daniel Kunk
Ph.D. Student, Graduate Teaching Assistant
Email: Daniel.Kunk@colostate.edu
Daniel is originally from Washington D.C. After high school, he attended CSU in Fort Collins and graduated in 2020 with a BS in biology w/ a botany concentration. During his undergraduate he worked in labs at CSU and abroad, focusing on synthetic biology and plant-insect interactions. Currently he is pursuing a PhD in the CMB program. In his free time, he enjoys fishing and growing plants.
Kyle Pfeiffer
M.S. Student, Graduate Research Assistant
Email: Kyle.Pfeiffer@colostate.edu
Kyle is a student in the Cell and Moelcular Biology program and his research invovles the use of CRISPR/Cas9 as a defense against beet curly top virus. Kyle is greatly interested in plant pathology, microbiology, and genetics and aim to remediate agricultural systems by providing sound alternatives to pesticides at the genetic/proteomic level of the host.
Jennifer Rushton
M.S. Student, Graduate Research Assistant
Email: J.Rushton@colostate.edu
Jennifer's research will focus on developing to better study the infection process of potato necrotic viruses such as Potato Virus Y, Potato Mop Top Virus and Tobacco Rattle Virus
Rebecca Schmidt
M.S. Student, Graduate Teaching Assistant
Email: Rebecca.Schmidt@colostate.edu
Rebecca graduated from University of Washington with a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Previously she studied cold storage diseases and fungal pathogens of several apple and pear cultivars in central Washington. Her current focus on the role of PAD4 splice variants in plant defense to biotic factors..
Previous Lab Members
Graduate Students
Shailesh Raj Acharya (MS, 2017 - 2020)
Stephen Wyka (PhD, 2018 - 2020): Computational Biologist, LifeMine Therapeutics
Patrick Selig (MS, 2015 - 2017): Wastewater/Water Operations Specialist, F&V Operations
Kumud Joshi (MS, 2015 - 2017): Ph.D. Candidate Bowling Green State University
Undergraduate Students
Madison MacPhail
Joshua Baumgardner
Travis Issacs
Sarah Moh
Meredith Werling
Harish Bingi
Alyssa Hoffman
Randall McComb
Peter Saya II
Nicholas White
Philip Dinh