Team – The Apple Lab

Dr. Agnieszka Apple | Principal Investigator

Agnieszka (Aga) was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology in 2016. Her research unravels complex links between viruses, bacteria and the host immune environment. As part of her scientific accomplishments, she received the prestigious Parker B. Francis Fellowship for Pulmonary Research that supports her research. Aga is also actively involved in science mentoring and outreach, through partnership with the Blackfeet Community College in Browning, MT.

Email: agnieszka.rynda@montana.edu

Kelly Shepardson | Postdoctoral Researcher

Kelly is a postdoctoral researcher that joined the Apple laboratory in July of 2014. Her career in science began with a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2009 from Wells College in NY. She then continued on to graduate school at Dartmouth College, NH for a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology where she worked on determining the role of hypoxia in the pathogenesis of a human fungal pathogen. Now, working under Dr. Apple, she aims to determine the early immune events during viral infection that shape the ability of the host to respond to subsequent pathogen encounters.

Email: kelly.shepardson@montana.edu

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-shepardson

: MSU photo by Kelly Gorham

Logan Johns | Research Associate

Logan is a research associate who joined the Apple Laboratory in September of 2017. She has a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, NM. She received her M.S. in Microbiology from Montana State University in 2016, where she worked on refining a novel tool for the manipulation of mouse embryos. Today, she is working with the Apple Lab team to understand how lung damage and cellular metabolism affect resistance to secondary infections by bacterial pathogens.

Email: laura.johns@montana.edu

Evelyn Benson | Research Associate

Evelyn is a Research Associate who joined the Apple Lab in November of 2018. She has an AAS in Animal Health Technology from Colorado Mountain College and a BA in Environmental Biology from University of Colorado Boulder. She has worked in various environments including as a certified Veterinary Technician, certified Laboratory Animal Technician, Research Assistant for biotech companies, and Research Associate for pharmaceutical companies. Her most recent work has been at the bench performing various assays including ELISA’s, qRT-PCR and Bacterial Killing Assays.

Currently, she is working with the Apple Lab team on optimizing and validating several types of immune assays for bat samples.

Email: evelyn.benson1@montana.edu

Alexis Hatton | Graduate Student

Alexis is a graduate student who joined the Apple Lab in February of 2019. She received her B.S. in Microbiology from Montana State University in 2018. She aims to understand the role of early immune recognition of viral and non-viral repeating protein subunit patterns (RPSPs) and how these RPSPs alter the host immune environment leading to changes in the host response to subsequent bacterial infections.

Email: alexishatton@montana.edu