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, Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Researcher
Kelly is a research scientist 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. During her postdoc, working under Dr. Apple, she worked on determining the early immune events during viral infection that shape the ability of the host to respond to subsequent pathogen encounters. Now, developing her independent research program, she aims to understand how anti-viral immune responses and damage during viral infection allow for subsequent fungal infections to occur (funded by a Parker B. Francis Fellowship). With her award of a NIH/NIAID K22 career transition grant, she is currently applying to tenure-track assistant professor positions to start her own laboratory.
Email: kelly.shepardson@montana.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-shepardson
Monica Hall, Ph.D. | Research Associate
Monica joined the Apple Lab March of 2020. She has a Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Emory University and B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Louisville. At the University of Colorado, her postdoctoral work uncovered defects in muscle stem cell proliferation in aged mice by combining cellular barcoding with high-throughput sequencing to quantify cell divisions in vivo during muscle repair. Monica has many research interests, but her overarching philosophy is to “follow the science.” Outside the lab, she enjoys skiing and hanging out with her 60 lb Asian Water Monitor, the second largest lizard by weight after the Komodo Dragon.
Email: monica.hall@montana.edu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/monicanicolehall
Evelyn Benson, B.A. | 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 B.A. 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
Abby Luu, B.S. | Graduate Student
Abby is a graduate student who joined the Apple Laboratory in August of 2019. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Colorado State University in 2015. Prior to joining the Apple Lab, she worked in the AgriGenomics industry performing SNP analysis. She aims to understand the role that cellular metabolism plays in viral infection and subsequent regulation of Type I Interferons.
Email: abby.luu@student.montana.edu
Erika Anderson | Undergraduate Student
Erika is an undergraduate student working with Evelyn and is assisting with research involving the generation of immune assays for bat samples.
Emma Ankringa | Undergraduate Student
Madison Hebner, B.S. | Graduate Student
Madison is working with graduate students Dan Crowley and Caylee Falvo of the Plowright Laboratory. She is studying the innate immunity of Jamaican fruit bats.
Lab Alumni
Julia Roemer | Undergraduate Student
Clyde Schulein | Undergraduate Student
Gabby Rizzo | Undergraduate Student
Sophia Springfield | Undergraduate Student
Ema Robinson | Graduate Student
Alexis Hatton | Graduate Student
Emiliano Hernandez | Undergraduate Student
Julia Wellham | Undergraduate Student
Logan Johns | Research Associate
Kyle Larson | Research Associate
Libby Fones | Graduate Rotation Student
Rebecca Orlando| Graduate Rotation Student (Spring 2018)
Gary Dunn | Graduate Rotation Student (Spring 2019)
Lillie Watson | Undergraduate Student
Hanbyul (Hannah) Cho | Undergraduate INBRE Scholar
Coy Harwood | Undergraduate INBRE Scholar
Kayla Stanek | Undergraduate Student
Lilianna Bento | Undergraduate Student
Kendra Bertrand | Undergraduate Student
The Apple Lab 