Kerri Coon CV
Assistant Professor
I obtained a B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, and a Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. I did my Ph.D. training with Dr. Michael Strand studying the microbial regulation of molting in mosquitoes, and subsequently worked on insect gut microbiota-immune system interactions in Dr. Nancy Moran’s laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. I joined the faculty in the Department of Entomology at UW-Madison in 2019 and transferred to the Department of Bacteriology in 2020. I can serve as the major advisor for graduate students from Microbiology, Entomology, and Genetics. I am also affiliated with the Biotechnology, Parasitology & Vector Biology, and Microbes in Health and Disease Training Programs at UW-Madison.
Office: 3552 Microbial Sciences Building
Phone: (608) 262-6919
email: kerri.coon@wisc.edu
Nolan Amon
Ph.D. Student, Entomology
I am a third year Ph.D. student in the Coon Lab, and my research focuses on microbial community ecology and the myriad ways in which microbes manipulate insect behavior. Currently, I am studying how microbial volatiles from cattle influence fly behavior, microbial community assembly, and their impacts on the transmission of diseases on dairy farms in Wisconsin.
Office: 3541 Microbial Sciences Building
email: namon@wisc.edu
Travis Worley
Ph.D. Student, Microbiology
I am broadly interested in the molecular genetics and physiology of host-microbe interactions. In the Coon lab, I study the vector biology of flies in the family Muscidae and the mechanisms underlying the ability of bacterial pathogens to colonize and persist in the fly gut.
Office: 3526 Microbial Sciences Building
email: tworley2@wisc.edu
Miguel Medina Muñoz
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Bacteriology
I am an early career biologist broadly interested in host-bacteria symbiosis. My research experience includes entomology, microbiology, electrophysiology, and transcriptomics. As a Ph.D. student under the direction of Dr. Rita Rio, I conducted research on the evolution of the symbiosis between the tsetse flies and their microbiome. These projects involved inoculation of mutant bacteria into tsetse for functional characterization of quorum-sensing defective strains, and comparatives transcriptomic studies of wild and laboratory-reared tsetse flies of different species.
In my postdoctoral research, I am aiming to uncover metabolic and genomic features behind bacterial-insect interactions using mosquito and its microbiota as model systems. My new line of research studies the contribution of nectar feeding to the microbiota assemblage, which is an understudied aspect of blood-feeding mosquitoes. I am also developing a method for studying microbe-mosquito interactions at the resolution of single individuals to explore the effects of inter-individual variability on microbiota acquisition and establishment.
Office: 3526 Microbial Sciences Building
email: medinamunoz@wisc.edu
Julia Kettner
Master’s Student, Bacteriology
I work in the Coon lab to investigate the influence of organic and non-organic mastitis treatment practices on the tendency for muscid flies to carry pathogenic bacteria on dairy farms and the distribution of antimicrobial resistance in flies. When not in the lab, I like to explore different coffee shops and play with my family dogs!
Office: 3541 Microbial Sciences Building
email: jekettner@wisc.edu
Aldo Arellano
Ph.D. Candidate, Microbiology
I am interested in the processes underlying microbial assembly and function in the context of symbiosis. I use the Sarracenia-Wyeomyia smithii system to study how mosquito larvae impact microbes and in turn how host physiology is affected by these “curated” communities. I am also interested in how microbial interactions and microbial products may sustain cross-kingdom symbiotic associations.
Office: 3541 Microbial Sciences Building
email: aaarellano2@wisc.edu
Andrew Sommer
Ph.D. Candidate, Microbiology
I am studying the capacity of muscid flies to carry and potentially transmit disease-causing bacterial pathogens on dairy farms. I am also analyzing the microbiota of flies and manure samples collected in parallel on working dairy facilities to identify patterns of transmission across working dairy facilities.
Office: 3526 Microbial Sciences Building
email: asommer3@wisc.edu
Holly Nichols
Ph.D. Candidate, Microbiology
I am interested in how microscopic and macroscopic organisms coexist and shape each other’s evolutionary trajectory. I study how bacteria adapt to the transient environment of the mosquito gut and consider how host and bacterial genetics shape the interaction.
Office: 3541 Microbial Sciences Building
email: hlnichols@wisc.edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Hailey Sieren
(Microbiology)
Robyn Patterson
(Genetics)
Lab Alumni
Journey Prack (Undergraduate Student)
Jordan Petrick (Undergraduate Student)
Julia Kashuk (Undergraduate Student)
Jessica Lysne (Undergraduate Student; PREP Scholar)
Sebastián Díaz (Visiting Scholar; Post-Doc)
Serena Zhao (PhD Student)
Alexandra Beckman (Undergraduate Student)
Mike LeClaire (Undergraduate Student)
Jake DeWitte (Undergraduate Student)
Tomi Akin-Olabiyi (NSF REU Student)
Daisy Chew (Undergraduate Student)
Molly Sneller (Undergraduate Student)
Lalita Arzumanyan (Undergraduate Student)