Meagan Allira, MS Student
Meagan is a MS student in the School of Biological Sciences. They received their BS in Microbiology from Colorado State University, where they worked on developing intestinal epithelial cell lines of Artibeus jamaicensis, before leading rodent surveys with USDA APHIS and phenology studies of Myotis volans with CSU. Their MS is adapting flow cytometry tools to wildlife field studies and assessing the seasonality of cellular immunity in migratory TABR in our western Oklahoma sites.
Interests: immunology, virology, bat migration, small mammals, transmission dynamics
email, website, twitter, bsky, ResearchGate, they/them
Molly Simonis, IC Postdoctoral Fellow
Molly is an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on cross-species transmission dynamics of DNA and RNA viruses in co-roosting Neotropical bats as well as the health and immunology of North American bats. Before coming to OU, Molly completed her PhD at Wright State University, where she researched how long-term pathogen exposure impacts host ecology and physiology using big brown bats and white-nose syndrome as a model study system.
Interests: wildlife health, disease ecology, ecoimmunology, bat conservation, trait changes
email, website, twitter, bsky, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, she/her
Molly Simonis, IC Postdoctoral Fellow
Molly is an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on cross-species transmission dynamics of DNA and RNA viruses in co-roosting Neotropical bats as well as the health and immunology of North American bats. Before coming to OU, Molly completed her PhD at Wright State University, where she researched how long-term pathogen exposure impacts host ecology and physiology using big brown bats and white-nose syndrome as a model study system.
Interests: wildlife health, disease ecology, ecoimmunology, bat conservation, trait changes
email, website, twitter, bsky, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, she/her
Bret Demory, Research Technician
Bret is our group research technician. He earned his BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation from California State University, Sacramento. Prior to coming to OU, he worked with various wild bat, bird, reptile, and fish species and assisted with seasonal fieldwork for our Oklahoma bat and songbird projects. At OU, Bret works with field teams in Oklahoma and Panama, carries out DNA extractions and pathogen PCR for bat and bird projects, and helps to manage our field supplies.
Interests: wildlife conservation, disease ecology
email, he/him
research staff
AJ Santos (he/him)
Department of Biology
Interests: virology, human health
AJ is studying alphacoronavirus evolution and phylogenetics, with an eye towards bat viruses and their role in human viruses such as HCoV-229E.
Department of Biology
Interests: virology, human health
AJ is studying alphacoronavirus evolution and phylogenetics, with an eye towards bat viruses and their role in human viruses such as HCoV-229E.
Phoenix Brown (she/her)
Environmental Studies
Interests: climate change, songbird health
Phoenix is reviewing how climate change affects avian malaria and contributing to HASP projects.
Environmental Studies
Interests: climate change, songbird health
Phoenix is reviewing how climate change affects avian malaria and contributing to HASP projects.
Anushka Sukhadia (she/her)
Department of Biology
Interests: virology
Anushka is contributing to molecular studies of vampire bat Bartonella spp. in our Belize work.
Department of Biology
Interests: virology
Anushka is contributing to molecular studies of vampire bat Bartonella spp. in our Belize work.
Allen Pau (he/him)
Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology
Interests: epidemiology and microbiology
Allen is contributing to a database of Borrelia competence in songbirds and to OK bird work.
Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology
Interests: epidemiology and microbiology
Allen is contributing to a database of Borrelia competence in songbirds and to OK bird work.
Maria Muñoz (she/her)
Department of Biology
Interests: OneHealth, bat migration, zoonoses
Maria is contributing to a database of leukocytes in bat species and to our OK Tadarida projects.
Department of Biology
Interests: OneHealth, bat migration, zoonoses
Maria is contributing to a database of leukocytes in bat species and to our OK Tadarida projects.
Jessie Merrifield (she/her)
Department of Biology
Interests: vector-borne disease, ticks, zoonoses
Jessie is analyzing sparrow immunology data and leading tick identification from our OK bird work.
Department of Biology
Interests: vector-borne disease, ticks, zoonoses
Jessie is analyzing sparrow immunology data and leading tick identification from our OK bird work.
visiting researchers
Juliana Nunes, MSc intern
Juliana is a MSc student in the Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, University of São Paulo. She received her BSc in Veterinary Medicine from São Paulo State University and is now researching antimicrobial resistance and detection of Leptospira in bats from Brazil using OneHealth approaches. Juliana's MSc internship is funded by a FAPESP fellowship and will examine antimicrobial resistance in Enterobacteriales from bats in Belize and Oklahoma.
Interests: bats, Neotropics, zoonotic pathogens, infectious disease dynamics, antimicrobial resistance, OneHealth
email, website, lab, she/her
