Jia Wen
RESEARCH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Email
(919)-660-0894

Jia was born in Wuhan, China. She received her PhD in Microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Fozo at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Following her curiosity on how host and microbes shape each other, she joined Rawls lab in August 2016. Currently, she is trying to understand the mechanism by which intestinal microbes promote lipid absorption in zebrafish. Jia always dreams of becoming a light-resistant vampire so that she can enjoy the sun, the sea, and the breeze without worrying about time passing by.

Jessica McCann
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Email
(919)-660-0894

Jess grew up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Her love for host-microbe interactions began during an undergrad research semester at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, where she worked with Dr. Ned Ruby studying the squid symbiont Vibrio fischeri. Jess completed masters with Dr. Ruby in Hawaii, moved to NC with her family and did her PhD work with Dr. Miriam Braunstein at UNC Chapel Hill studying protein secretion in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. After a finishing a postdoc with Dr. Joe St. Geme and Dr. Patrick Seed examining the effect of early life exposure to bacteria on development of allergy and asthma, Jess is now a research associate in the Rawls lab. Jess works with Dr. Rawls and a group of PIs at Duke and Northwestern studying gut bacteria that may contribute to obesity in adolescents. Her interests include reading fiction, listening to live music, traveling, and re-learning French after coming in 9th in the NH state French exam her senior year of high school, and then promptly forgetting it all.

Yelizaveta “Liza” Rassadkina
GRADUATE STUDENT
Email
(919)-660-0894

Liza is originally from Moscow, Russia, but mostly grew up in New Jersey. She received her B.S. in microbiology from Rutgers University. During her undergraduate career she worked in the lab of Dr. Tamar Barkay, studying the microbial community and their heavy metal resistance in hot springs from Yellowstone National Park. She then joined the lab of Dr. Xu Yu in Cambridge, MA, studying the pathogenesis and the immune cell response of HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. Liza joined the Rawls lab in 2022 and is studying genetic strain diversity of bacteria that induce inflammation in the gut. In her free time, she likes to read, visit museums, swim, rock climb, and travel.

Maggie Morash
GRADUATE STUDENT
Email
(919)-660-0894

Maggie grew up in Bernardsville, NJ and completed her undergraduate studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She majored in genetics, minored in computer science, and completed her senior thesis in Dr. Maureen Barr’s lab studying post-translational modifications to microtubules in ciliated neurons in C. elegans. She matriculated into the Medical Scientist Training Program at Duke in 2018 and joined the Rawls Lab in the spring of 2021. She’s excited to be studying enteroendocrine cells in the gut and how their function is modulated by diet and microbes. Outside of lab, Maggie loves playing soccer, going for hikes along the Eno River, and watching cheesy reality TV with her friends.

Peyton Moore
GRADUATE STUDENT
Email
(919)-660-0894

Peyton is originally from Pittsburgh, PA and received her undergraduate degree in microbiology at Penn State University. During her undergrad she studied microbial interactions in the lab of Tim Miyashiro by characterizing type VI secretion systems across Vibrio fischeri symbionts isolated from the Hawaiian bobtail squid. Peyton affiliated with the MGM department at Duke and joined the Rawls lab in the spring of 2023. She is excited to be studying intestinal injury and repair using the zebrafish model. Beyond the lab she enjoys reading, cooking (particular soup recipes), and listening to live music.

Courtney Rivet-Noor
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
Email
(919)-660-0894

Courtney was born in raised in Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan where she studied Neuroscience. After undergrad, Courtney earned her PhD from the University of Virginia in Neuroscience with a focus on Neuroimmunology. In grad school, she studied the role of the microbiome and the mucus layer in stress-induced depression. As a post-doctoral scholar in the Rawls lab, Courtney will be studying the role of HNF4a in transcriptional regulation of intestinal programs in inflammatory disease, viral infection, and microbiome/mucus disruption. Outside of the lab, Courtney enjoys baking, spending time with her 2 nephews, listening to audio books, and boring anyone who will listen with all known mucin facts.

Laura Childers
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
Email
(919)-660-0894

Laura is from Houston, Texas. Laura earned undergraduate degrees in History and Plan II Honors from The University of Texas at Austin, then went on to receive a postbaccalaureate degree in Biology from Oregon State University – Cascades (OSU). At OSU, Laura did undergraduate research studying wild-caught stickleback with Dr. Ann Petersen. She then earned her Ph.D. in Cell Biology at Duke University in the laboratory of Dr. Michel Bagnat by uncovering interactions between lysosome rich enterocytes and the gut microbiome that impact host nutrient absorption. In the Rawls lab, Laura is researching the gut microbiomes of wild-caught zebrafish and investigating host-microbiome interactions through enteroendocrine cells. In her free time, Laura loves trail running along the Eno River, birdwatching, camping and hiking.

Colin Lickwar
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AND LAB MANAGER
Email
(919)-660-0893

Colin is originally from Duxbury, Vermont where he was once the 6^th grade chess champion of the state. Under the assumption that all things are organized in the same way, he studies chromatin genomics and transcriptional regulation of the host response to microbes in the gut. His favorite fruits include: grapefruit, peaches, cherries, blueberries, and limes.