Lab Personnel


Image of Jeffrey A. Lewis

Jeffrey A. Lewis

Principal Investigator
 
Dr. Lewis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. He earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC-Santa Barbara. His current research focuses on understanding the regulation and diversity of microbial stress responses.
Image of Tara Stuecker

Tara Stuecker

Staff Scientist
 
Dr. Stuecker joined the lab in 2013. She earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying post-translational regulation of bacterial metabolic pathways in the laboratory of Dr. Jorge Escalante-Semerena. Prior to that, she was a technician at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, studying microbial diversity of spacecraft assembly facilities. In the Lewis lab, she is working to understand the complex genetic underpinnings of stress cross-protection in diverse yeast strains.
Image of Sonali Lenaduwe

Sonali Lenaduwe

Graduate Student
Sonali joined the lab in 2021 as a PhD student in Cell and Molecular Biology after completing her M.S. degree as a Fulbright Scholar here at the University of Arkansas. Her current project is to understand the genetic architecture underlying natural variation in stress resistance.
Image of Carson Stacy

Carson Stacy

Graduate Student
Carson joined the lab in the Fall of 2021 as a PhD student in Cell and Molecular Biology, and he's concurrently working on an MS in Statistics and Analytics. Carson's project is to understand how natural variation shapes individual differences in stress sensing and signaling.
Image of Kate Cheek

Kate Cheek

Undergraduate
Kate joined the lab in the Fall of 2022. Her Honors project is to understand which genetic differences may potentiate horizontal gene transfer.

Lab Alumni

Staff Scientists

Stephanie Hood
  • Stephanie worked in the lab from 2020 - 2025 on several projects related to developing CRISPR screens for wild yeast strains and understanding the complex genetic basis of stress defenses  
  • Stephanie is currently a staff scientist in Amy Poe's lab at the University of Arkansas
 
Graduate Students
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Julio Molina Pineda
  • Julio graduated with a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2019, where his project was to understand the genetic basis of natural variation disease susceptibility.
  • Julio is currently a postdoc in Steve Reilly's lab at Yale. 
Crystal Crook
  • Crys graduated with a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2025. Her thesis project was to understand how natural variation impacts transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation.
  • Cys is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas.
Rebecca Kavanaugh
  • Bekka graduated with a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2019. Bekka's project was to understand the dynamics and functional significance of reversible lysine acetylation during yeast stress responses.
  • Bekka is currently the IACUC Program Director at the University of Arkansas.
Kala Downey
  • Kala graduated with a Ph.D. in Biology in 2022. Kala's co-mentored project in the Alverson lab was to understanding how diatoms respond and acclimate to freshwater stress. 
  • Kala is currently working at Tutor Doctor in Knoxville, TN.
Amanda Scholes
  • Amanda graduated with a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2019, where her project was to understand the myriad of viable strategies that genetically distinct individuals use to protect themselves from stress. 
  • Amanda is currently a research scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
Syed Raza Mahmood
  • Raza was a Fulbright Scholar who earned a M.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2017. Raza's thesis focused on developing high-throughput mutagenesis methods that are adaptable to wild yeast strains.
  • Raza received a PhD from New York University in 2022 and is currently a postdoc in Effie Apostolou’s lab at Weill Cornell.
Wilson Johnson
  • Wil graduated with a M.S. in 2016. Will was a joint member of the Douglas labs, and his thesis involved understanding the effects of "fracking" on microbial biofilm communities in Ozark streams.
  • Wil is currently a teacher in Springdale, AR. 
 
Undergraduate Students
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Maddie Mathews
  • Maddie graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Biology in 2024. Her Honor's Thesis focused on developing new tools to study Parkinson's disease using yeast as a model.
  • Maddie is currently applying to medical schools.
Lily Pitts
  • Lily graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Biology in 2024. Her Honor's Thesis focused on understanding how genetic variation impacts stress-activated protein kinase signaling.
  • Lily is currently applying to medical schools.
Savannah Washburn
  • Savannah graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Biology in 2021. Her Honor's Thesis focused on understanding the genomic changes that occur during laboratory domestication of wild yeast.
  • Savannah is a PhD student in Biology at Georgia Tech.
Weijia Shi
  • Weijia graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biology in 2021. Her Honor's Thesis focused on understanding how reversible lysine acetylation regulates protein activity and impacts fitness during heat shock.
  • Weijia is currently attending Medical School at UAMS.
Jared Canonigo
  • Jared graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Spanish in 2021. His Honor's Thesis focused on understanding how acetylation regulates metabolic enzyme function during environmental shifts.
  • Jared is currently attending Medical School at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. 
Manasa Veluvolu
  • Manasa graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Chemistry and Business Administration in 2019. Her Honor's Thesis focused on using natural variation in wild yeast strains to understand why different individuals are more or less susceptible to stress and disease.
  • Manasa is currently attending Medical School at UAMS.
Cader Locke
  • Cader graduated with a BS in Biology in 2019. His project was to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying differences in stress resistance in wild yeast strains. 
  • Cader is currently a U.S. Navy Corpsman.
Sydney Danielle
  • Sydney graduated in 2018. Her project was to map differences in stress-activated regulatory cascades across diverse wild yeast strains.
  • Sydney graduated from PA School at Mississippi College in 2021 and is currently a Physician Assistant at Children's Medical Center.
Emma Cox
  • Emma graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2016. Emma's Honor's Thesis focused on understanding the role of Mkt1p in post-transcription regulation of stress responses.
  • Emma graduated from PA School at Saint Louis University in 2020 and is currently a Physician Assistant at Swedish Medical Center.
Elizabeth McDaniel
  • Elizabeth graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2016. Her Honor's Thesis focused on how natural variation in ENA1 expression impacts resistance to high salt concentrations.
  • Elizabeth graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. in Microbiology in 2021, did a postodc in Ryan Ziels' and Steven Hallam's labs at the University of Vancouver, and is currently working at Arcadia Science. 
Jessica Koster
  • Jessie earned her BS degree in Biological Sciences in 2014. In the lab, she studied the function of stress-regulated paralogs of metabolic enzymes.
  • Jessie graduated with an MD from UAMS in 2019, and is currently doing a radiology residency at the University of Kansas.
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Lewis Laboratory
University of Arkansas

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