Meet our Lab!

Principle Investigator

Melanie Higgins

  • Assistant Professor, 2021, University of Alabama
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015 – 2021, University of British Columbia, Canada (Supervisor: Katherine Ryan)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, 2013-2014, University of Adelaide, Australia (Supervisor: James Paton)
  • Ph.D. Biochemistry, 2012, University of Victoria, Canada (Supervisor: Alisdair Boraston)
  • I am an Alabama State Tennis Champion!

Contact: mahiggins1@ua.edu

Postdocs

Shruti Sharma

Joined the lab: 2024

Ph.D. Chemistry, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, India

Ph. D. Students

Janique Miller

  • B.S. Biology, Florida Memorial University
  • Joined the lab: Fall 2021
  • I am an avid K-Pop collector.

Mahsa Tanha

  • M.Sc. Cellular & Molecular Biology, University of Medical Science of Tehran Branch​
  • Joined the lab: Spring 2022​

Michael Akintubosun

  • Joined the lab: Fall 2022
  • A fun fact about myself is that I am an ambivert!

Kristin Hobson

  • B.S. Biology, Dallas Baptist University
  • Joined the lab: Spring 2025
  • My favorite book is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Undergraduate Students

Davide Rossotto

  • Joined the lab: Fall 2023
  • Junior Microbiology and Public History Major
  • I am supposed to be a 4th generation wine producer of Nebbiolo in Piemonte, Italy.​

Maddie Clingaman

  • Joined the lab: Fall 2023
  • Junior Biology Major with a Minor in Randall Research Scholars Program and the STEM to MBA Program
  • I love traveling and seeing the world! I hope to go to every continent one day!

Catalina Sapien

  • Joined the lab: Fall 2023
  • Junior Biology Major
  • I studied abroad in Italy last summer!

Sela Trimm

  • Joined the lab: Summer 2024
  • Junior Microbiology Major
  • I have an Instagram account dedicated to my knitting and crochet projects! 

Previous Members (And Where They Are Now)

  • Ronan Latham – REU Student (2024)
  • Molly Sullivan – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2023-2024)
  • Lauren Birschbach – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2023-2024) – PhD Student at Emory University
  • Malena Long – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2024) – Medical Student at the University of Tennessee
  • Grace Zea – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2024)
  • Brooke Bailey – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2024) – Masters Student at UAB
  • Dylan McClain – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2024) – Medical Student at the University of Mississippi
  • Jake Hicks – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2024)
  • Claire Fourroux – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2023)
  • Julianna Popple – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022-2023)
  • Willow Neske – REU Student (2022) – Fulbright scholar at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany and currently a PhD Student at Cornell University
  • Cooper Tinsley – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022) – Undergraduate at the University of Indiana
  • Nolan Braun – Undergraduate Research Assistant (2022) – Undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati