Osena Research Group
Our People
Principal Investigator (PI)
Dr. Ayalew Ligaba Osena
Associate Professor
UNCG-Biology
Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Email: alosena@uncg.edu
Graduate Students
Muhammad Numan
PhD student-Since January 2021
Abreham Bekele Alemu
PhD student-Since January 2022
Temesgen Dagnaw Sendek
PhD student-Since August 2024
Tariq Shah
PhD student since August 2025
Obssi Desalegn Hora
PhD student since August 2025
Shannon Lumpkin
MS student-Since August 2025
Undergraduate Students
Bubacarr Jallow
Undergraduate since September 2023
Amber Fairchild
Undergraduate student-Since May 2024
Nicholas Yeboah
Undergraduate student- Since August 2024
Adlaynn Parrish
Undergraduate student since May 2025
Cindy Lin
Undergraduate student since May 2025
Jair Ortez
Undergraduate since August 2025
KAYLEN WILLIAMSON
Undergraduate since January 2026
LUIS RIVERA
Undergraduate since January 2026
H’Yin Siu
Undergraduate since January 2026
Eesha Somarpu
Undergraduate student since August 2025
High Shool interns
Udaya Sri Parthiban
From Early College at Guilford since August 2025
Chloe Nyamongo (Draelos Scholar from High School)
Emma Smith (Draelos Scholar from Cornerstone Charter Academy)
Rachael Jones (Draelos Scholar from Penn-Griffin School for the Arts)
Yukta Paduru (From Green Home High School)
Former graduate Students
Dr. Raza Ullah
PhD student from January 2021-August 2025
Current Visiting Assistant Professor and research collaborator
Anastasia Romanov
MS student from 2022-2024
Former Undergraduate and postbac students
OAkel Parrish
Undergraduate student since May 2025
Eesha Somarpu
Undergraduate student since August 2025
Alexandro Fernandez (Summer 2025)
Smit Prajapati
Undergraduate Since Spring 2025
Former Undergraduate and postbac students
Jasmin Galbreath
(Undergraduate student- Since August 2024)
Lea Behnke
Undergraduate student-Since June 2024
Stacy Mabiala
Undergraduate student- Since August 2024
Angela Riano Mendez
Undergraduate student- Since August 202
Maggie ODaniel
Former Lab members
Postbac student-since June 2023
Seren Wang
Undergraduate student-Since May 2024
Terranee Anderson
Postbac student- Since August 2024
Tanner Lyons
Undergraduate student- Since August 2024
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Mohamed Nisar
(High School Volunteer since August 2024)
Nishitha Daniel
From Early College at Guilford
Since Summer of 2023 (Draelos Scholar)
Volunteer student researcher
Summer 2024 interns from high schools
Deniz Keser
Graduated from Grimsley High School
Draelos Scholars
Ehshi Na
From Early College of Forsyth
Meredith Presnell
From Early College of Guilford
Adam Tart
From Wesleyan Christian Academy high school
Shivani
Green Level High School
Summer 2023 interns from high schools
Deniz Keser
From Grimsley High School
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Alexis Croatt (Draelos Scholar)
From Corner Stone High School
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Former lab members
Dr. Wanli Guo
Visiting scholar from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
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Dr. Barbara Amoah
Part-time researcher
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Dr. Mohammad Salehin
Post doctoral researcher
Dr. Sang Chul Choi
Post doctoral researcher
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Eric Whisnant
Postbac student- April 2022-July 2024
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Victoria Cook
Undergraduate student- January 2024-May 2024
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Christian Keith
Undergraduate student- August 2022-Decemeber 2023
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Daniel Araya
Undergraduate student- August 2021- May 2024
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Sean Williams
Postbac student Summer 2023
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Carlos Morales-Sanchez
Postbac student Summer and Fall 2023
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Alyssa Hill
Postbac Fall 2023
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Michael Mcrae
Postbac Fall 2023
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Willy Pina
Postbac student-Since April 2022
Abdalkader Salaimah
Undergraduate student
Jade Lyons
Undergraduate student
Norvinyo Abiti
Post-bac
Austin Cotten
Post-bac
Kaleigh Roe
Post-bac
Peyton LaBonte
Undergraduate
Jenna Wammock
Undergraduate
Katherine Craib
Undergraduate
Sunshine Alvarez
Kale-kidan Berhe
Quashawn Chedwick
Christopher Cotter
Winta Daniel
Myia Hall
Juan House-Hernandez
Niska Majumdar
Emiri Michishita
Daniel Park
Aashika Ramkumar
Helina Talbot
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Fatima Shahid
Undergraduate student-Since September 2021
Scarlett Perez
Undergraduate student-Summer 2021
Aliya Warris – Summer 2021
Undergraduate student-Summer 2021
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Colt Russel
Undergraduate student-Since September 2021
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Jaime Richardson
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Hisham Mohamed
Undergraduate student-Since August 2022
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