University of Washington Genome Sciences Department
Trainees
Danielle Faivre - graduate student
Danielle joined the Genome Sciences department as a graduate student in September 2017 and became part of the MacCoss lab in June 2018. Since joining the MacCoss lab, Danielle has focused on energetics-based proteomics approaches for studying protein aggregation in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. She is very excited for this project because of its relevance to neurodegenerative diseases. In May 2017, Danielle graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a B.S. in Biochemistry. Her undergraduate research involved method development for capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (CE-ESI-MS) and using CE-ESI-MS to analyze the developmental metabolome of Xenopus laevis.
Deanna Plubell - graduate student
Deanna is a third-year PhD student interested in better understanding the role of proteolytic processing in
Neurodegenerative disease. More specifically she is interested in determining ways we can better utilize quantitative mass spec data to detect differential proteoforms. Additionally, she has worked to improve selection of peptide candidates for targeted assay development. Before joining the MacCoss lab, Deanna worked at Oregon Health & Science University where she used both discovery and targeted mass spec methods to investigate changes in adipose tissue and lipoprotein proteomes in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Lilian Heil - graduate student
Lilian is a PhD student in Genome Sciences interested in developing methods for the acquisition and analysis of quantitative proteomics data. She joined the department in the fall of 2019 after graduating from the University of North Carolina in the winter of 2018 with a B.S. in Chemistry. Before graduate school, she worked in the Hicks Lab at UNC for 2 years as an undergraduate trainee and for several months as a full time research assistant using mass spectrometry to identify and characterize novel bioactive peptides. There, she helped to discover and sequence a novel antimicrobial peptide from Amaranthus tricolor and developed a passion for mass spectrometry.
Miranda Mudge - graduate student
Miranda is a PhD candidate in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department working jointly in the MacCoss and Nunn labs. She is broadly interested in using proteomics to better understand how microbiomes influence their environment, specifically by adapting DIA methods for metaproteomics. Her project involves using the circadian rhythmicity of marine microbiome peptides to forecast the formation of harmful algal blooms. Within the lab, Miranda has also studied how environmentally relevant cold active bacteria maintain cellular activity after long-term exposure to extreme conditions, as well as how microbiome controls on eukaryotes inhibit viral infections. Prior to joining the lab, Miranda studied DNA damage repair at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as developed a mouse melanoma model at Missouri State University, where she graduated with a M.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology.
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Kristine Tsantilas - postdoctoral fellow
Dr. Kristine Tsantilas is a postdoctoral fellow that joined the MacCoss lab in 2021. She has worked on diverse research projects connected by mass spectrometry including organic synthesis, proteomics of human disease, retinal metabolism, and the biology of aging. Her work in the MacCoss lab includes using interspecies proteomics to study aging, characterization of the circulating proteome, and quality control approaches in proteomics. Before joining the MacCoss lab, Kristine studied biochemistry as an undergraduate at Arizona State University and completed her PhD at the University of Washington in the laboratory of James B. Hurley. When not in the lab, she enjoys cooking, traveling, gardening (indoors and out!), ceramics, and going to Seattle’s Farmers Markets.