Meet the team

Diana K. Morales, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology

Current Members

Haoyu Zheng

Research Technician

Chen Tan, Ph.D.

Research Specialist and Lab Manager

Former Members

Sofia Thurston.

Period: June 2025 – August 2025; June 2026 – August 2026.

Position/Site: Summer Research High School Student.

Project: Systemic immunoregulatory consequences of gut microbial translocation.

Reditha Yousafo.

Period: July 2023 – August 2024

Position/Site: High School Senior Student, Bronx High School of Science.

Project: Inflammatory modulation in phagocytic cells by vaginal Enterococcus faecalis.

Kylie Huber.

Period: June – August 2024

Position/Site: Undergraduate student, Cornell University.

Project: Investigating the Mechanisms of Gut Barrier Translocation by Enterococcus faecalis.

Yusibeska Ramos, Ph.D.

Period: 2017 – April 2024

Position/Site: Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate

Project: Molecular programs driving surface invasion by enterococcal multicellular communities

Ashley Llenas.

Period: June 2023

Position/Site: Traveller Research Fellow

Project: Investigating the Mechanisms of Gut Barrier Translocation by Enterococcus faecalis.

Stephanie Sansone, M.D.

Period: January 2021 – June 2023

Position/Site: Urology Clinical Fellow

Project: Tissue penetration and invasion by Enterococci: Implications for the female reproductive tract.

Recipient of the June Allyson Memorial Fund Research Award Grant

Current Position: Urologist at the Hackensack Meridian Health.

Melanie Collana

Period: June 2019 – September 2019

Position/Site: High School Summer Research Program

Project:  Exopolysaccharides as drivers of surface penetration by Enterococcus faecalis.

Current Position: Undergraduate student at Stony Brook University.