the team

the MOILAB (tie dye shirts, Moi taking the pic) and many friends & volunteers on Nov 2021 planting Arabidopsis in our Carnegie field site at Stanford

Allison Yin/AP Images for HHMI

Principal Investigator

Moisés (Moi) Expósito-Alonso , PhD
(he/him/él)

Principal Investigator Staff Associate, Depts. of Plant Biology and Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science,Assistant Professor (by courtesy) of Biology, Dept. of Biology, Stanford UniversityFreeman Hrabowski Scholar, Howard Hugues Medical Institutes (HHMI)
Moi aims to mentor creative scientists that apply ecology, evolution, and genetics principles to understand nature and its relationship with climate
Moi's office phone: 650 739 4230@MExpositoAlonsomoi@moilab.science mexpositoalonso@carnegiescience.edumexpositoalonso@stanford.eduMoi's Google ScholarMoi's CV

Lucas Czech, PhD

Postdoc
Lucas aims to develop methods and software to understand eco-evolutionary processes under climate change
@LucCzechlczech@carnegiescience.edu Lucas' Google Scholar

Megan Ruffley, PhD

Postdoc, NSF PGRF Fellow(co-advised, Rhee Lab)
Megan is interested in using machine learning algorithms to understand selection across plant genomes in response to stress.
@MeganRRuffleymruffley@carnegiescience.edu Megan's Google Scholar

Maliheh Esfahanian, PhD

Research Associate
Mali is interested in utilizing multiplex CRISPR gene editing to engineer polygenic traits in plants. 
@Maliesfahanianmesfahanian@carnegiescience.edu Mali's Google Scholar

Ken Thompson, PhD

Postdoc, HFSP Long-Term Fellow(co-advised by Molly Schumer)
Ken studies hybrid incompatibilities using computational and field-based techniques.
@Apex_Herbivorekthompson@carnegiescience.eduthomp579@stanford.eduKen's Google Scholar

Meixi Lin

Postdoc, Stanford CEHG Fellow & Smith Conservation Research Fellow
Meixi aims to develop ways to track genetic health of ecosystems with geo-tagged genomes and real-time satellite information. 
mlin@carnegiescience.edu Meixi's Google Scholar

Xing Wu

Postdoc
Xing is interested in developing polygenic methods to understand complex adaptive architectures in plants.
xwu@carnegiescience.edu Xing's Google Scholar


Oliver Selmoni, PhD

Postdoc (co-advised by Phil Cleves)


Oliver is interested in meta-analyzing coral genomic resources to find a common genetic architecture of bleaching resistance across acroporid corals.

oselmoni@carnegiescience.edu

Oliver's Google Scholar

Lauren Gillespie

PhD Student in Computer Science, NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Stanford TomKat Center Fellow (co-advised, Goodman Lab)
Lauren aims to develop deep learning methods for biodiversity modeling to understand both better!
@leg2015gillespl@stanford.edu lgillespie@carnegiescience.edu Lauren's academic websiteLauren's Google Scholar

Laura Leventhal

PhD Student in Biology | Ecology & Evolution , NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Laura aims to investigate the spatial and temporal structure in plant populations and how these inform adaptations to climate change.
@laura_leventhallleventh@stanford.edu lleventhal@carnegiescience.edu 

Sebastian Toro Arana

PhD Student in Biology | Cellular, Molecular, and Organismal Biology, NSF Graduate Research Honoree
Sebastian aims to use computational tools and engineering principles to study the underlying mechanisms of plant stress resistance
sebatoro@stanford.edu storo@carnegiescience.edu 

Tatiana Bellagio

PhD Student in Biology | Ecology & Evolution. Fulbright Fellow
Tati aims to understand the predictability of evolution using
tbellagio@carnegiescience.edu

Kristy Mualim

PhD Student in Biology | Ecology & Evolution
Kristy works to apply machine learning models to genomics data and is now incredibly excited to start applying them to plants to understand their adaptability to climate change. 
@ksmualimkmualim@carnegiescience.edu 

Keegan Pham

Research Assistant
Keegan aims to scale throughput and improve transformation efficiency for CRISPR related mutagenesis experiments 
kpham@carnegiescience.edu 

Zouberou Sayibou

Undegraduate Research Assistant in Computer Science
Zoube is interested in applying deep learning to biology using genomic and spatial data.
zouberou@stanford.edu 

Kaiku Kaholoaa

Rotating PhD Student in Biology | Ecology & Evolution (Hopkins Marine Station)

kaiku@stanford.edu

Tenzin Norzin (they/them)

Rotating PhD Student in Biology | Cell, Molecular & Organismal Biology
norzin@stanford.edu tnorzin@carnegiescience.edu

Tenzing Kalsang

Undegraduate Research Assistant
Tenzing Kalsang is a current undergraduate student at Stanford University studying Neurobiology with a minor in mathematics.
tkalsang@carnegiescience.edu 

Emily Koke

Research Assistant
Emily is interested in using field experiments and molecular biology to understand the adaptability of plants in response to climate change
ekoke@carnegiescience.edu 

You?

Postdoc Genetics of Dehydration in Plants
Link to Ad and application portal
Part of WALII NSF institute

You?

Lab ManagerNGS, CRISPR, and Plants, Admin
Link to Ad and application portal

You?

Research Assistant (technician)NGS, CRISPR, and Plants
Link to Ad and application portal

You?

Postdoc or Staff Computational BioQuantitative Evolutionary Genetics and Ecology
Link to Ad and application portal

honorary members

Gloria, Milagros, Bielefelda, Princess, Josefa la morena Cuervo


Lab friends experts in herbivory experiments and random Markov walks.
YOU?
We are always searching for talented and creative researchers, and are happy to develop together ideas for a competitive fellowship.

For opportunities to join our lab, see the subpage Join us!



Support Staff

Below are the wonderful Carnegie supporting staff who interacts the most with our team. See what they do, and where to find them!

Clare Tuma

​HR Business Partner
Clare runs onboarding  of team members, helps with benefits such as health insurances, visas, and others.
ctuma@carnegiescience.edu 

Terri Tippets

Executive Administrative to Plant Bio labs
Terri helps the lab in many things! scheduling visits of speakers, ordering stuff for celebrations, and many more. 
ttippets@carnegiescience.edu 

Garret Huntress

Information Systems Manager
Garret helps the Moi lab with hardware and software in our computing cluster. Garret set up our own MOINODE ;) 
ghuntress@carnegiescience.edu 
Maria and Garret are also reachable through tickets:ithelp@dpb.carnegiescience.edu 

Maria Lopez

IT Specialist
Maria is there for all questions about setting up computers, ordering computer hardware, connecting to campus networks,  printing posters,  and more.
mlopez@carnegiescience.edu
Maria and Garret are also reachable through tickets:ithelp@dpb.carnegiescience.edu 

Pixian Serna

Assistant Business Controller
Pixian helps the lab with coordinating lab and strategize on investments, grants, fellowships, and hires.
pserna@carnegiescience.edu 

Naoia Williams

Purchasing/Receptionist
Naoia places orders for the lab to keep it running!
nwilliams@carnegiescience.edu orders@dpb.carnegiescience.edu 

Kate Stevenson

Administrative Assistant
Kate coordinates with Theo in facilities to run smoothly. Big orders and equipments go through Kate.
kstevenson@carnegiescience.edu 

Scott Boutaugh

Investigator Support Manager
Scott supervises the grants team, and does the last click before any grant gets submitted!
sboutaugh@carnegiescience.edu 

Aimee Knudson

Grants Manager
Aimee helps us with preparing everything pre- and post- grant awards, and keeps Moi on his toes to get things on time!
aknudson@carnegiescience.edu 

Theo Van de Sande

Facilities Manager
Theo is our saviour in any needs regarding facilities.  He coordinates growth chambers, greenhouses, and field upgrades and maintenance. 
tvandesande@carnegiescience.edu  

Ismael Villa

Facilities Technician
Ismael has helped the team with all constructions projects. From setting up the field station, to helping with materials and building tools.
ivilla@carnegiescience.edu 

Giancarlo (Johnny) Materassi

​Growth Facilities Manager
Johnny helps coordinating greenhouse and growth chamber spaces for experiments, and takes cares of the plants applying any chemical they need and watering (except in drought experiments!)

gmaterassi@carnegiescience.edu 


alumni

Shannon Hateley, PhD - Postdoc 2020-2023 - Now computational biologist at Google X, CA

Kelly Huang - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2022 - now undergraduate at Stanford

Marlot Westera - Master Student 2021-2022 - now PhD student at Amsterdam University, NL

Clara Kieschnick - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2020-2022 

Katie Baker - Undergraduate Research Assistant 2022 - now undergraduate at Stanford

Christie Patel - Summer Intern 2022 - now undergraduate in Cambridge University, UK

Ru Peng - Research Assistant 2019-2022, now PhD student at Washington University, St.Louis, US

Matt Gill - Genetics PhD student rotating Spring 22, now PhD Student in Bhatt lab at Stanford University School of Medicine

Erin Zess - PhD - Postdoc 2021, now group leader in Benson Hill, Missouri, US

Jennifer Serrano Rojas - Biology PhD student rotating Summer 21, now PhD student in the O'Connell Lab at Stanford

Alanna Pyke - Genetics PhD student rotating Fall 20, now PhD student in the Sherlock Lab at Stanford

Eva Sehr - Bioinformatics Master student, FH Campus Wien 2019-2020, now scientist at Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria

Andrea Ramirez - Biology PhD student rotating Winter 20, now PhD student in the Dinneny Lab at Stanford

Veronica Pagowski - Biology PhD student rotating Fall 19-Spring20, now PhD student in the Lowe Lab at Stanford

Some cute pictures of the lab! our timeline

Fall 2019 Moi with Ru Peng, the first lab member and first Illumina kits for sequencing ;)

Dec 2020 MOILAB winter party (of course in ZoomLand!)

Summer 2021 first MOILAB retreat!

Spring 2022

Summer 2022 (with Kristy, Oliver and Megan photoshoped, you cannot tell right? 🤣)