Lab Members
PEOPLE
Principal Investigator
Abigail Bigham
Associate Professor of Anthropology
awbigham@ucla.edu
Abby received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Arizona and PhD with Mark Shriver at Penn State University. Before coming to UCLA she was a postdoc with Mike Bamshad at the University of Washington and faculty at the University of Michigan. Her group’s research explores human genomic adaptation.
Graduate Students
Cesar Barreras
cesar3@ucla.edu
Paloma Contreras
palomacz@umich.edu
Paloma is a PhD student in Biological Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Her research explores the effects of water insecurity on stress biomarkers and DNA methylation among women living in Mexico City.
Suraiya Luecke
suraiyaluecke@g.ucla.edu
Zoë Shmidt
zoeshmidt@g.ucla.edu
Zoë is a first-year PhD student in the Biological Anthropology department. She is currently researching signatures of natural selection in skin pigmentation loci and is interested in studying introgression in the future. She previously received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and was a lab assistant in the Human Paleogenomics laboratory.
Naima Tucker
enyovin@g.ucla.edu
Naima is a second year PhD student in Biological Anthropology. She is a interested in understanding and integrating indicators of psychosocial stress and molecular data to assess drivers of cognitive aging.
Emma Wade
eew226@g.ucla.edu
Emma Wade is a second-year PhD student in the Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program. Emma earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Mississippi State University and an M.Phil. in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge, where she worked in Hilary Martin’s medical and population genetics group at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Currently, Emma is interested in identifying adaptive genomic regions using population genetic and integrative multi-omic approaches
Emma Young
youngea@g.ucla.edu
Emma Young is a third-year PhD student in Biological Anthropology. She previously earned a B.A. in Anthropology at the University of Kansas in 2020. Currently, she is interested in using multi-omic methods to research adaptations to cold in the Peruvian Andes.
Undergraduate Students
Hi, my name is Nathan and I am a second-year Biology major at UCLA interested in genomics, human evolutionary biology, and introgression. At the Bigham lab, I am exploring evidence for genetic resistance factors to SARS-CoV-2 at high altitudes amongst the Quechua people in Peru.
My name is Andrea Roman, and I am a fourth-year B.S. in Anthropology, Physiological Science, and Biology student. I am currently in the Lemelson Anthropology Honors Program, finalizing my research on the MCM6 gene under the advisement of Dr. Bigham.
Lab Alumni
Graduate Students
Vince Battista
Vince completed his PhD in Biological Anthropology in 2021. His dissertation explored genomic and morphological evidence for cold climate and hot climate adaptation among populations from Latin America. Vince is now a bioinformatician at Dana Farber/ Harvard Cancer Center
vmbatt@umich.edu
Abagail Breidenstein
Abagail completed her PhD in Biological Anthropology in 2019. Her dissertation explored identity and migration in Ancient Nubia. After completing a postdoc at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich, Abagail is now a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at SUNY Binghamton and is the Associate Director of the Nuri Archaeological Expedition in Sudan.
abstein@umich.edu
Ainash Childebayeva
Ainash completed her PhD in Biological Anthropology in 2019. Her dissertation looked at epigenetic modifications in response to high-altitude hypoxia among Andean Quechua highlanders. She is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin.
ainash@umich.edu
Kristine Chua
Kristine compelted her PhD in Biological Anthropology in 2024. Her dissertation centered around how perceptions of mortality risk affect developmental trajectories and human reproductive health, working closely with pregnant Filipina women and Filipina American women to investigate how the socio-political environment becomes embodied in women’s biological experiences and how these communities conceptualize mental health.
kckchua1110@ucla.edu
Obed Garcia
Obed completed his PhD in Biological Anthropology in 2020. Broadly stated, his interests lie at exploring how our human history influences our genome that may make us more or less susceptible to modern infectious diseases. His dissertation combined bioinformatic analysis with field research to understand the impact of past evolutionary forces on modern susceptibility/resistance to infectious disease, particularly dengue virus. He is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas.
oag@umich.edu
Kelsey Jorgensen
kcjorgensen@ucla.edu
Kelsey was a postdoctoral scholar in the BighamLab. She is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas.
Kimberly Zhu
kitzhu@ucla.edu
Elizabeth Werren
Liz completed her PhD Biological Anthropology and Human Genetics. Her research explored cortical neurobiological evolution and neurodevelopmental disorders. Liz is now a Clinical Genomicist at The Jackson Laboratory.
werren@umich.edu
Researchers
Jenna Isherwood
Undergraduate student and research technician
MS Wayne State University
Julien Weinstein
Research Technician
Undergraduate Students
Michael Ashkinadze
MD Student at Western Michigan University
Kendra Barreras
PhD Student in Anthropology, UCLA
Ainsley Belisle
MS Evolutionary Medicine, UCLA
Misque Boswell
MS student in Neuroimaging and Informatics Program, USC
Timothy Brash
Medical Student at Wayne State University
Sarah Burke
University of Texas Genetic Counseling Program
Katarina Crause
Dental School at the University of Michigan
Tiara Forsyth
MD Harvard University
Megan Harrison
Medical Student at Wayne State University
Mohamad Hadied
MD Wayne State University
Lauren Heinonen
Alex Fietel
MPH Johns Hopkins University
TJ Fagan
Katarina Evans
CUNY graduate program in Anthropology
Sohil Joshi
M.S. Student Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analysis Keck Graduate Institue
Elaine Kim
Sebastian Lyos
Fatima Memon
Pranavi Midathada
Alex Parks
MPH student at the University of Michigan
Mary Allison Parayao
Lauren Payne
Paula Pedrani
Meredith Rutledge
PhD student at UCSD
Siya Sharma
Molly Starchuski
Peace Corps Volunteer
Rachel Taylor
Kinsey Vear
MD University of Michigan
Polly Washabaugh
Dan Whorf
MD University of Illinois