Mustafa Özçam, PhD

mozcam@som.umaryland.edu

Mustafa is the principal investigator of the Translational Microbiome & Immune Tolerance Laboratory. He completed his postdoctoral training at UCSF with Dr. Susan Lynch, investigating how the human microbiome contributes to early-life allergic diseases. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, focusing on the functional role of gut microbial secondary metabolites in microbe-host and microbe-microbe interactions. In his free time, Mustafa enjoys road biking, running, watching football (the real one), and trying recipes from world cuisines.

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Arren Liu, PhD

arren.liu@som.umaryland.edu

Arren is a postdoctoral fellow in the Translational Microbiome & Immune Tolerance Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. in Biological Design at Arizona State University, where he worked with Dr. Arul Varman and Dr. David Nielsen on metabolic engineering of microbes to biomanufacture chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass. Before joining the Özçam Lab, he completed a postdoc in the Lynch Lab at Johns Hopkins University, where he worked on developing genetic tools for microbiota. Arren is the VP of Engagement for the student and postdoc association for EBRC and is also a part of the Opportunity and Belonging committee for SIMB. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and is looking to explore improv in the near future.

Helena Holley

helena.holley@som.umaryland.edu

Helena is a PhD rotation student in the lab and a first-year student in the Molecular Medicine PhD program. She recently completed her bachelor's degree in biology at Dickinson College. During her undergraduate studies, she investigated mechanisms by which acute myeloid leukemia cells could be reprogrammed to behave normally or self-destruct. She also interned at both Bristol Myers Squibb, where she helped optimize neutralizing antibody bioassays, and Pfizer, where she supported quality control laboratory operations. In her free time, Helena enjoys hiking, reading, traveling, and spending time outdoors.

Jakobi Deslouches 

jakobi.deslouches@som.umaryland.edu

Jakobi is a first year PhD student in the Molecular Microbiology & Immunology program, joined the lab for his first rotation in December. He completed his bachelor’s degree nearby at the University of Maryland College Park, where he studied microbiology and statistics. With his strong interest in infectious disease and bioinformatics, he spent two years doing a post-bacc at University of Pittsburgh, revealing a high presence of multi-drug resistant bacteria circulating in Pittsburgh’s hospital and municipal wastewater. In his free time, Jakobi enjoys watching virtually all sports, skateboarding, music production, playing piano, buying vinyl records to add to his collection, and doing crosswords daily.

Lina Berhaneyessus 

Lina is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), and is the lab manager for the Translational Microbiome & Immune Tolerance Laboratory. At UMD, she studies lymphatic permeability and dynamic changes in junctional proteins using in vitro and ex vivo models under interstitial fluid flow in the Maisel Lab. She previously completed a summer internship at the Institute for Genome Sciences (UM Scholars), where she investigated relationships between neonatal fecal cytokine profiles and intestinal permeability under the mentorship of Dr. Bing Ma. In her free time, Lina enjoys drawing, watching anime, running, and playing soccer.

Priscilla Haywood 

phaywood@som.umaryland.edu

Priscilla is a first year PhD student in the Molecular Medicine program who will be joining the lab for her second rotation. She completed her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Mercer University in Georgia. During her undergraduate studies, she screened mutagenized bacteria for biofilm deficiency. Following this, she spent a year working as a research assistant at UMB where she worked on developing methods to isolate bacteria from a microbiome that wouldn’t be isolated via standard culturing. In her free time, she enjoys watching indie animation, doing puzzles with her fiancé, cooking new meals, and finding bugs outside.

Ashley Benton 

AshleyBenton@som.umaryland.edu

Ashley is a first year PhD student in the Molecular Microbiology & Immunology program, joining the lab for her third rotation. She completed BSc in Biotechnology at UMGC, while working as a research assistant in the lab of Bill Jackson where she studied host-pathogen interactions (specifically the autophagy pathway) during SARS-COV-2 infection. She then completed a 1 year post-bacc fellowship at UMSOM focusing on the role of HMGB1 and RAGE during EV-D68 infection. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages, playing music (can't sight-read anymore, but can still play by ear), gaming, swimming, and movies.

Zeytin — Remote Cat

Zeytin (Olive in Turkish) was born in Baltimore but has since lived a truly global life, traveling across multiple states and countries, including Turkey, Portland, San Francisco, and New York. She brings a fiercely independent spirit to the team. If she needs your attention, she’ll make it known; otherwise, good luck getting within a few feet. A proud and accomplished hunter of local rodents, Zeytin would be an ideal lab member—if not for her tendency to get a little too interested in potential in vivo experiments. For everyone’s safety (especially the germ-free mice), she works remotely. In her downtime, Zeytin enjoys long naps and watching birds with an intensity usually reserved for grant deadlines.

Mika — Remote Cat

Mika is a two-year-old feline with a calm yet curious personality. She spends most of her days napping in sun-lit spots, requesting well-timed scratches, and watching the world go by from her favorite window perch. Mika has a strong sense of comfort and equally strong opinions—especially about vacuums, which she considers unnecessary intrusions. A proud San Francisco resident, she shares her apartment with Habibi, another rescued cat from the Page Street in San Francisco, together forming a quirky yet affectionate duo that keeps city life lively and full of personality.