Current Lab Members
Stacy Horner, PhD – Principal Investigator
Stacy grew up in Minnesota, and she received her BA in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Gustavus Adolphus College. She received her Ph.D. in 2007 from Yale University, where she studied human papillomaviruses with Dr. Daniel DiMaio. Her postdoctoral research, sponsored by Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute, was with Dr. Michael Gale at the University of Washington, and focused on hepatitis C virus regulation of antiviral innate immunity. Stacy opened her lab at Duke in 2013. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative ImmunoBiology, with secondary appointments in MGM, Medicine, and Cell Biology. She is also the Director of the Duke Center for RNA Biology. Stacy teaches several graduate courses at Duke. Her favorite things to do in the lab are molecular cloning and learning about “hot off the press” results!
Google Scholar: bit.ly/3v8TNGR
Moonhee Park, BS – Research Technician and Lab Manager
Moonhee was born in Hongsung, South Korea and received her degree in Library and Information Science from Soong Eui Women’s College in Seoul. After emigrating to the United States, Moonhee obtained a BS in Chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She worked as a research technician for ten years at the UNC Department of Dermatology. In 2017, she joined Dr. Horner’s lab at Duke University as a research technician and lab manager. Her first paper was published in 2010 with subsequent papers in 2015 and 2017. Moonhee supports the lab’s never ending need for research material inventories and helping graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. She is interested in generating CRISPR knockout cell lines. Outside the lab, Moonhee enjoys painting, reading, cooking Korean food and gardening. She has seven thriving Orchids and an indoor hydroponic garden. She dreams of killing all mosquitoes with fire.
Matthew Thompson, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Matthew grew up in Ohio and received his BS in Biotechnology from Kent State University (2013). He then moved to Philadelphia, PA where he completed a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania in Kristen Lynch’s lab (2019). Matthew’s doctoral work focused on alternative splicing regulation of both host and viral transcripts during influenza A infection. During his work in the Lynch lab, Matthew became interested in the mechanisms that cause mis-regulation of RNA binding proteins during infection and/or immune response. In Stacy’s lab he is exploring his interest by studying how the proteins that regulate post-transcriptional modification of RNA are functionally altered during infection with viruses from the Flaviviridae family. Outside the lab, Matthew is an avid Cleveland sports fan (including watching the Browns lose every week at local fan clubs) and enjoys playing music and video games.
Hannah Schmidt, PhD - Recent Graduate student (MGM)
Hannah grew up in Florida and received her BS in Bioengineering from the University of Florida. While at UF, Hannah worked in the lab of Dr. Eric McLamore, assisting with the development of electrochemical sensors for detecting mercury in water. After graduating, Hannah spent a year as a post-baccalaureate fellow at the NIDDK in the lab of Dr. Kai Ge, where she worked on characterizing the role of NSD2 in the epigenetic regulation of adipogenesis. Hannah arrived at Duke in 2019 and joined the Horner lab where she is interested in studying how the innate immune response to positive-sense RNA viruses is regulated. Outside of lab, Hannah enjoys hiking, baking, and playing video games.
Caroline Aufgebauer, BS - Graduate student (CMB/MGM)
Caroline was born in Germany and raised in Florida. She received a BS in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Hispanic studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. At UNC, Caroline studied kidney development in Dr. Lori O’Brien’s lab, characterizing the role of the SIX2 Q177R mutation in Wilms’ tumor. After graduating, Caroline took a gap year as a research technician in Dr. Chad Pecot’s lab at UNC, where she collaborated with Dr. Kevin Weeks’ lab to study the secondary structure of circular RNAs. Caroline arrived at Duke in 2021 and joined the Horner lab, where she is interested in studying the role of m6A in regulating viral infection. Outside of lab, Caroline enjoys skiing, hiking, baking, and watching cringe reality TV shows with her dog.
Kate Bland, BS - Graduate student (CMB/MGM)
Kate grew up in West Virginia and received her B.S. in Biology from James Madison University in 2020. While at JMU, Kate worked under Dr. George Vidal studying how autism spectrum disorder genetic risk factors correlate with dysfunctional development of the cerebral cortex. After arriving at Duke University in 2021, Kate joined the Horner lab where she studies the mechanisms involved in the addition of N6-Methyladensine (m6A) to hepatitis C viral RNA by the methyltransferase complex. In her free time Kate enjoys hiking with her dog, visiting local breweries, and binging Netflix shows.
Sarah Harris, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Sarah grew up in Pennsylvania and received her BS in Biochemistry from Westminster College in 2019. She then moved to North Carolina and obtained her PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics in 2024 working in Daniel Dominguez’s lab. Her doctoral work focused on dissecting RNA-protein interactions from both the RNA and RNA-binding protein sides. In Stacy’s lab, she is interested in studying how RNA-binding proteins interact with viral RNA. Outside of lab, Sarah enjoys making music, playing video games, and baking.
Previous Lab Members
Postdocs
Vanessa Gutierrez: postdoc from 2022-2025, now working with Dr. Leonardo Ferreira at Duke University.
Dia Beachboard: postdoc from 2015-2020, now an assistant professor at DeSales University.
Graham Williams: postdoc from 2017-2020, now at Amgen.
Madhuvanthi Vijayan: postdoc from 2017-2018, now research scientist at AskBio.
Graduate students
Matt Sacco: graduate student (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology program) from 2016-2022. Now at CSL.
Daltry Snider: graduate student (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology program) from 2017-2022. Now at ViiV Healthcare.
Michael McFadden: graduate student (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology program) from 2015-2020. Now a Michigan Pioneer program postdoc with Dr. Mary O’Riordan and Dr. Teresa O’Meara at U. Michigan.
Christine Vazquez: graduate student (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology program) from 2013-2019. Now a Principal Scientist at GSK.
Nandan Gokhale: graduate student (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology program) from 2013-2019. Now Assistant Professor at at Cincinnati Children’s, Immunobiology
Allison Roder: graduate student (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology program) from 2013-2018. Now a computational biologist at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.
Lab staff
Gabriella Torres: Was a Prime-prep scholar in the lab, 2023-2024. Currently a PhD student in Duke Immunology Graduate Program.
Jason Willer: research technician and lab manager, 2015-2016. Currently a senior lab specialist at U Michigan.
Mounavya Aligeti: research technician and lab manager, 2013-2015. Currently a manager in business development and project development at Bharat Biotech, India.
Undergraduates
Jordan Reaves: 2023-2025. Now a postbac at the NIH.
Lauren Sar: 2022-2025. Currently a PhD student at Yale.
Grace Sorenson: 2020-2024. After a Fulbright Fellowship in Germany, now a medical student at NYU.
Lauren Valle: 2021-2023. Currently a Duke undergraduate.
Kristen Murphy: 2020-2023. Now working at McKinsey & Co.
Michelle Kim: 2018-2021. Now a medical student at the Mayo Clinic.
Kevin Labagnara: 2016-2018. After medical school at Albert Einstein, now a resident.
Dillon Fernando: 2016- 2017. Now working in NYC in communications/TV.
Sydney Stanley: 2017-2018. After a PhD at Harvard School of Public Health, now a postdoc at Boston Children’s with Dr. Richard Malley.
Sirena Tran: Summer, 2017. After a PhD at Vanderbilt, now at EverGlade Consulting.
Graham (Mawuli) Attipoe, MD, MBA: 2015-2017. After a combined MD/MBA at Vanderbilt and Wharton, now at Tekla Capital Management.
Bianca Lupan, PhD: 2014-2017. After a PhD at Duke, now at Labcorp.
Alie Fink: 2016-2017. Now doing PhD in neuroscience at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Matt Lanahan, PhD: Summer, 2014-15. Received PhD from UTSW; was a scientist at Iconovir. Now staff in Julia Oh’s lab at Duke.