Among SBRI’s researchers, associate scientists are often regarded as “second in command” in their laboratories, supporting the work of principal investigators and the Institute as a whole. All associate scientists have received their postdoctoral degrees and established themselves in a particular area of research. 

They take on independent research and strive to strengthen an existing research area or help develop a new one. While bringing additional expertise to SBRI’s research programs, our associate scientists design and evaluate experiments, develop ideas that promote current research and attend and give seminars.

Amy DeRocher, Ph.D.
An associate scientist in the lab of Marilyn Parsons, Ph.D., Dr. DeRocher received her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Arizona. Her area of research centers on the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, commonly carried by cats and other animals. She has been at SBRI since 1999.

Nancy L. Ernst, Ph.D.
Dr. Ernst received her Ph.D. in microbiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.  She has been at SBRI since 1997, and is presently an associate scientist in the lab of Ken Stuart, Ph.D.  The focus of her research is trypanosomes, with a particular interest in the editing cycle in Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that causes African Sleeping Sickness.

Alice Erwin, Ph.D.
Dr. Erwin is studying invasive nontypeable strains of Haemophilus influenzae using comparative genomics and traditional laboratory methods. Prior to joining the Arnold Smith lab in 2003, she worked in antibacterial vaccine research at MedImmune, Inc. and in antibacterial drug discovery at PathoGenesis Corporation (later Chiron). Dr. Erwin received her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University. 

Michal Fried, Ph.D.
Dr. Fried obtained her Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.  Her studies include the molecular basis of maternal malaria and malaria pathogenesis in early childhood, looking at parasite adhesion as the basis for developing a vaccine, in collaboration with Patrick Duffy, M.D. 

Sean Gray, Ph.D.
Dr. Gray is an associate scientist at SBRI in the laboratory of Leo Stamatatos, Ph.D.  He also serves as the flow cytometry manager for one of four centralized hubs in SBRI's Global Health Biotechnology Center. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology/molecular biology from Washington State University. Before joining Dr. Stamatatos's lab in 2005, Dr. Gray was with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Bryan C. Jensen, Ph.D.
An associate scientist in the lab of Marilyn Parsons, Ph.D., Dr. Jensen has been with SBRI since 1998.  He received his B.S. in biology from the University of Oregon and his Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Washington.  Dr. Jensen's research focus is the study of trypanosomes.

Sue Kraemer, Ph.D.
Dr. Kraemer is an associate scientist at SBRI in the laboratory of Joe Smith, Ph.D. Her research is focused on understanding the evolution of the var gene family that plays a central role in P. falciparum pathogenesis. She received her Ph.D. in radiation biology from Colorado State University. Before joining Dr. Smith’s lab, she studied transcriptional regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an assistant research professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Colorado State University. 

Andrew V. Oleinikov, Ph.D.
Dr. Oleinikov obtained his Ph.D. from the Moscow State University, Russia.  He has studied signaling, endocytosis, and autoimmunity as a research assistant professor at University of California, Davis, and developed high throughput technologies as a group leader at CombiMatrix Corp. His current research at SBRI is focused on identification of malaria vaccine candidates using protein and cell arrays and on RNA interference in P. falciparum, in collaboration with Patrick Duffy, M.D.

Aswini Panigrahi, Ph.D.
Dr. Panigrahi received his Ph.D. in molecular virology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. He is an associate scientist in the lab of Ken Stuart, Ph.D. His research focuses on the mitochondrial DNA of normal and mutant African trypanosomes.

Achim Schnaufer, Ph.D.
Dr. Schnaufer received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Bern, Switzerland.  He is an associate scientist in the lab of Ken Stuart, Ph.D.  His research is focused on developing regulatable gene silencing systems in trypanosomatids and characterizing the functional structure of the editosome which catalyzes RNA editing in trypanosomes.