People | Emerging infectious disease ecology laboratory

Current members

Prof. Jonathan M. Jacobs (Principal Investigator)

Twitter: @jmjacobs2

Jonathan M. Jacobs (he/him/his) is an expert in tropical plant disease and molecular host-bacterial interactions. graduated with a B.S. (triple major in Bacteriology, Genetics and Spanish) and Ph.D. (Major: Plant Pathology, Minor: Microbiology) from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. For his postdoctoral research, Dr. Jacobs was a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in Montpellier, France and a USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow at Colorado State University. He was also awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award to perform research at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He joined Ohio State in 2018 as a Discovery Theme Hire in the Infectious Disease Institute and is an Assistant Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease Ecology in the Department of Plant Pathology. He currently serves on the editorial board for the journal Rice. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys swing dancing, rock climbing and travel.

Dr. Marcus Vinicius Merfa (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Marcus Vinicius Merfa recieved his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at Aurburn Universeity, his M.S. degree in Genetic and Molecular Biology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from Universidade Federal de São Carlos. His research interests focus on exploring the bacterial molecular factors that play a role on the interactions between plant pathogenic bacterium and plant hosts. He is particularly interested in understanding which genes are important for the adaptation and lifestyle of these pathogens. Currently, Marcus is working to determine whether and how bacterial quorum sensing (QS) communication among Xanthomonas spp. shape the leaf microbial community to mediate bacterial survival and disease development. His work has rewarded him with outstanding awards and has been published in leading scientific journals including Science Advances, ISME Journal, Nano Letters, Phytopathology, among others. Besides, Marcus has also served as a peer reviewer for publications in journals such as Frontiers in Microbiology, Molecular Plant Pathology and Plant Disease. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music and watching series and movies.

Hannah Toth (Graduate Student and Lab Manager)

twitter: HannahToth6

Hannah Toth is a recent graduate of Ohio State where she earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering. She joined the lab when she was in her second year of her undergraduate studies, and has worked her way up to conduct research. Currently, she is using skills she learned from her engineering degree and passion for plant pathology to conduct bioinformatics work across multiple projects in the lab. When Hannah isn’t in the lab, she loves to collect and care for houseplants, take walks, and bake cookies.

Taylor Klass (Graduate Student; Major: Plant Pathology)

Twitter: @taylor_klass

Taylor Klass is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Plant Pathology co-advised by Dr. Jonathan Jacobs and Dr. Sally Miller. She is originally from Worthington, Ohio and received her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Ohio State in 2018, with a double major in Animal Sciences and Agronomy. Taylor’s research is focused on diagnostics, diversity, and management of bacterial plant pathogens that infect and impact vegetable crops. Specifically, she works with Southeast Asian isolates of Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum, which cause bacterial wilt disease, and Xanthomonas spp. from Ohio that cause bacterial spot on pepper and tomato. Taylor is passionate about tropical plant pathology and global food security. In her free time, Taylor loves to spend time with her family, hike, play soccer, eat ice cream, and hang out with animals (especially her 4 cats!).

Jules Butchacas (Graduate Student; Major: Plant Pathology)

Twitter: @ButchacasJules

Jules Butchacas is a PhD student from France where he obtained his master’s degree in Plant Biology in 2017 at the Université de Montpellier II. His current research project involves the identification and characterization of genetic factors determining tissue host specificity of barley pathogenic Xanthomonas translucens. He received his M.S. degree in Plant Pathology in the team in Spring 2020.

Nate Heiden (Graduate Student; Major: Plant Pathology)

Twitter: @heidenseek_40

Nate Heiden graduated in 2018 with an undergraduate major in Biology from John Carroll University. He has experience working with the nonprofit Levo International, Inc. on several projects to develop hydroponic agriculture in the U.S. and Haiti. He finished a Fulbright Grant to Spain in June of 2019, during which he completed a project investigating the adaption of species to stressful gypsum soils. He is especially interested in research with applications to food security and international agriculture. He received his M.S. degree in Plant Pathology in the team in Fall 2020. He likes hiking, fishing, camping, and traveling in his free time.

Nicolle Omiotek (Master’s Student)

Nicolle Omiotek is a master’s student in the Jacobs’ lab. They graduated from Elmhurst College in 2020 with a B.S. in Biology. Nikki’s project focuses on understanding the genomic diversity of the English Ivy pathogen Xanthomonas hortorum pv. hederae, and how location and geographic distance can impact diversity. In their free time, Nikki enjoys participating in community science by going mushroom hunting to document the diversity of mushrooms in the world.

Kelly Mikhail (Graduate Student; Major: Horticulture and Crop Sciences)

Kelly Mikhail is a Horticulture and Crop Sciences PhD student in the Mackey Lab with a focus on maize pathology. She is co-advised by Dr. David Mackey and Dr. Jonathan Jacobs. Kelly attended Ohio University where she received her BS and MS and was part of an Immuno-parasitology lab studying Chagas Disease. Presently, Kelly’s research focus is gene fitness analysis of Pantoea stewartii pv. stewartii transposon mutant library in early phase infection of Zea mays and translating her research into high school curricular activities. Outside the lab, she likes family dinners, running, knitting and being with her grand-little!

Annalisa Arostegui (Undergraduate Student)

Nora Conrad (Undergraduate Student)

Lillian Ebling-Koning (Undergraduate Student)

Previous Lab Members

Dr. Veronica Roman-Reyna (Research Scientist); current: Assistant Professor at Penn State

Dr. Stephen Cohen (Postdoctoral Fellow); current: USDA-ARS Beltsville

Dr. Eduardo Bernal (Postdoctoral Fellow); current: East-West Seed

John Long (Lab Manager); current: Corteva

Cristian Olmos (Graduate Student; Major: Plant Pathology)

Jamie Summers (Undergraduate Student; Major: Animal Science); current: Ohio State Vet School

Zach Seltzer (Undergraduate Student; Major: Biology)

William Shoaf (Undergraduate Student; Major: Biology)