Amornrat Kanjanahaluethai O’Brien completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at Chiang Mai University (CMU), Thailand, in Medical Technology and Microbiology.  She earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola University Chicago, under the supervision of Dr. Susan Baker, identifying coronavirus papain-like protease (PLP) activity, PLP cleavage sites, and double-membrane vesicle formation.  After graduation, Amornrat served as a faculty member at CMU investigating attenuated dengue vaccine candidates and the molecular mechanisms of interferon resistance mediated by hepatitis C virus proteins. Amornrat also enjoyed regular visits to the Baker lab throughout the period.  In 2016, Amornrat rejoined the Baker lab, where she continues her coronavirus research on the generation of cell-based biosensor assays to assess compounds against coronavirus proteases.  Her research is focused on how feline coronavirus interacts and evades host immune responses.

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In her free time, Amornrat enjoys painting, sewing, knitting and other crafts. 

Monika was born in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria and moved to the United States in 2001. During her undergraduate studies, she majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry and Spanish. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Elmhurst College. In 2018, she enrolled in the Integrated Program in the Biomedical Sciences PhD program at Loyola University Chicago. She then joined the Baker lab in the Microbiology and Immunology department. Monika’s research is focused on investigating how the nsp15 protein interacts with the coronavirus replicase complex to evade the host innate immune response. 

Outside of lab, Monika enjoys reading, baking, and spending time with her family.

Mudassir Ali is an MD-PhD student studying how coronaviruses interact with the innate immune system. Specifically, he is looking at the RNA sensor MDA5 and how coronaviral proteins interfere with its function. Outside the lab, Mudassir spends most of his free time with his family, raising his sons to be future coronavirologists. 

With the spare minutes he has every week, Mudassir likes to read, do calligraphy and cultivate bonsai trees.

With a background of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Shuchen is interested in how pathogens and environmental-derived microorganisms affect public health. Shuchen earned her PhD in Freshwater Sciences/Environmental Microbiology at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee in 2019; her doctoral thesis focused on tracing human-specific fecal indicators in water environments with extensive applications of microbiological techniques, Next-generation sequencing and molecular quantification methods, and bioinformatics and data analysis skills. Since the beginning of pandemic, Shuchen has been dedicated to SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in wastewater and has contributed greatly to the successful real-time surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in multiple cities in Wisconsin. Shuchen joined the Baker lab in 2022, and her current research interests include identifying SARS-CoV-2 variants from patient samples through next generation sequencing, and exploring in deep the genomic features of SARS-CoV-2 variants and their potential correlation with disease.