SEER Lab has full-time faculty and staff and adjunct faculty providing a wide range of skills in GIS, remote sensing, microbiology, molecular biology, pathogen detection and characterization, laboratory safety, and wildlife ecology
Faculty
Dr. Jason K. Blackburn, SEER Lab Director, Associate Professor of Medical Geography in Global Health, University Term Professor
Phone: 352-273-9374 EPI; 352-294-7501 Geography
email: jkblackburn@ufl.edu
Dr. Michael H. Norris, SEER Lab Associate Director, Assistant Reseach Professor of Medical Geography in Global Health
Phone: 352-273-8445
email: mhnorris@ufl.edu
Dr. Ted Hadfield, Adjunct Professor Geography (joint with Emerging Pathogens Institute) & Courtesy Appointment Infectious Diseases and Pathology at UF VetMed
email: thadfield@ufl.edu
Research Staff
Dr. Diansy Zincke, PhD, Research & Development Coordinator, BLS-2 Manager, BSL-3 Manager
PhD in Biology, Florida International University, 2015
B.Sc. in Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 2005
Research interests: Select agent pathogens, microbiology, molecular biology, PCR, sequencing, serology
Research and duties: Diansy is the SEER Lab BSL-2/BSL-3 manager and works on lab-related diagnostics projects for a variety of pathogens, including Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis, Clostridium botulinum. Diansy works closely with lab personnel to test field samples for presence of bacteria and has co-developed several PCR assays for better detection of anthrax causing pathogens. Diansy works on projects in the US, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and Ukraine.
Jeremy Orange, MS, Biological Scientist II (Wildlife Biologist)
Postdoctoral Associates
Past Postdoctoral Associates
Dr. Berzhan Kurmanov focused on brucellosis patterns in Kazakhstan on a SEER Lab collaborative project with several institutes across Kazakhstan. Dr. Kurmanov left SEER Lab in March 2020 to join UCSD as a postdoctoral associate.
Dr. Juan Pablo Gomez focused on the development a dynamic model to estimate R0 for pathogens with environmental persistence as part of the SEER Lab ongoing NIH/NSF EEID R01 project. Dr. Gomez is now on faculty at Univerisad del Norte in Colombia.
Dr. Karoun Bagamian, SEER postdoc focused on serological studies and disease transmission dynamics. Karoun focused on the serological screening of anthrax exposure in wildlife in Ukraine and the US.
Dr. Nate Royal, SEER postdoc focused on environmental data mining and multi-variate modeling. Nate’s focus was on spatial and environmental patterns of anthrax in Georgia.
Dr. Zaurbek Sagiyev, Kazakh Bolashak Recipient and SEER Lab postdoc 2013. Zaurbek focused on the spatiotemporal and ecological modeling of plague in humans and wild mammals of Kazakhstan.
Past Staff
Cody Griffin, MS, GIS Analyst – Spatial Support and spatio-temporal modeling of Georgian Especially Dangerous Pathogens for the DTRA Funded Cooperative Biological Engagement Program through the Academic Engagement Program. Cody is now with the FWRI working on bird ecology.
Catherine Haase, PhD, Spatial Analyst/R Code developer for the DTRA Academic Engagement Program and NIH R01. Dr. Haase is now on faculty at Austin Peay State University.