Lab Members

Population geneticist interested in the evolutionary processes that shape the interaction of hosts and microbes

I am a Venezuelan/American Latino and the first of my family to obtain a PhD. My career is dedicated to answering fundamental questions on the evolution of microbes and humans from a population genetics and functional genomics perspective.

I grew up in Venezuela in a multi-racial family and moved to USA to pursue an academic career as a young adult. I obtained a BS in Biology at Universidad Simon Bolivar, in Caracas, Venezuela, and then completed a MS at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research), working on Plasmodium phylogenetic analysis with Dr. Ananias Escalante. I received my PhD from Emory University (Atlanta, USA), where I worked with Dr. Bruce R. Levin, on the impact of horizontal gene transfer and homologous recombination in the evolution of microbes.

I see academia as a place where individuals have the opportunity to dream of a better world and find the tools to make those dreams real. I work actively to increase the representation of non-white minorities and women in higher education, academia, and STEM careers. Nationally and internationally I facilitate the training of future scientists and students from all backgrounds. For example, I am a core faculty of the Latin American Network for Conservation Genetics (REGENEC), an organization that was created in 2004 with the ultimate goal of training Latin American scientists (PhD students and postdocs) in multiple aspects of conservation biology. I am privileged to be in a position where I can help others achieve their goals and help them build a place within the science community.

​When I am not doing research I enjoy time with my family, cooking, baking bread (an acquired trait from COVID times), jogging and hiking.

Google Scholar

Full CV.

e-mail: omcornej(at)ucsc.edu

Muh-ching (M.C.) has worked as a laboratory researcher at Stanford University in the departments of Genetics, Chemical and Systems Biology, Biology, and the Carnegie Institution for Science. M.C.’s childhood passion for solving the New York Times crossword has led to her current work playing with the letters of the genetic code in genomics and synthetic biology in human, animal and plant systems. M.C. received an SB in Chemistry at MIT, and a PhD in Chemistry at UC Berkeley, CA.

Isabel is a science enthusiast. She is a UCSC graduate with a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Her work til now has spanned a couple different aspects of the life sciences domain including tissue culture of strawberry plants, assorted industry work and a CDC Foundation position funded by a TikTok grant.

Obed is a population geneticist and evolutionary anthropologist who is broadly interested in understanding the genomic diversity of immunity, particularly how it relates to infectious disease. He has a keen interest in disentangling the challenges posed by the MHC complex. Prior to joining the Cornejo lab, Obed completed his PhD in Biological Anthropology in 2020 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Postdoc in Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University 2023. He has conducted fieldwork in Peru (high altitude), Mexico (genomic variation), and Guatemala (Dengue-infection). He has conducted research on archaic introgression, migration, epidemiology, among other subject fields.

My name is Evan Ho and I’m a first year graduate student in the Cornejo-Kelley lab. I’ve done some pretty cool research in the past, topics ranging from spiders pheromones, to forensics, to exploring HIV genes, and I hope to keep diversifying my research experience! I’ve also done a lot of teaching, from elementary school kids to undergraduates, and I’m always down to talk about the many journeys (and challenges) of teaching. For fun, I love to do photography, play video games, go on hikes and hang out with my cats.

e-mail: evho(at)ucsc.edu