Lab Members
Our members are at the core of what makes the Palm Lab such a unique and dynamic place. Together, we tackle some of the most challenging problems at the intersection of immunology, microbiology and data science. Our innovative experimental approaches exploit millions of years of host-microbiota co-evolution to uncover fundamental biological processes that impact nearly all aspects of human health and disease.
Noah Palm, PhD
Principal Investigator
Noah is an Associate Professor of Immunobiology; Human & Translational Immunology at the Yale School of Medicine. He performed his doctoral work with Ruslan Medzhitov & postdoctoral work with Richard Flavell, both at Yale.
Deguang Song, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
Postdoctoral Researcher
Deguang has been working on gut microbiota structure and metabolite changes in response to environment and diet as well as their effects on the host.
Brianna Duncan-Lowey, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Brianna is a biochemist who completed her PhD at Harvard University. She is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern interactions between microbes and their hosts.
Yiyun Cao
PhD Candidate
Yiyun earned her B.S. in Life Sciences from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. She is interested in how microbiota-derived small molecules affect human diseases, esp. chronic pain diseases & cancer. She is a fan of Chinese traditional culture and Japanese animations.
Mytien Nguyen
MD-PhD Candidate
Jason Bishai
PhD Candidate
Shana Leopold, PhD
Associate Research Scientist, Lab Manager
Shana is a microbiologist with a background in application of sequencing technology for infectious disease diagnostics, microbial evolution, and the gut microbiome.
Varnica Khetrapal, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Varnica is a microbiologist with experience in microbial pathogenesis, bacterial genetics, and genetic engineering. She earned her PhD from National University of Singapore, and has recently moved to the northern hemisphere. She is interested in understanding bacterial genes involved in host-microbe interactions. When not in the lab, she loves travelling and exploring the world.
Tyler Rice, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Tyler is a Southern transplant to New England studying the relationship between vertebrate hosts and their microbial pathobionts & symbionts. In his spare time he enjoys a long hike with his fluffer pupper, followed by craft beer and all the snacks.
Nicole Sonnert
PhD Candidate
Nicole is originally from Cambridge, MA. She has earned an A.B. in Biomathematics from Mount Holyoke College and a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Dartmouth College.
Anchi Wu
MD-PhD Candidate
Anchi is originally from the Bay Area and graduated from Duke with a BSE in biomedical engineering. She is interested in the connection between the gut microbiome and the development of chronic diseases. In her spare time, she likes cooking, hiking, and watching cartoons.
Jaime Gonzalez-Hernandez, BS
Postgraduate Associate
Anjelica Martin, BS, RLATg
Research Associate, Lab Coordinator
Anjelica earned her B.S from UConn and started working at Yale in 2016 as an animal husbandry technician. She joined the Palm lab in 2018 as the gnotobiotic colony manager and provides research support. She loves her pet rats, likes to paint, and plays a lot of Animal Crossing.
Haiwei Chen, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
Postdoctoral Researcher
Hailey Brown, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Hailey earned her PhD at the University of Chicago and is an immunologist who studied the duodenal influence on endocrine pancreatic immunity.
Takahiro Yamada, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yi Yang
PhD Candidate
Yi earned B.S. Medicine from Peking University and started her PhD training in the Immunobiology program at Yale from 2017. She has broad interests in understanding the complex interactions of hosts and commensals in health and disease.
Jordan Valdez
MD-PhD Candidate
Lab Photos
Where Are We From?
Our researchers come from different places across the world. We value our unique experiences that have shaped us into the scientists, colleagues, friends, and family we are today. You can view some our homes on the map below.