Associate Professor
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Email Professor Tafesse

Dr. Tafesse received his PhD from Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He did his postdoctoral studies at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (MIT) in the lab of Hidde Ploegh where he was an NWO Rubicon fellow, and worked on host-pathogen interaction of viruses, fungi and bacterial toxins. Before joining OHSU, Dr. Tafesse was an Instructor in Medicine, Assistant in Immunology at the Ragon Institute of MGH, Harvard and MIT where he established his research program in Mtb and HIV.

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email Tim Bates

Tim is a postdoctoral scholar who joined the lab in 2018 as a PhD student and received his PhD in 2023. He studies antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination and infection, as well as alpaca nanobodies against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Before coming to graduate school at OHSU, he received his bachelors from UCSD, spent a few years working at Santa Cruz Biotech, and then a short stint at UCSF in Dr. Danica Fujimori’s lab testing histone demethylase inhibitors. He enjoys cooking for his wife, taking his cat for walks in the forest, and writing bios about himself in the third person.

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email Gaelen Guzman

Gaelen is a postdoctoral scholar who is attempting to study the many ways that host sphingolipids influence Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Gaelen grew up in a very small town in Idaho called Spirit Lake, and studied molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining the Tafesse Lab, Gaelen worked as a research assistant in a proteomics laboratory at the Broad Institute, running interactomics experiments which helped inform much of his graduate work on sphingolipid-protein interactions. You can frequently watch him work from outside the BSL3 much like you could watch a turtle swim in an aquarium. When not in lab, Gaelen is mostly out on his bike or wishing he was out on his bike.

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email Teketay Anley

Teketay is a postdoctoral scholar in the Tafesse lab who joined in 2022 through OHSU Fellowship for Diversity in Research (OFDIR) program. He received a PhD degree in genetics from Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China. Immediately after his PhD graduation, he joined the Chinese Academy of Science as a postdoctoral researcher through the International Young Talent Program and worked for two years on how marine algae derived polysaccharides regulate immune response and are potential substitutes for antibiotics. He is currently working on how Mtb regulates phagosomal lipid profile.

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email Sintayehu Gurmessa

Sintayehu K. Gurmessa holds a PhD in Medical Sciences from Chungnam National University, South Korea, and an MS Degree in Human Anatomy from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. His primary area of expertise includes toxicology, nanoparticles, nanozyme-based tuberculosis diagnosis (Biosensor), and host pathogen interaction. He has also worked to develop a multi-antigen-based chimeric protein vaccine against tuberculosis, designing tumor growth inhibition strategies like the utilization of chimeric proteins with adjuvants, conjugation or mixing of chimeric protein with BCG-cell wall-derived glycolipids, and mixing of tumor-associated antigen with chimeric protein. In 2022, he joined the Tafesse Lab at the Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, as a postdoctoral scholar.

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email Judah Evangelista

Judah is a postdoctoral scholar in the labs of Carsten Schultz and Fikadu Tafesse who joined in 2023. After studying synthetic organic chemistry as an undergrad, he moved to the realm of biochemistry for his PhD at the University of Utah, where he worked on developing viral entry inhibitors, particularly against SARS-CoV-2. His dissertation work centered on the discovery of "mirror-image" D-peptide drugs by mirror-image phage display, the synthesis of D-proteins by chemical protein synthesis (CPS), and the development of Python tools for planning and data analysis in phage display and CPS. Now he is moving even further into the areas of cell biology and virology, investigating the host factors that viruses hijack for infection and replication. Outside of the lab, he spends most of his time going on walks with his wife and fluffy dog, reading fantasy novels, playing video games and board games, or dabbling in various other hobbies--most recently beer brewing and rock climbing.

Postdoctoral Scholar
Email Helene Jahn

Helene is a postdoctoral scholar shared between the Tafesse and Schultz lab. She received her PhD in membrane biochemistry from Weill Cornell Medical College and an MS from Utrecht University. Previously, she studied membrane solubilization using SMA, protein-lipid interactions employing functional lipid probes, and lipid transport processes by scramblases. Her current work focuses on the role of sphingolipids and phospholipids during virus propagation and the lipid composition of the resulting virion. During her free time, you can probably still find her in the lab. Otherwise, she likes studying ASL, hiking, and singing.

MD/PhD Student
Email Xammy Wrynla

Xammy is a Grad2 MD/PhD student interested in COVID-19 serology and using nanobodies to characterize granulomas and Mtb-macrophage interactions. After leaving his hometown in SoCal, he received his BA in Molecular & Cell Biology and Spanish from UC Berkeley. As an undergrad in Sarah Stanley's lab, he used CRISPR to study IFNγ-dependent control of Mtb in primary macrophages. He stayed on as a tech to support the lab's animal studies and spearheaded in vitro testing of therapeutics from collaborators across the Bay Area against live SARS-CoV-2. He rations his free time across his five cats, but otherwise spends it tangoing, goading his partner into watching horror movies, and playing video games.

PhD Student
Email Alec Griffith

Alec is a 1st year graduate student in the Tafesse lab. He grew up in a town outside of Phoenix and studied microbiology at UCLA. After enduring the weather in Los Angeles, he moved across the country to Boston where he studied immune responses in trauma and sepsis at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Back on the west coast, he currently researches the ways Mycobacterium tuberculosis interacts with sphingolipid synthesis in host cells and how these interactions impact disease progression. Outside of lab he enjoys drinking coffee at Portland’s many coffee shops and diners, dragging his friends to see musicals, and hiking when the weather allows. Feel free to reach out to him with questions about his research or where to get the best pumpkin spice latte.

Research Assistant 2
Email Audrey Hinchliff

Audrey is a Research Assistant 2 in the Tafesse Lab. As a Washington native, she recently graduated from Reed College with a degree in Biology. Within the lab, she focuses on assisting in nanobody production as well as developing a protein degradation pathway using nanobodies and dTAG13. Outside of the lab, Audrey is an avid knitter and enjoys the tranquil forests around Portland.

Artist + Web Developer
Visit Tephra's Website
Pronouns: they/them

Tephra is a tattoo artist, currently tattooing out of Hedgewitch Tattoo in Portland, Oregon. Prior to becoming a full-time artist, Tephra earned a bachelor's degree in geology at UC Santa Cruz and then worked at NASA on developing an earthquake forecasting system. For the Tafesse Lab, Tephra has made several pieces of art featuring alpacas (including the lab logo/t-shirt design) and also created this Tafesse Lab website. On days off, Tephra goes on nature walks with their husband and cat, spends time on iNaturalist, and is always drawing or making things (arts & crafts).