Lab Director
Dr. Bechelli earned his doctoral degree in experimental pathology at UTMB in 2016 under the mentorship of Dr. David Walker and Rong Fang. Following graduation, Dr. Bechelli was an assistant professor at the College of the Mainland where he focused on applying pedological knowledge learned through his experiences as an American Society for Microbiology Science Teaching Fellow and during preparation at the ASM Kadner Institute. In 2018, Dr. Bechelli was recruited to Sam Houston State University as an assistant professor of microbiology in the Department of Biological Sciences. In 2023, Dr. Bechelli joined Endicott College.
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Dr. Bechelli’s research focuses on tick-borne infectious diseases including rickettsiae and Colorado tick fever virus with an emphasis on interactions between the pathogens and human endothelium. His laboratory is currently exploring cell death pathways, signal transduction pathways and inflammation during infection with these pathogens. Dr. Bechelli was also a founding member of the Psychobiological Research Consortium at SHSU, and interdisciplinary group of researchers focused on exploring the links between biology and human behavior.
Current Members of the Bechelli Lab
I am currently accepting new students at Salem State University.
Alumni of the Bechelli Lab
Stephanie Beane. Stephanie joined our lab in the fall of 2020 as a graduate student working on Colorado tick fever virus induced vascular dysfunction. She graduated from SHSU in 2023.
Megan Burch. Megan joined our lab in the fall of 2020 as a graduate student working on improved diagnostics for Lone Star virus. She graduated from SHSU in 2023 and is currently a PhD student at UTMB.
Christian Miller. Christian was an undergraduate student who joined our lab in 2021. He examined the activation and signaling of NFkB during infection with CTFV and the phylogenetic of HRTV. He graduated from SHSU in 2022.
Sarah Owen. Sarah joined our lab as an undergraduate in the summer of 2019 to study Colorado tick fever virus in endothelial cells. She decided to stay and complete her M.S. degree studying cell death during infection with CTFV. Sarah graduated in 2023.
Rachel Porter. Rachel joined the lab in the Summer of 2021 to work on our USDA grant. She is studying the microbiome of soil contaminated with phytopathogenic Xanthomonas species. She graduated with a MS from SHSU in 2022.
Lareyna Trinidad. Lareyna joined the lab in the Fall of 2019 to study the incidence and prevalence of anaplasmosis in the horses of East Texas. She graduated in 2023.
Elizabeth Fleming. Elizabeth started working in the lab in the spring of 2022 to work on CTFV and the phylogenetics of tick-borne viruses. She graduated in 2022.
Catherine Pequeno. Catherine joined the lab in the summer of 2022 and is studying the molecular epidemiology of tick-borne viruses. She graduated in 2023.
Luis Grado (Laboratory Manager). Luis was an undergraduate who joined our lab in the Fall of 2018. He studied Colorado tick fever virus and contributed to numerous lab projects. Luis graduated in spring 2020 and has transitioned to become our laboratory manager and oversees the USDA Xanthomonas project. In the Fall of 2021 he accepted a full time position in the Biology Dept of SHSU.
Alyssa Russell. Alyssa joined the lab in the Fall of 2019 to study the incidence/prevalence of anaplasmosis in the horses of East Texas. She published two papers in 2021.
Ammie Rupani. Ammie is a medical student at SHSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine and spent the summer of 2021 in our lab examining flea-borne infections.
Caitlyn Gaffney M.S. Caitlyn did a summer independent study in our lab working on antibiotic discovery and completed a project examining the antimicrobial properties of ferric nanoparticles and their effects on human pathogens.
Grant Means. Grant was an undergraduate who joined our lab in the summer of 2018. He was involved in a tick collection project examining the prevalence of tick-borne infectious diseases in our local tick population and became our tick identification expert. Grant graduated SHSU in winter 2019 and is awaiting acceptance to optometry school.
Florence Onyoni. Florence was an undergraduate researcher who joined our lab in the Spring of 2019 and studied plasmid mediated antibiotic resistance in environmental isolates. She is currently in the The Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at UTMB and will start the Ph.D program at UTMB in the Fall of 2022!
Andrew Martinez. Andrew is a McNair Scholar and was an undergraduate who joined our lab in the summer of 2018. He was involved in a tick collection project examining the prevalence of tick-borne infectious diseases in our local tick population. He also worked with Florence on antibiotic resistance. Andrew graduated in the winter of 2019 and is currently a graduate student in Washington State University's Molecular Biosciences Ph.D program.
Luis Lopez. Luis joined the lab in the spring of 2019 and studied the microbiome of ticks and their associated Rickettsia species.
Trisha Brewer. Trisha started working in our lab in the summer of 2019. While not technically my student, she is involved in our project analyzing salivary cytokine production in response to stress. She is doing her best impersonation of Dr. Bechelli...