Bunnik lab
San Antonio, TX, June 2023
Raphael Reyes at last month's hooding ceremony. Congratulations, Dr. Reyes. A beautiful photograph of a very special moment.
San Antonio, TX, June 2023
We received some very special gifts from departing students today during the farewell lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant. We absolutely love it. Thank you very much! Safe travels and let's stay in touch!
San Antonio, TX, May 2023
A very special day that we'll never forget! Many congratulations, Rodriel and Raphael!
San Antonio, TX, May 2023
Dr. Bunnik was awarded a three-year, $450,000 grant from
the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund to study the role of atypical B cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients. We are grateful for their support.
Conditions of chronic inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis and malaria, result in the accumulation of atypical B cells that have an unclear role in the immune response. In malaria-experienced individuals, we have identified three subsets of atypical B cells with different functional profiles. We will now study these cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients using single-cell sequencing and flow cytometry to understand their contribution to pathogenesis.
San Antonio, TX, May 2023
Rodriel Bautista successfully defended his master’s thesis describing his work on the
Plasmodium falciparum transcription factor AP2-L. Congratulations, Rodriel!
One day later,
Raphael Reyes defended his PhD thesis on B cell responses in malaria-experienced individuals. Raphael will join the
Batista lab at the Ragon Institute as a postdoctoral fellow. Congratulations and best of luck in the next phase of your scientific career, Raphael!
San Antonio, TX, March 2023
I am excited to announce that my application for promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure has been approved and will be effective September 1, 2023.
Many thanks to all mentors, trainees, and not in the least my husband for his unwavering support and belief in my abilities. I could not have done this alone!
We celebrated with champagne!
San Antonio, TX, November 2022
364 days after Jake Gonzales,
Ashley Braddom Reers successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis. Afterwards, we celebrated with colleagues, friends and family, who travelled from afar to witness this special event. It was delightful having you in our lab, Ashley; you will be missed. We wish you and your family all the best in the future.
San Antonio, TX, May 2022
Congratulations to
Elizabeth Martinez-Scholze for successfully defending her master thesis on “the acquisition of breadth in antibodies that target
Plasmodium falciparum CIDRα1 variants”!
Congratulations to
Raphael Reyes for receiving the UT Health Science Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences 2022 Outstanding PhD Student Research Award! This award recognizes his outstanding record of research accomplishments over the past year and his ability to thrive in a changing environment.
The lab was awarded an NIH research supplement to promote diversity in health-related research that will support
Rolando Garza for the next two years.
San Antonio, TX, March 2022
Raphael Reyes was awarded a highly prestigious
NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein predoctoral individual fellowship for his research on B cell responses to the CIDRa1 domains that are involved in the development of severe malaria. Congratulations to Raphael for this fantastic achievement!
San Antonio, TX, November 2021
On November 16, 2021, Jake Gonzales successfully defended his thesis on “Plasmodium-specific B cell responses in malaria-susceptible children and malaria-immune adults”. Jake is the first Ph.D. student to graduate from the Bunnik lab. Congratulations to Jake for completing this milestone in his career!
San Antonio, TX, June 2021
Raphael Reyes was again selected for the NIH Translational Science Training TL1 award. Ashley Braddom was re-appointed to the NIH T32 training grant. Congratulations to you both!
San Antonio, TX, May 2021
Congratulations to
Katie Clarke for successfully defending her master thesis. She was an outstanding master student and we are delighted she will continue to work in the Bunnik lab for at least a few more months as a Research Assistant.
We also want to congratulate her with winning the award for best poster presentation at the
Robert A. Clark Frontiers of Translational Science Research Day.
San Antonio, TX, April 2021
After two rounds of competitive review, graduate student
Raphael Reyes' abstract submitted to
Translational Science 2021 was rated
"the single most significant and innovative of nearly 500 abstracts submitted".
Congratuations Raphael, with this excellent achievement.
San Antonio, TX, March 2021
Graduate student
Ashley Braddom has been selected as the
2021 Presidential Ambassador for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Congratulations on winning this prestigious scholarship award!
San Antonio, TX, February 2021
Dr. Bunnik was awarded her first
R01 titled
Defining conserved epitopes on polymorphic malaria antigens, which will fund the lab for the next five years.
San Antonio, TX, May 2020
In the media:
Angelo State alumnus
Jake Gonzales combating the COVID-19 virus.
Click the image to read the news article.
San Antonio, TX | 2023
