Team

Dr. Ouyang is an Associate Professor at USF’s Morsani College of Medicine. He obtained his Ph.D. in Comparative and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Minnesota in 2007 and received his Postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas between 2007-2009. He was an Instructor between 2009-2012 and an Assistant Professor between 2012-2017 in the Department of Microbiology at UT Southwestern.

Anusha is a Research Technician who joined the lab in December of 2024. She received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience in 2024.

Sneha is a research Technician who joined the lab in the August of 2024. She received her Masters in Biotechnology from the Department of Molecular Medicine in 2025 from USF

Brooke is a Research Technician and joined the lab in June of 2025. She received her Bachelor of Science in Health Science in 2025 from University of South Florida.

Dr. Sonia Sharma is a Ph.D. graduate from India and joined the lab in 2025. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scholar working on Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Her research focuses on gene regulatory mechanisms in Borrelia, aiming to understand how bacterial gene regulators control pathogenicity and contribute to the molecular mechanisms underlying Lyme disease progression.

Chenyi Chu is a postdoctoral scholar and joined the lab in June of 2025. She received her Doctor of Medical Sciences in Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, China. She is interested in the molecular mechanism of transmission and pathogenesis of Borrelia burgdorferi, the pathogen of Lyme disease.

Connor is a Ph.D. candidate in the Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious disease program in the Department of Molecular Medicine. He joined the lab as a Research Technician in the August of 2021. He received his Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2019. 

Sierra George Cardinale is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Ouyang Lab, studying gene regulation and virulence in Borrelia burgdorferi. She completed her PhD in Integrated Biomedical Sciences at USF Morsani College of Medicine. Her current focus of research is on the DNA binding protein BadR and its contributions to Borrelia gene regulation. Pictured is her cockapoo puppy Cooper.