Meet Our Team

Danelle Devenport

Principal Investigator
​Associate Professor of Molecular Biology

Katie Little

Senior Research Specialist
​Lab Manager

Katie has been keeping the Devenport Lab running smoothly since its humble beginning in 2011. She organizes, maintains, and replenishes stocks, effectively prioritizes everyones needs and wants, and is the lab expert on histology. Outside of lab, Katie enjoys gardening, baking, and journaling.

Rebecca Jones

Postdoctoral Researcher

Rebecca is passionate about applying insights learned from embryonic development to human disease. Her work focuses on the transit of cells across the dermal-epidermal basement membrane as a paradigm for invasive metastatic cancer. When not in the lab, Rebecca can often be found running around Princeton in all weather.

Parijat Sil

Postdoctoral Researcher
​NJCCR Fellowship

Parijat is fascinated by the question of how spatiotemporal organization of molecules informs their function. She is working towards uncovering mechanisms underlying compositional asymmetry across epithelial cell junctions -- a hallmark of a planar polarized epithelia. Parijat loves reading, taking photos, and drinking lots of tea.

Melissa McLellan

Postdoctoral Researcher

Melissa is interested in tissue morphogenesis and cell-fate specification. More specifically, she is investigating how polarity is initiated and propagated across the epithelium. When not in the lab, Melissa loves going for long cycles in the countryside.

Rishabh Sharan

Graduate Student in Quantitative and Computational Biology
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Rishabh is interested in understanding tissue morphogenesis using both computational and experimental techniques. Specifically, he is studying hair follicle polarization using a combination of in vivo live imaging and fluid mechanics modeling. 

Marvin Cortez

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology
Co-advised by Becky Burdine

Marvin is investigating the role of the cilia motility-related gene Kurly in mouse skin morphogenesis. Additionally, he's also investigating the role of Kurly in epiblast cell survival during mouse blastocyst implantation.

Debra Ouyang

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology

Debra's research is focused on elucidating the mechanisms that restore asymmetric distribution of planar cell polarity proteins following mitosis. Using live imaging and super-resolution microscopy, she visualizes and tracks endogenously-tagged polarity proteins in the rapidly-dividing basal stem cells of developing murine skin.

Brandon Trejo

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology

Brandon's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms behind basal stem cell divisions during development. He is also interested in advancing microscopy techniques for obtaining new insights into epidermal development. When not in lab, Brandon enjoys snorkeling and has traveled the underwater trail in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Audrey Goh

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology

Deepika Bhatnagar

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology

Deepika is interested in understanding how sub-micron-scale protein interactions result in tissue-wide phenomena. Specifically, she is investigating the function of Prickle in coordinating the organization of the planar cell polarity complex in the mammalian epidermis. When not in lab, Deepika enjoys scaling mountains, skiing, and reading mystery novels.

Denay Richards

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology
MD/PhD Program, NIH F30 Fellowship

Denay studies the role of E-cadherin-based cellular adhesion in melanocyte morphology and migration. She hopes to better understand how cellular adhesion allows for regulated migration and prevention of metastasis. Outside of lab, Denay runs a skin care small business and also enjoys competing in beauty pageants, hiking, and playing with her dog, Fancy.

Brooke Phillips

Graduate Student in Molecular Biology
​MD/PhD Program

Brooke was previously an undergraduate student in our lab. She has now returned as an MD/PhD student, looking to further investigate the mechanisms that underlie hair placode morphogenesis. In her free time, Brooke enjoys cooking, baking, and listening to music (sometimes all at once!).

Sarah Choi

Undergraduate Student in Molecular Biology

Sarah is a member of the Princeton Class of 2024. She is being mentored by Parijat for her senior thesis project, studying how post-translational modifications of Dvl regulate its function in planar cell polarity.

Mark Dawod

Undergraduate Student in Molecular Biology

Mark is a member of the Princeton Class of 2024. He is being mentored by Deepika for his senior thesis project, studying how the core planar cell polarity protein Prickle interacts with the cytoskeleton before and during cell migration.

Sharbel N. Sleman

Undergraduate Student in Chemistry

Sharbel is a member of the Princeton Class of 2025. He is being mentored by Parijat for his senior thesis project.

Halle M. Bangura

Undergraduate Student in Molecular Biology

Halle is a member of the Princeton Class of 2025. 

Kayla R. Jurkevich

Undergraduate Student in Molecular Biology

Kayla is a member of the Princeton Class of 2025. 

Associated Members

Marisol Cuevas, Faculty Assistant
Abhishek Biswas, Research Software Engineer

Lab Alumni

Former Postdocs
Maureen Cetera (2015-2021, NIH K99)
Sara Stahley (2016-2020, NIH F32)
Bradley Joyce (2013-2018)
C. Clayton Hazelett (2012-2015, NJCCR Fellowship)

Former Ph.D. Students
Lena Basta (2017-2023)
​Sarah Paramore (2018-2022, co-advised by Celeste Nelson)
Liliya Leybova (2016-2021, NIH F31)
Kimberly Box (2014-2019)
Wen Yih Aw (2012-2018, AHA Predoctoral Fellowship)
​Bryan Heck (2013-2018, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship)
Rezma Shrestha (2012-2017)
​Halley Mellor Oyer (2012-2014)

Former Undergraduate Students
Audrey Czuchna '23
Ishea Johnson '23
Tori Laurencin '22
​Daisy P. Rodriguez '22
Ella Hayward-Lara '21​
Michael Hill-Oliva '20
Keunho Bryan Kim '20
Brooke K. Phillips '19
Chinenye Azoba '18
Sandra Carpenter '18
Narlyn Veliz '17
Colby Hyland '16
Yun Liang '16
Kacie Farrell '15
​​Frank W. Woo '15
Breanna McMahon '14
Joseph Park '13

Former Visiting Faculty
Brad Davidson (2019, Associate Professor, Swarthmore College)

Former Visiting Students
Tracy Huynh (2023)
​Aryan Ashraf (2022, 2023)
Jonah Pacis (2022)
Yanilka Soto (2018)
Maham Abbas​ (2017)
​Jillian SIlbert (2015)
Daniel Morales (2014)
​Irving Miramontes (2013)

Former High School Students
Aashna Mago (2012-2013)