Lab Members

Research Associate

Like Minna, Daniel is also a native of Vancouver BC and maintains several Canadian idiosyncrasies including the ability to say eh. Since leaving Vancouver, Daniel has lived in Alaska, Seattle, Boise and finally SLC. He could live in all these places not because he lived in a van, but because he ran an online business for several years that gave him the flexibility to move. He returned to school in 2014 with the intention of becoming a lawyer but accidentally enrolled in a biology course, where he found a passion for science. This caused Daniel to change his career trajectory and he earned his Bachelor of Science at Boise State University. At BSU, Daniel studied the role of inflammatory cytokines on breast cancer with Cheryl Joryck. Daniel moved to Salt Lake with his wife and daughter in 2019 and decided to join Minna’s lab where he could continue studying the role the immune system plays in tumor development. When he’s not in the lab, Daniel likes to be outdoors. He can often be found hiking and backpacking with his dog Choe, an overly energetic German shorthaired pointer who Daniel has had to rescue from several near-death experiences thanks to her love of water. He also loves sports including hockey, soccer, football and climbing where he can play or watch others while enjoying a cold beer. If you have any of these interests, come by and say hi. Daniel is generally pretty friendly as long as he’s had his morning cup of coffee.

Graduate Student

Noah is from Columbus, OH, where he attended THE Ohio State University. While studying Neuroscience and Pharmaceutical Sciences, he conducted research on dopamine dysfunction in the mesolimbic system following traumatic brain injury under Dr. Cole Vonder Haar. Despite his continued interest in the brain, Noah decided to pursue his passion for intercellular communication and cell behavior in the context of cancer, which brought him to the Roh-Johnson Lab. Outside the lab, Noah enjoys skiing, rock climbing, playing the guitar, and being overly optimistic about the Cleveland Browns!

Graduate Student

Kara is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Blue Ridge mountains during high school. She attended Oglethorpe University, where she joined Lea Alford’s lab to study motile cilia using the algae Chlamydomonas. She then moved to Washington University in St Louis to work in Carmen Halabi’s lab. There, she studied how the extracellular matrix is involved in cardiovascular development. Knowing how much she loved the extracellular matrix, she joined the Roh-Johnson Lab as a grad student in 2023. When she’s not in the lab, you can usually find her in the mountains trail running with her GSP pup, Indy.

Graduate Student

Born in Japan and raised in the PNW, Laura has always had a deep love for the ocean that took her to Endicott College in Beverly, MA to study biology (and play ice hockey). Taking full advantage of the North Shore, she did sea turtle rehabilitation and studied the effects of rising air temperatures on intertidal mollusks, juggling a desire to work with animals and a growing passion for molecular biology. She then moved back home to work with Phil Abitua at the University of Washington where she studied early embryonic development in the African turquoise killifish. Teasing apart gastrulation using single-cell transcriptomics and live imaging cemented her excitement for developmental biology and model organisms, bringing her to pursue her PhD in Utah! While there's no ocean, she's excited to be exploring some new mountains on skis, wheels, and by foot with her pup, one-eyed Goose.

Graduate Student

Sophia grew up in Honolulu before leaving her tropical dream to attend college in Oregon, which did not have as welcoming of an ocean, but definitely had great mountains. At Reed College, Sophia’s love for cell biology (not before a fling with ecology) and IPAs, developed. After undergrad, Sophia’s thesis advisor thought his friend Minna and Sophia would get along great (spoiler: they did). Sophia ended up moving to SLC, where she was at first skeptical, and now claims winter as her favorite season. When she’s not in lab, check up on the mountains!

Graduate Student

Trinity is a Hawaii/Texas hybrid, having been born in Kahuku, raised near Houston, and returned to Laie to study at BYU-Hawaii (with a sprinkling of Alaska in between). While in Hawaii, he developed a love for adventure, surfing, lunch plates, and, most pertinently, research. Trinity had unique opportunities, such as catching and tracking pacific golden plovers in Moorea and studying the microbiology of Tahitian cultural gastronomy and presenting to French Polynesian government officials on that research. He then moved to Provo with his wife Shannon to study TRP channels in the developing chick embryo with Dr. Marc Hansen. It was fabulous, but he'll never look at an omelet the same way! Before he finished his Masters, his son Kodiak (like the bear) was born! Trinity was excited to attend the U of U and hoped to join the Roh-Johnson lab. Since the lab has found his offering acceptable and admitted him to the tribe, he is investigating interactions between macrophages and the education they might receive and/or share. Now that they have moved to Salt Lake City, they enjoy the weather, watching/playing soccer, the restaurants, and day trips like the zoo with Kodiak! So if you're into any of those things, come by and chat (unless we're still socially distancing)!

Research Technician

Sarah Gallagher is originally from Florida and earned both her Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and her Master of Public Health from Florida State University. Following graduation, she spent two years in Washington, D.C., working in Phase I clinical trials as a GMP manufacturer, where she contributed to early-stage therapeutic development. Alhtough she valued her time in the nation’s capital, Sarah made the decision to move west to return to academia and pursue her long-term goal of earning a Ph.D. Outside of her professional interests, Sarah enjoys rock climbing, thrift shopping, and spending time with her cat, Ruby.