People

We're always looking for motivated students and postdoctoral fellows with interest in virus-host interactions to join our team!

First-year graduate students should email Dr. Gammon to arrange for summer or fall lab rotations.

Prospective graduate students should apply directly to the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences for entry into a relevant Ph.D. program. Once admitted to a Ph.D. program, students will have the option of rotating in the lab in their first year.

Meet the Principal Investigator

Don Gammon, Ph.D.

Don Gammon, Ph.D.

Associate Professor | Microbiology
W.W. Caruth, Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research
Director, Molecular Microbiology Graduate Program


Dr. Gammon received his B.S. degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Windsor (Windsor, Canada) and went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Virology at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) in the laboratory of Dr. David Evans. While at the University of Alberta, Dr. Gammon’s research helped to elucidate the genetic and biochemical nature of poxvirus resistance to clinically-important acyclic nucleoside phosphonate drugs.

Current Lab Members

Joy Shaffer

Senior Research Associate & Lab Manager
Ph.D. Alma mater: UT Dallas (2024), BSc. The Ohio State University (2018)

Joy Shaffer

Aaron Embry

Graduate Student
Alma mater: Millersville University (2017)

Aaron Embry

Daniel Deng

STARS Student (2024), Summer Student (2025), Undergraduate Researcher (2026)

Alma mater: St. Mark's School of Texas

Daniel Deng

Emily Rex

Graduate Student
Alma mater: Portland State University (2015)

Emily Rex

Wenming Zhao

Research Scientist
Ph.D. Alma mater: The Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology, China Academy (2013)

Wenming Zhao

Dahee Seo

Post Doc

Former Graduate Student
Alma mater: Brown University (2017)

Dahee Seo

Interested?

Email Dr. Don Gammon if interested in rotating in the lab!

Former Lab Members

Addison White

Graduate Student
Alma mater: Trinity University (2018)

Addison White

Emily Glowski

SURF Student (2023)

Alma mater: Texas A&M University (2023)

Emily Glowski

Reilly Sample

Medical Student Researcher
Alma mater: UT Austin (2017)

Reilly Sample