Population Genetics
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC
PEOPLE
P.I.
Parul Johri
she/her
pjohri[at]unc[dot]edu
Jan 2023 - present
Parul is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in the Department of Biology and the Department of Genetics, with an affiliation in the Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences. Before that, she was a postdoc at Arizona State University, advised by Jeffrey D. Jensen, and frequently collaborated with Brian Charlesworth from the University of Edinburgh. She earned her PhD in the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior program at Indiana University, Bloomington, under the supervision of Michael Lynch. Prior to that, she obtained a Master's in Biology from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Delhi, India.
Postdocs
Sol earned his PhD at NYU, advised by Matthew Rockman, where he worked on understanding the evolution of sex ratios using genetics, ecology, and population genetics. In the Johri Lab he is working on method development to perform joint inference of selection and demography.
Sol Sloat
he/him
solsloat[at]unc[dot]edu
November 2024 - present
Kendra earned her PhD at the University of Texas, Austin, advised by Justin Havird, and worked on understanding mutational mechanisms and molecular evolution in mitochondria. She is funded by the SPIRE program at UNC. In the Johri Lab, she will be working on understanding the effects of recurrent bottlenecks on genetic variation.
Kendra Zwonitzer
she/her
zwon[at]unc[dot]edu
February 2026 - present
Graduate students
Austin earned his bachelor’s degree in Genetics from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where he worked in Vaishali Katju’s laboratory studying the mutation rate and selfish genetic elements of C. elegans. He is co-advised by Dan Schrider in the Department of Genetics. In the Johri Lab, he is working on estimating the distribution of fitness effects of new non-coding mutations and transposable elements.
Austin Daigle
he/him
adaigle[at]email[dot]unc[dot]edu
January 2023 - present
Rutuja obtained her bachelor’s degree in Genetics and Genomics as well as Data Science, along with a certificate in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While pursuing her undergraduate studies, she investigated the molecular determinants of mutation rate in Nathaniel Sharp’s laboratory. In the Johri Lab, she is interested in understanding the effects of purifying selection on genomic variation.
Rutuja Gupte
she/her
rmgupte[at]unc[dot]edu
Fall 2026 - present
Post-baccalaureate researchers
YOU?
Rotation students
Austin Daigle (January 31 - April 7th, 2023)
Gabriela Almeida (February 5 - April 12th, 2024)
Undergraduate students
Andrew Kay (Major: Biology), Spring 2024
Jannah Said (Major: Quantitative Biology), Fall 2025
Aditya Raghava Lakamsani (Major: Computer Science), Spring 2026
Alumni
Sachin Kaushik (July 2023 - Sep 2024) - Sachin earned his PhD at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India, advised by Kavita Jain, where he developed theoretical models to explain genetic variation in a changing environment. As a postdoc in the Johri Lab, he developed a diffusion theory framework to model selective sweeps in non-recombining populations. He is now a Senior Data Scientist at Broadridge Financials in Bangalore, India. googlescholar
Jacob Marsh (May 2023 - Oct 2025) - Jacob earned his PhD at the University of Western Australia, Perth, advised by Dave Edwards where he focused on analyzing patterns of linkage disequilibrium in local regions of the genome. As a postdoc in the Johri Lab, he worked on quantifying and modeling the linked effects of selection across the genome. Jacob is currently working on modeling malaria as a Senior Research Officer in the Global Disease Modelling team at The Kids Research Institute Australia. googlescholar
Cobi Henry (Aug 2024 - Aug 2026) - Cobi graduated from UNC, Chapel Hill, in Spring 2024 with an undergraduate major in Quantitative Biology. As a post-baccalaureate researcher in the Johri Lab, she worked on simulating populations of Plasmodium falciparum. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology at NYU. googlescholar
James Crescenzi (Jan 2025 - May 2026) - James graduated from UNC, Chapel Hill, in Spring 2024 with an undergraduate major in Mathematics and Political Science. He joined the Johri Lab in Spring 2025 as a post-baccalaureate researcher and worked on modeling human pathogens using the Coalescent. He is currently pursuing a Master's in Data Science at UNC. googlescholar