Current Members

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 Xu Wang, Ph.D.  Professor (PI)

Dr. Wang is a Professor of Comparative Genomics in the Department of Pathobiology at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine (AUCVM), and an Adjunct Faculty Investigator at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (HAIB). He also holds an appointment at Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES), and is an Adjunct Professor at Scott-Ritchey Research Center (SRRC).
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Reuben Buckley, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Buckley received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Adelaide in Genetics and Bioinformatics. He subsequently completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Missouri College of Vet Med, working on feline comparative genomics, and at the NIH-NHGRI in canine comparative genomics. Dr. Buckley's expertise is in large-scale genomic and bioinformatic analyses, including genome mapping of disease- and breed-related traits, comparative genomic and evolutionary analyses of genomic architecture. After an extremely productive postdoctoral period, he joined Auburn University College of Vet Med as a Senior Research Fellow in Dr. Wang's lab in November 2025. Dr. Buckley is currently working on long-read genome analysis in detection dogs and the design of next-generation canine HD array, supporting the genomics task of the DCSITE project. He is also working on a broad rage of problems in population and evolutionary genetics of companion animals, and supervision of graduate students in the Wang lab. 
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Darielys Diaz, B.S. Research Assistant 

Darielys received her B.S. degree in Animal Sciences with a Pre-Vet major form Auburn University in May 2023. After graduation, she worked as a Veterinary Assistant in a Small Animal Clinic in Columbus, Georgia. Darielys joined the Wang Laboratory in April 2024 as a full-time Research Staff member. Her primary research focuses on DNA extraction, genome sequencing, and validation experiments to support the detection dog behavioral genomic analysis of the DCSITE project. Additionally, she helps maintain the Monodelphis colony and is responsible for managing the laboratory, ensuring all equipment remains in optimal working condition.
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Caroline Parrish, B.S. Research Assistant 

Caroline received her B.S. degree in Genetics at Auburn University in May 2025. She has strong interest and motivation in undergraduate research, supporting projects in the School of Fisheries as a student worker, and was awarded an undergraduate research fellowship (2023-2024) to work with Dr. Curt Bird in the College of Vet Med. Caroline joined the Wang Lab as an Research Assistant, working on large-scale, college-wide collaborative projects, including the clinical environment microbiome project and the companion animal urinary microbiome studies. In addition, she is also interested in the genomic discovery of abnormalities in canine tumor cell lines. Caroline's work is supported by the Francis Keith Endowment Fund and the Grace Kemper Endowment Fund. 
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Yue Zhang, B.S. Graduate student

Ms. Yue Zhang completed her undergraduate degree at Tongji University in June 2020. She was admitted to the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program and is an Auburn Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship recipient. She joined us in August 2021, and she is working on the transcriptomic and DNA methylomic analyses of various canine placenta tissues, as well as vaginal microbiome of beef cattle in the context of animal health and disease. 
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Ying Zhang, M.S.  Graduate student

Ms. Ying Zhang received a Master's degree from Ocean University of China in 2020 and a Bachelor’s degree from Anhui Agricultural University College of animal science and technology in 2017. Her research is primarily focus on comparative genomics and evolutionary analyses in the placenta guppy fish family Poeciliidea. Ying is also interested in the  genetics and genomics of parasitoid wasp species as a biological control agent.
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Samitha Liyanage, M.S.  Graduate student

Mr. Samitha Liyanage earned his Bachelor's degree in Fisheries and Marine Science at University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka in 2022. He came to the United States in 2023 and completed his Master's degree in Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences. In summer 2025, he joined the Wang Lab as a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Sciences to pursue his research career in veterinary and biomedical sciences, working on multi-omics projects in companion animals, livestock, and aquatic animals. 
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Hannha Kelley, M.S.  Graduate student

Hannah earned her Master's degree in Animal Science at the Pennsylvania State University in 2025. At PSU, her primary research project focused on the runs of homozygosity (ROH) and genomic diversity in Holsten cattle, integrating quantitative genetics, bioinformatics, and diary cattle genomics to better understand the level of inbreeding in the modern breeding population. In Fall 2025, Hannah joined the Wang Laboratory as a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Sciences. She is exploring potential dissertation projects related to livestock and/or companion animal genomics, aligning with her strong interests and previous research experience in animal genetics and genomic analyses. 
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Carter Hague,  Undergraduate Researcher

Carter is a sophomore with double major in Genetics and Public & One Health (PAOH) in the Auburn University College of Science and Mathematics. He started to work in the Wang Laboratory in Fall 2025, enrolling in the Undergraduate Research in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences class (VBMS4980). His current research project is the pangenome and comparative transcriptome analysis of virulent Salmonella strains isolated on the Veterinary Medicine campus. 

Lab Alumni

Thu Dunkleberger, B.S. Research Assistant (2024-2026)

Thu earned her B.S. degree in Biology from Penn State University in December 2023. Following graduation, she worked as a TES Laboratory Technician at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine's Bacteriology and Mycology Diagnostic Laboratory. In June 2024, she joined the Wang Laboratory as a full-time Research Staff member, contributing to large-scale multi-omics projects, including the clinical environment microbiome project, companion animal urinary microbiome studies, as well as the BSE genomics project. During her time in the lab, she established numerous experimental protocols and data/sample organizational workflows, which continue to benefit Wang lab research and operations. Thu left the lab due to family relocation, and she is currently seeking a Ph.D. program to continue her scientific journey.

Angelina Shunnarah,  Undergraduate Researcher (2025)

Angelina is rising junior in the Auburn University College of Science and Mathematics. As a Genetics major, she is interested in a variety of genetics problems, including the human genome and cancer. Angelina is enrolled in the Undergraduate Research in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences class in Spring 2025, performing cutting-edge research in veterinary genomics. Her project is to extract DNA samples from a male calico cat, and assist the assembly of his genome to understand the genetic mechanism of the calico coat color in males. She decided to join Professor David Riese's Laboratory to perform human cancer research as an under graduate researcher.

Luke Dawkins,  Undergraduate Researcher (2024)

Mr. Dawkins is a junior enrolled in the Auburn University College of Science and Mathematics. As a Pre-Vet Integrative Biology major, he is interested in fundamental and clinical research in animal health. Luke volunteered at the Auburn Raptor Center, and he enrolled in the Undergraduate Research in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences course and performed fecal DNA extraction experiments in eagles and vultures housed at the Raptor Center in the Wang Laboratory. 

Patrick Zhang,  Summer undergraduate researcher (2024)

Patrick joined the Wang as a summer research scholar from June 1 to August 1, 2024, when he was a rising senior at the Keck Science Center, Pitzer College in California. Patrick worked on a bioinformatics project analyzing nuclear-mitochondrial genome interactions in two jewel wasp species of the genus Nasonia. His research involved analyzing multiple transcriptome datasets from various interspecific hybrids and strain crosses, uncovering a striking pattern in the interaction between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. He is currently collaborating on a research manuscript to publish these findings. Patrick is admitted to the MCB Ph.D. program at University of Texas, Austin, and he aims to become a University Professor in the future.

Xiaolei Ma, Ph.D.   Graduate student (2019-2024)

Xiaolei earned her B.S. degree in Biological Information Science from Nanjing Medical University before being admitted to the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program in August 2019. Since joining the lab, she has focused on gut microbiome analyses in domestic cats and detection dogs, particularly in the context of feline obesity and canine working memory performance. In recognition of her outstanding research productivity, Xiaolei was awarded the Elanco Animal Health Fellowship in August 2023.

Abbi Lynn Lanier, B.S.  Research Staff (2023-2024)

Abbi Lynn obtained her B.S. degree in Biomedical Sciences at Auburn University in 2022. She joined Wang Lab in June 2023 and made significant contributions of various projects, including 1) DNA extraction and genome sequencing of the detection dogs, 2) maintenance the Monodelphis (lab opossum) colony, and 3) sample archiving and data analysis for veterinary medicine research, including a project analyzing the canine urinary microbiome. In July 2024, Abbi Lynn was admitted to the UAB School of Medicine to pursue her MD degree, aspiring to become a human doctor. Her dedication and contributions to research have left a lasting impact on the lab. We wish her the best in her medical career!

​Xiao Xiong, Ph.D.   Graduate student (2018-2023)

Ms. Xiong received her Bachelor's degree at Tianjin Medical University majoring in Bioinformatics. She was admitted to the Biomedical Sciences program in 2018 with the Auburn University Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship award. In Dr. Wang's lab, Xiao characterized the genome of parasitoid wasp species in the genera of Nasonia and Muscidifurax, and performed comparative and evolutionary genomic research in the wasp symbionts including Wolbachia, Nosema, ​and other microbes. ​

​Wenqi Cao, Ph.D.   Graduate student (2018-2023)

Ms. Cao received her Bachelor's degree in the School of Life Sciences and Technology at Tongji University in 2018. After graduation, she joined the Wang Lab as an Auburn University Presidential Fellow. She is also the recipient of the Alabama EPSCoR Graduate Research fellowship. Wenqi worked on various projects using the laboratory marsupial model Monodelphis domestica, including genomic imprinting in embryos and evaluation of PFOA and GenX toxicity in this marsupial model. Wenqi obtained her Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences in 2023 and accepted a research scientist position at BGI Hangzhou. 

Haolong Wang, M.S. Ph.D. Graduate student (2019-2023)

Mr. Haolong Wang earned his master's degree at Ocean University of China in 2019 and his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences in Wang Lab in 2023. He worked on a number of projects, including catfish genome-assisted selection in catfish and transcriptome analysis of heterosis in hybrid catfish. Haolong currently works for WuXi AppTec, a global pharmaceutical company in Shanghai. 

Jerry Lin Undergraduate researcher (2019-2020)

Jerry is a talented undergraduate student at Columbus State University, majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Biology and Mathematics. He joined lab in May 2019 as an NSF-funded Bioinformatics REU student. He worked on jewel wasp genome analysis and annotation, including characterizing the mitochondrial genomes from five jewel wasp species using bioinformatic, comparative genomic and phylogenomic approaches. Jerry is currently a Ph.D. student in the UPenn Bioengineering graduate program at the Wistar Institute. 

Jinbin Wang, Ph.D. Visiting Scholar (2019-2020)

Dr. Jinbin Wang is an Associate Professor in the Biotechnology Research Institute at Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS). His expertise is in food science, ecological environmental safety and agricultural genetics and breeding. He visited us from August 2019 to July 2020 and did a genome sequencing project in the parasitoid jewel wasp species Nasonia vitripennis related to mtDNA and Wolbachia characterization. 

Gloria (Xiaozhu) Wang, Ph.D.  Postdoc (2017-2019)

Gloria worked on the jewel wasp and Wolbachia genome sequencing and evolutionary analyses projects.  She was also involved in the research with the AUCVM canine performance sciences program.  During her time in the Wang Lab, she published 3 first-author and 3 co-authored papers.  In September 2019, she accepted a job at Stanford University School of Medicine as a data scientist. She is currently working at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Daniel Son  Undergraduate researcher (2018)

Daniel joined the lab in May 2018 as a junior in Animal Sciences, working on Nasonia line maintenance and curing Wolbachia infection in the jewel wasp Nasonia oneida. He took the Undergraduate Research in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences course (VBMS4980) in Fall 2018. 

Gabriel Touliatos  Undergraduate researcher (2017-2018)

Gabe did his undergraduate research project in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences as a senior in the lab. He designed and performed Pyrosequencing to genotype recessive disease mutations to determine heterozygous carries in Auburn University dogs.