The Biga Laboratory

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Peggy earned her B.S. in animal science (1997) and M.S. (1999) in animal nutrition from Angelo State University. She earned her Ph.D. in nutritional physiology from the University of Idaho in 2003 and then completed a postdoc at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. She has held faculty positions at the Great Lakes WATER Institute, North Dakota State University, and now at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a comparative physiologist and endocrinologist specializing in fish growth biology.

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Eric earned his B.S. in marine biology from the University of West Florida in 2014 and his Ph.D. in marine biology from the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami in 2023. He is currently a postdoctoral scientist working with the Biga lab (and the Riddle lab at UAB) as part of IISAGE. Eric is working on comparative analyses of transcriptomics data from diverse species (fish and flies). Additionally, he is characterizing the a metabolic flux analysis assay for work comparing mitochondrial function in relation to age and sex in fish, clams, and flies.

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Christel earned a Master of Science degree from Auburn University in 2011 and has spent numerous years teaching introductory biology courses at various colleges across the East coast. She joined the Biga research lab in 2020 as a PhD student and is focusing her dissertation research on STEM education research. She is studying the impacts of integrative curricula (merging physical and social sciences) on STEM literacy and student sense of belonging in various biology and sociology courses at UAB. In addition, she is investigating the role of myoglianin as a growth and metabolism regulating hormone in the caterpillar Manduca sexta. As she studies this broad question, she will build active learning modules for biology laboratories for undergraduate students. Christel also serves as a teaching assistant for Introductory Biology I labs in the Department of Biology and the Biology of Sex course.

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Noor received her Bachelor of Science in 2023 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a major in Biology with honors, and minors in chemistry and philosophy. Noor joined the Biga laboratory as a Plan I MS student in the fall of 2023 as part of the IISAGE trainee cohort. She is working on verifying and validating a DNA methylation aging clock in small fish models building from the published zebrafish clock. Her work will help IISAGE better understand DNA methylation in sex-specific aging, as well as potentially validate a resource for use in wild fish population sampling. Noor anticipates defending her thesis in spring 2025.

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Addesyn is currently an undergraduate student majoring in Genetics and Genomics Sciences and a biology ABM plan I student in biology. Addesyn began in the Biga laboratory in the summer of 2023 as an IISAGE REU student working on sex-specific DNA repair efficiency during aging in Xiphophorus species. She is now a Plan I ABM student working on characterizing the changes in DNA repair during aging in male and female medaka (Japanese rice fish, Oryzias latipes). Addesyn anticipates defending her thesis in spring 2025.

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Ireen joined the Biga lab as a PhD student in fall 2024 and will work on cellular phenotype and chromatin changes during aging in fish models. She will also begin work on larger, longer-lived, fish species (burbot, Atlantic salmon, sablefish) where we will analyze genomic and epigenomic changes associated with aging phenotypes.

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Abby joined the Biga lab as an MS student in fall 2024 and will work on characterizing muscle growth phenotypes in fish species exhibiting sexually dimorphic growth using muscle cell biomarkers (Pax3). This work is an extension of our IISAGE work that will allow us to better understand muscle dynamics across age and sex.

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Undergraduate and High School Students Presenting at UAB Expo

Previous Biga Lab Members

Khalid earned a BS in Biology with Distinguished Honors from UAB and completed his PhD in December 2023. He joined the Biga research team in the summer of 2017. Khalid’s dissertation focused on identifying mechanisms of maternal diet influence on offspring performance using rainbow trout as a model. This work was in collaboration with Dr. Beth Cleveland at the USDA ARS National Center for Cool and Coldwater Aquaculture, where Khalid spent several months as part of his training. Khalid also served as a teaching assistant for Introductory Biology II labs in the Department of Biology. Dr. Freij is now a Bioinformatician II at UAB.

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Dr. Turkmen earned a PhD in nutritional programming from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain in 2019. He earned 2 MS degrees, one from Las Palmas in aquaculture nutrition (2014) and one from the University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey in growth biology (2010). He earned a BS in fisheries engineering from the University of Cukurova in 2009. As a postdoc in the Biga Lab, Dr. Turkmen worked on analyzing genomic methylation data (RRBS) from methionine-restricted trout myotubes and is currently finalizing the manuscript detailing this work. He also investigated paternal choline intake on offspring over 4 generations in zebrafish. He is currently a postdoctoral scientist working with Dr. Sun in the UAB SOM.   

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Ross Reid earned his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2020. Ross’ research focused on the interaction of hormones in skeletal muscle of fish species. More specifically, he used the model organism Danio rerio (zebrafish) to investigate how growth-related hormones affect metabolic activity of their muscle. Before coming to Birmingham Alabama, Ross completed his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology from Shepherd University in West Virginia. While an undergraduate student he also worked for the USDA-National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture (NCCCWA), where he researched how plant hormones affect the growth and physiology of rainbow trout. Ross also served as a teaching assistant for Introductory Biology II Labs and was involved in numerous research projects ranging from undergraduate research to collaborations with the University of Toronto. He is a postdoc with the USDA ARS.

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Mary earned her B.S. in xx from xx, her M.S. in biology from Towson University, and her Ph.D. in 208 from UAB. Her dissertation detailed the role of miRNA mediated changes in gene expression during methionine restriction in the skeletal muscle of Rainbow Trout, including in vivo metabolic regulation, and in vitro epigenetic regulation. In 2018 she won 1st place in the UAB NORC Shock Center Symposium 1^st Place Pre-Doctoral Poster Competition and 1^st place in the UAB Darwin Day Poster Competition. In 2017 she became a CIRTL Associate.

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Nick earned his Ph.D. in biology from UAB in 2014. HIs dissertation work focused on the interaction between stress and growth in rainbow trout. He is currently an Associate Professor at Valley City State University in Valley City, ND.

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Jacob earned his Ph.D. in biology in 2014 from UAB where he focused his research on myogenic cell identify and trout growth. He went on to ean a DVM from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Massachusetts where he was awarded the Small Animal Surgery Award, ACVIM Large Animal Internal Medicine Award, among others. Dr. Froehlich has experience in both small and large animal Internal medicine (especially Ruminant Neonatology), small animal emergency care, large animal primary care, exotic mammal, and reptile medicine. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Association of Bovine Practitioners, American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners, Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians, and the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians, and the Association of Avian Veterinarians.

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