Brandon Gheller, MSc, RD

PhD Candidate

Brandon obtained his BS in Applied Human Nutrition from Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he also went on to complete an MS degree in Applied Human Nutrition with a combined dietetic internship. His undergraduate and master’s theses focused on the effect of environmental and physiological factors on short-term appetite, food intake, and glycemic regulation in the obese pediatric population. His current research projects focus on identifying novel regulators of satellite cell proliferation and differentiation.

Jamie Blum, BSc

PhD Student

Jamie received her B.S. degree in human biology, health and society from Cornell University in 2016. She joined Anna Thalacker-Mercer’s laboratory as an undergraduate in January 2015, continued to work in Anna’s lab after college and began the Ph.D. program in molecular nutrition in January 2017. Broadly, Jamie is interested in the relationship between nutrient metabolism and metabolic and age-related disease. In the Thalacker-Mercer lab, she studies the influence of TNFα on cell proliferation, glucose and glutamine metabolism, and role of certain metabolic enzymes in controlling cell proliferation and skeletal muscle regeneration. Currently, she is studying the role of PKM2, a glycolytic enzyme, in modulating the proliferative capacity of myoblasts. Jamie’s research is supported by a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation. In the future, she is hoping to continue research as a post-doctoral fellow.

Lauren Varvatos, BSc

Lauren completed her B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from Michigan State University in 2017. During her undergraduate degree, she worked with Dr. Katherine Alaimo, studying outcomes of an urban garden resource program on participants' physical and mental health. She was a part of nutrition research interventions through MSU Extension and MSU College of Nursing, and performed public health community-based research in Ghana. Lauren is currently writing a systematic review on inflammation and muscle regenerative capacity after tissue injury, working on analytical techniques to prepare for research using C2C12 cells, and applying to medical school.

Emily Riddle, MSc, RD

PhD Candidate

Emily completed her undergraduate degree in nutritional sciences from Penn State University in 2008. While there, she completed her honor thesis with Dr. Mary Jane De Souza in the Women’s Health and Exercise Lab at Penn State. Recognizing her dual interests in scientific research and applied dietetics work, she enrolled in the Coordinated Master’s Program in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Utah. While there she completed both the RD internship and a basic science master’s thesis. Her master’s thesis focused on adipose tissue dysfunction and epigenetic modifications in intrauterine growth restricted rats. Here at Cornell, Emily continues to pursue her interests in cellular metabolism and chronic disease. Her dissertation work focuses on characterizing heterogeneity in the expansion capacity and metabolic phenotype of human skeletal muscle progenitor cells. Adequate expansion of the progenitor cell population is essential for muscle repair and regeneration. Moving forward, Emily plans to combine her dual interests in both scientific research and dietetics throughout her career. Her current career goal is to become a faculty member within a dietetics program where she can use her training in scientific research and clinical practice guideline development to train high-quality dietitians.

Erica Bender, CNM, NP-OB/GYN

Nurse Scientist

Erica Bender is a nurse scientist in the Division of Nutritional Sciences and co-teaches Applied Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II within DNS’s Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in Health Studies. She is the manager of the DNS Human Metabolic Research Unit, where her clinical procedures on human participants have led to her research in maternal-child nutrition and hormonal disorders in women as they relate to nutrition.

Ms. Bender is a certified nurse-midwife in the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology. During her early career, she concentrated heavily on obstetrics. She has delivered approximately 900 babies and provided prenatal/postnatal care to thousands of women. In her later career, she focused on gynecology and primary care for women. She has worked in diverse environments such as private practice, indigent care, health departments, and hospital systems, as well as academia.

Ms. Bender received her MS in nursing from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, where she received two distinguished awards, Excellence in Clinical Practice and Excellence in Academic Achievement. She is a member of the American College of Nurse Midwives, a certified childbirth educator, and a National Healthcare educator.

Molly Gheller, MS, RD

Project Coordinator

Molly obtained her BSc in Human Nutrition from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. During her last year of the program she completed her integrated dietetic internship and became a Registered Dietitian in 2011. She then went on the complete her MSc in Applied Human Nutrition from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her master thesis project focused on glycemic regulation of dairy and non-dairy snacks in children. Molly has worked as a dietitian in various settings such as long-term care, private practice, and as a nutrition educator for the WIC program.