Emrah Ozel, PhD

Education

Work Experience

• Field Assistant · 2001 – 2005, Aladaglar Deep Cave Research Expedition, (Turkish and Ukrainian Speleological Associations)
• Area Manager · 2007, Sea Turtles Protection Project, Gazipasa / Antalya, Turkiye
• Field Assistant · 2007 – 2009, Ecology Based Nature Education in Kemaliye, Turkiye
• Cave Researcher · 2009, Sustainable Development and Protection of Natural Resources and Biodiversity of Yildiz Mountains Project (UNDP and Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Turkiye)
• Coordinator · 2010, Determination of Invertebrate Fauna and Surveying Zoogeographic Variations of Balıkesir - Havran Region (Turkiye) Caves Project (TUBITAK)
• Teaching Assistant · 2011 – 2012, Genetics Lab, Dept. of Biology (Texas State University - San Marcos, TX)
• Research Assistant · 2012 – 2015, Department of Biology (Texas State University - San Marcos, TX)
• Laboratory Technician · 2016 – 2018, Entomology Department, University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)
• Research Assistant · 2018 – 2022, Entomology Department, University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)
• Post Doctoral Research Associate · 2022 – 2025, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University (College Station, TX)

 

Teaching Experience

• Genetics Laboratory (2 sections, 3 semesters) at Texas State University
• Bioinformatics and Data Mining Methods (9 Undergraduate students, 2 semesters) via Aggie Research Programs at Texas A&M University
• Training and mentoring co-workers on molecular and computational methods (University of Kentucky and Texas A&M University)

Research Interests

• Insect metagenomics and transcriptomics
• Surveillance of insect viruses and insect-borne pathogens using molecular and computational methods
• Surveillance of insecticide resistance caused by target-site insensitivity
• Tick-host interactions and immune dynamics
• Data mining in large sequence databases to investigate virus presence and prevalence
• Simulations of protein-ligand dynamics, virtual docking and in silico drug-discovery
• Two- and three-dimensional morphometrics and molecular phylogenetics

 

Professional Qualifications

• Laboratory Skills: Genomic and transcriptomic workflows, PCR and Sanger sequencing, smart polymers, cell culture maintenance and insect rearing.
• Bioinformatics: DNA and RNA -omics, structural bioinformatics (protein folding, ligand docking and molecular dynamics), phylogenetic analyses, GNU/Linux system management, SLURM and high-power computing.
• Programming: BASH scripting, C++ (Basic), Java (Basic), PHP, and R language.
• Field Skills: Invertebrate collection, identification, dissection, preservation, collections management, and bovine sample collection procedures.
• Microscopy/Imaging: Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy, mCT-scanning and 3D Reconstructions.

Publications

• Brown, D. J., D. B. Preston, E. Ozel, and M. R. J. Forstner. 2013. Wildfire impacts on fire ant captures around forest ponds in the Lost Pines of Texas. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 4(1):129-133.
• Brown, D. J., W. H. Nowlin, E. Ozel, I. Mali, D. Episcopo, M. C. Jones, and M. R. J. Forstner. 2014. Comparison of short term low, moderate, and high severity fire impacts to aquatic and terrestrial habitat components of a southern USA mixed pine forest. Forest Ecology and Management 312(2014):179-192.
• [In prep.] Heliothine Nudivirus Prevalence in the Cotton Belt Region and Surrounding States.
• [In prep.] A Digital Survey of Helicoverpa zea Nudivirus.
• [In prep.] Genomic Features of Heliothis virescens Nudivirus.
• [In prep.] Pathogen Prevalence in Rhipicephalus sanguineus Populations in Texas and Surrounding States.
• [In prep.] Pyrethroid Resistance and Genetic Lineages in Brown Dog Tick Populations in Texas.

• Donald Brown, Devin Preston, Emrah Ozel and Michael Forstner (2012); The Effect of Canopy Cover, Prescribed Fire, Temperature and Precipitation on Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta, RIFA) Activity in the Lost Pines Ecoregion of Texas. Texas Herpetological Society.
• Donald Brown, Devin Preston, Emrah Ozel and Michael Forstner (2012); How do Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta) respond to the changes brought on by last years wildfires in the Lost Pines region of Texas. International Research Conference for Graduate Students, Texas State University.
• Emrah Ozel and Michael Forstner (2014); Exposure to RIFA may be a higher threat than previously considered: Seasonal habitat shifts of red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) negatively affects Houston toad distribution. (POSTER), 2014 THS Fall Symposium, Texas State University.
• Emrah Ozel and Bruce Webb (2019); H. zea Nudivirus-2: A Novel Control Agent for Corn Earworm (Helicoverpa zea) Management, ESA Annual, St. Louis, MO.
• Emrah Ozel and Bruce Webb (2020); A bioinformatic survey of Helicoverpa zea Nudivirus, ESA Annual Meeting, Virtual.
• Emrah Ozel (2023); Brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) lineages and acaricide resistance in Texas.
• Emrah Ozel, Taylor Chapman and Phillip E. Kaufman (2023); Pathogen Prevalence, Pyrethroid Resistance and Genetic Lineages in Rhipicephalus sanguineus Populations in Texas and Surrounding States. ESA Entomology 2023 (National Harbor, MD).
• Emrah Ozel, Taylor Chapman and Phillip E. Kaufman (2023); Screening Pyrethroid Resistance, Genetic Lineages and Pathogen Prevalence in Brown Dog Tick Populations in Texas and Surrounding States. ESA 2023 Joint North Central and Southwestern Branch Meeting (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Emrah Ozel (2023); Pathogen prevalence, pyrethroid resistance and genetic Lineages in brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) populations in Texas. 65th Annual Livestock Insect Workers Conference (Fredricksburg, TX).
• Emrah Ozel and Phillip E. Kaufman (2024); Metagenomic Data Mining in Ixodid Datasets in Collaboration with Undergraduate Students. ESA 2024 Southwestern Branch Meeting (Albuquerque, NM)
• Emrah Ozel (2024); An Unusual Outreach Strategy: Using Bioinformatics to Introduce Entomology and Genetics to Undergraduate Students from Diverse Backgrounds. 66th Annual Livestock Insect Workers Conference (FL)
• Emrah Ozel, Taylor Chapman, Brandon Lyons and Phillip Kaufman (2025); Immune response of tick- mediated (Amblyomma maculatum) gene expression dynamics in tick-susceptible (Hereford) and tick- resistant (Brahman) cattle (Round Rock, TX)

• Michael R.J. Forstner, S. McCracken, and E. Ozel (2014); Minimizing Wildlife-Motorist Interactions, Annual Report for Texas Department of Transportation. Texas State University, San Marcos.

Others

Work in progress :)