University of North Texas 
Mauricio Antunes - Principal Investigator (PI)
Associate Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology
Associate Director of the BioDiscovery Institute
Mauricio Antunes, Ph.D. received his B.S. degree in Agronomy and M.S. degree in Crop
Sciences from the Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Brazil. He then moved to West
Lafayette, Indiana, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in Plant Molecular Biology at Purdue
University, under the supervision of Nick Carpita and Tom Hodges. After completing
his doctoral degree, Antunes joined June Medford's group at Colorado State University
as a postdoctoral fellow, where he was involved in pioneering work in plant synthetic
biology to rationally engineer plants to function as sensitive and specific sensors
of substances of interest to humans. After spending one year working in Maureen McCann's
lab at the Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio) at
Purdue University, Antunes returned to Colorado State University in 2010 as a Research
Assistant Professor in the Biology Department. In 2018, Dr. Antunes joined the Department
of Biological Sciences and the BioDiscovery Institute at UNT.
E-mail: Mauricio[dot]Antunes[at]unt[dot]edu
Swapna Bodampati - Graduate student
Swapna earned her BSc in Botany, Zoology, and Chemistry and her MSc in Physical Organic
Chemistry from Osmania University, India. During her BSc, she received nine gold medals
and several cash prizes, including recognition from the former Deputy Chief Minister
of Telangana State in 2017. For her MSc, she graduated as the university’s first-rank
holder. She was awarded two gold medals presented by the Hon’ble Governor of Telangana
State and the Chancellor of Osmania University in 2021. She later completed a second
MS in Chemistry at East Texas A&M University–Commerce in 2023, where she also served
as an Adjunct Instructor in Organic Chemistry. Her thesis research focused on the
“Regulation of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway in Pseudomonas lemonnieri”. Swapna began her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UNT in Fall 2024.
During her lab rotations, she has gained experience in the labs of Dr. Antunes, Dr.
Alonso, and Dr. Macias. She is currently studying the modulation of the phenylpropanoid
pathway in Nicotiana benthamiana using different transcription factors in our lab. Her hobbies include drawing, art,
and reading.
E-mail: SwapnaBodampati[at]my[dot]unt[dot]edu
Jesseca Hemminger - Graduate student
Jesseca received her Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from Texas Lutheran University in May of 2022. In her time there, she worked on an individual research project that focused on the role of secondary metabolites inhibiting DNA extraction and sequencing samples of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora. She began UNT's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate program in January 2023 in the Antunes lab. She is currently working on understanding the role that miRNA-encoded peptides (miPEPs) play in regulating miRNA expression. Her work focuses on two miRNAs and their associated miPEPs, 395a and 399b, that have been shown to regulate sulfate and phosphate assimilation pathways, respectively. By studying how miPEPs influence these nutrient-responsive miRNAs, her research aims to uncover new layers of regulatory control in plant nutrient homeostasis. Her hobbies include crafting and reading.
E-mail: JessecaHemminger[at]my[dot]unt[dot]edu
Md Shoyeb - Graduate student
Md Shoyeb completed his BSc and MS degree in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from Jashore University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. He received the Vice Chancellor award for his outstanding result and joined as a faculty member in the same department in 2018. He started as a PhD student in UNT's Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program in Fall 2022. Shoyeb is currently working to determine whether the long-distance mobility of miRNA via the plant phloem is determined by the location of its expression in the plant. He loves to travel and read historical fiction.
E-mail: MdShoyeb[at]my[dot]unt[dot]edu
Undergraduate students
Gabrielle Rust
Gabrielle is a third-year student majoring in Biology with minors in Chemistry and
History. She is currently investigating the phenotypic differences caused by overexpression
and lack of expression (mutations) of specific microRNAs in Arabidopsis. Outside of
the lab, her interests include reading, baking, and printmaking.