THE WHITEMAN LABORATORY
  • Home
  • Group Members
    • Principal Investigator, Dr. Noah Whiteman
    • Research Specialist Susan Bernstein
    • Postdoctoral Researchers >
      • Dr. Rebecca Duncan
      • Dr. Marianna Karageorgi
      • Dr. Teruyuki Matsanaga
      • Dr. Carolina Reisenman
    • Graduate Students >
      • Jessica Aguilar
      • Nicolas Alexandre
      • Diler Haji
      • Tim O'Connor
      • Julianne Pelaez
      • Hiromu Suzuki
      • Kirsten Verster
    • Undergraduate Students >
      • Sneha Agrawal
      • Saron Akalu
      • Michael Astourian
      • Bridget Cheng
      • Kelly D'Ambrogia
      • Irene Liang
      • Christina Meyer
      • Gillian Montross
      • Kevin Miao
      • Anna Pham
      • Esteban Rodas
      • Faye Romero
      • Marissa Sandoval
      • Haarini Sridhar
      • Shivani Sundaram
      • Jiarui Wang
      • Derrick Yip
    • Former members >
      • Judith Okoro
      • William Farley
      • Dr. Cathy Rushworth
      • Andy Gloss
      • Benjamin Goldman-Huertas
      • Alana Augur
      • Hoon Pyon
      • Julianne Ray
      • Dr. Simon "Niels" Groen
      • Dr. David Hembry (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Jennifer Koop (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Anna Nelson Dittrich (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Rick Lapoint (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Paul Nabity (USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Parris Humphrey
      • Lea Flechon
      • Research Specialist, Tim Rast
      • Amir Abidov
      • Allan Castillo
      • Matt Cravens
      • Mitchell Feldmann
      • Jason Giles
      • Lauren Johnston
      • Noel Kitchen
      • Erika LaPlante
      • Matthew J. Velasquez
    • Internal page >
      • Protocols
      • Recommended Reading
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Join
  • Contact
  • "Monarch Fly"

Kirsten Isabel Verster
PhD Candidate

Picture
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Integrative Biology

Office: 4095 Valley Life Sciences Building

Email: kiv [at] berkeley [dot] edu

Education

  • B.S. Zoology, University of Florida. 2014.
  • B.A. Spanish literature, University of Florida. 2014.

​

Background

I grew up in southern Miami, Florida, a humid and beautiful place whose drowsy alligators and friendly manatees helped me foster a special reverence for the natural world. I sought out a diverse set of research experiences as an undergraduate that have led me all over the United States - I've searched for spiders in the Puerto Rican rainforest, chased angry wasps in Michigan, and grappled with trout in a Wyoming fish hatchery in the pursuit of data. My honors thesis was a systematic revision of the Neotropical butterfly genus Tegosa with Dr. Keith Willmott from the Florida Museum of Natural History. 

I am currently studying horizontal gene transfer of cytolethal distending toxin B in drosophilids in Berkeley. I'm particularly interested in the genetic and molecular basis of cool phenotypes, be it toxin production or toxin resistance. I love dancing salsa and bachata and hanging out with my doggy, Poochie. I also like collecting the rock plants Lithops spp. and air plants Tillandsia spp.

Research Interests

Behavior, coevolution (especially parasitism), genomics

​
Picture
Picture
Picture
The Whiteman Lab | Integrative Biology | University of California | Berkeley, CA 94720

Photographs are copyright protected by Noah Whiteman, Whiteman lab members, or were obtained through Creative Commons licenses.
  • Home
  • Group Members
    • Principal Investigator, Dr. Noah Whiteman
    • Research Specialist Susan Bernstein
    • Postdoctoral Researchers >
      • Dr. Rebecca Duncan
      • Dr. Marianna Karageorgi
      • Dr. Teruyuki Matsanaga
      • Dr. Carolina Reisenman
    • Graduate Students >
      • Jessica Aguilar
      • Nicolas Alexandre
      • Diler Haji
      • Tim O'Connor
      • Julianne Pelaez
      • Hiromu Suzuki
      • Kirsten Verster
    • Undergraduate Students >
      • Sneha Agrawal
      • Saron Akalu
      • Michael Astourian
      • Bridget Cheng
      • Kelly D'Ambrogia
      • Irene Liang
      • Christina Meyer
      • Gillian Montross
      • Kevin Miao
      • Anna Pham
      • Esteban Rodas
      • Faye Romero
      • Marissa Sandoval
      • Haarini Sridhar
      • Shivani Sundaram
      • Jiarui Wang
      • Derrick Yip
    • Former members >
      • Judith Okoro
      • William Farley
      • Dr. Cathy Rushworth
      • Andy Gloss
      • Benjamin Goldman-Huertas
      • Alana Augur
      • Hoon Pyon
      • Julianne Ray
      • Dr. Simon "Niels" Groen
      • Dr. David Hembry (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Jennifer Koop (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Anna Nelson Dittrich (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Rick Lapoint (PERT Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Dr. Paul Nabity (USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow)
      • Parris Humphrey
      • Lea Flechon
      • Research Specialist, Tim Rast
      • Amir Abidov
      • Allan Castillo
      • Matt Cravens
      • Mitchell Feldmann
      • Jason Giles
      • Lauren Johnston
      • Noel Kitchen
      • Erika LaPlante
      • Matthew J. Velasquez
    • Internal page >
      • Protocols
      • Recommended Reading
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Join
  • Contact
  • "Monarch Fly"