Katherine A. Borkovich
Professor, Dept. of Microbiology & Plant Pathology and Divisional Dean for Life Sciences, College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
katherine.borkovich@ucr.edu
(951) 827-2753
Biography
Katherine A. Borkovich is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology and Divisional Dean for Life Sciences in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UCR. She moved her group to UCR in 2001 following her tenure as an Associate Professor at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School. Prior to that, she performed postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago and the California Institute of Technology and obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at UCLA and her B.S. in Biochemistry at UC Davis.
Dr. Borkovich has worked with microorganisms during her entire career. Her current research focuses on how multicellular (filamentous) fungi sense their environment and then fine-tune their gene expression to allow exploitation of different nutritional sources or to infect plant hosts. Her group pioneered study of heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins (G proteins) in filamentous fungi, using the model system Neurospora crassa. Dr. Borkovich has contributed to whole-genome information for filamentous fungi, including predictions of gene functions in N. crassa and plant-pathogenic species in the genus Fusarium, and creation of a genome-wide mutant library for N. crassa. Her group’s landmark publications have led to the discovery that G proteins regulate pathogenesis, toxin production and secondary metabolism in numerous animal and plant fungal pathogens. Dr. Borkovich has received funding for her research from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She has served as editor or lead author for major books and papers focused on the genomics and cell biology of filamentous fungi.
Dr. Borkovich was instrumental in establishment of the Microbiology undergraduate major and reinstatement of the Microbiology graduate program at UCR. She was recognized with the 2016 UCR Campus Distinguished Teaching Award for her teaching of a research-based course for the Microbiology major, Experimental Microbiology.
Dr. Borkovich was the faculty director of the UCR Campus COVID Testing Laboratory during the SARS-Co-V2 Pandemic and received the 2021 UCR Campus Distinguished Service Award in part for her leadership of the testing effort. Dr. Borkovich is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology.
Current Laboratory Personnel
Yagna Oza, M.S., Ph.D. Student in the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Program
Monique Quinn, M.S., Ph.D. student in the Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program
Roberto Silver, Undergraduate Student
Charlotte Foulk, Undergraduate Student
Former Laboratory Personnel
Alexander Carrillo, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Microbiology Program
Logan Collier, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program
Rubab Sheikh, M.S., Graduate Student in the Microbiology Graduate Program
Arit Ghosh, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Graduate Program
Ilva Cabrera, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Graduate Program
Alexander Michkov, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Graduate Program
Patrick Schacht, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Graduate Program
James Kim, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program
Carol Jones, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program
Sara Wright, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program
Liande Li, Ph.D., Graduate Student in the Plant Pathology Graduate Program
Susan Won, Undergraduate and M.S. Student
Gyungsoon Park, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Shouqiang Ouyang, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Jacqueline Servin, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Asharie Campbell, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Carla Eaton, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Svetlana Krystofova, Postdoctoral Fellow
Hyeojeong Kim, Postdoctoral Fellow
Fitz-Gerald Diala, Undergraduate Student
Alec Wrightson, Undergraduate Student
Abel Vargas, Undergraduate Student
Lida Halilovic, Undergraduate Student
Berenise Lopez-Lopez, Undergraduate Student
Chathushya Keerthisinghe, Undergraduate Student
Matthew Guevara, Undergraduate Student
Briana Cabrera, Undergraduate Student
Carlos Gutierrez, Undergraduate Student
Yesenia Rodezno, Undergraduate Student
Fernando Olvera, Undergraduate Student
Anar Alsunna, Undergraduate Student
Victoria Joubi, Undergraduate Student
Lisa Louie, Undergraduate Student
Caleb Hubbard, Undergraduate Student
Johnathon Blahut, Undergraduate Student
Nayeli Guerrero, Undergraduate Student
Andrew Lim, Undergraduate Student
Antonia Adeniji, Undergraduate Student
Nathan Irvin, Undergraduate Student
Christopher Crew, Undergraduate Student
Catrina Romero, Undergraduate Student
Farah Firtha, Undergraduate Student
Michelle Brown, Undergraduate Student
Eunicia Reburiano, Undergraduate Student
Quỳnh Vu, Undergraduate Studnet
Caleb Jones, Undergraduate Student
Rosa Medina, Undergraduate Student
Sandra Torres, Undergraduate Student
Luis Zavalza, Undergraduate Student
Maria Oviedo, Undergraduate Student
Dhara Patel, Undergraduate Student
Rozanne Sebeny, Undergraduate Student
Itallia Pacentine, Undergraduate Student
Justin Durancik, Undergraduate Student