Dr. Cara Haney
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Dr. Haney received her PhD in Molecular/Cell Biology from Stanford, and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard. She started her lab at UBC in 2016. Her lab moved to Pitt in Sept 2023.
Dr. Aditi Bhat
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW (Pitt)
Aditi Bhat received her PhD in Plant Biology at the Pennsylvania State University in 2021 where she studied the mechanisms of rapid growth inhibition in Arabidopsis thaliana roots. She went on to do her postdoctoral research at Brookhaven National Laboratory before joining the Haney lab in 2024. In the Haney lab, she is currently studying the role of Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) in shaping the rhizosphere microbiome. Outside of the lab, she likes exploring new places through food and hikes, taking copious pictures along the way!
Dr. Federico Muzio
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW (Pitt)
Federico received his PhD from the University of Quilmes, Argentina, in 2024. His research focuses on the influence of two-component systems in Pseudomonas evolution and bacterial–host interactions.
Dr. Yana Beizman-Magen
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW (Pitt)
Yana Beizman-Magen received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2025. In the Haney Lab, she studies how beneficial bacteria and their secreted compounds shape the root microbiome and plant resistance to pathogens, aiming to build predictive models of plant health.
Dr. Erin Reynolds
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW (Pitt)
Erin Reynolds received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2025 where she studied withanolide biosynthesis in the medicinal plant Ashwagandha. As a postdoc in the Haney Lab, her research focuses on the role of plant exudates in shaping the root microbiome, with an emphasis on the influence of secondary metabolites. Outside of the lab, her hobbies include hiking, reading, and making art.
Sarzana Hossain
PhD CANDIDATE – MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY (UBC)itt)
After receiving her MSc from the University of Toronto, Sarzana Hossain returned to the Haney Lab as a PhD student studying plant immune responses to microbiota.
Daniela Yanez
PhD CANDIDATE – MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY (UBC)
Daniela is a UBC graduate who has transitioned from an undergraduate to a PhD student in the Haney Lab. She is currently studying the genomic distribution of insecticidal and antifungal genes across Pseudomonas.
Leah Fulton
PhD CANDIDATE – MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY (UBC)
Leah received her B.S. from the University of Waterloo. She is interested in synthetic biology and has been heavily involved in iGEM since her undergrad. For her PhD, she is studying natural variation in the competitive ability of Pseudomonas and using synthetic biology tools to understand the mechanisms that allow or prevent microbial establishment in the rhizosphere.
Sierra Schmidt
PhD STUDENT – BIOLOGY, MCDB (Pitt)
Sierra received her B.S. at Portland State University, and her M.S. at the University of Rhode Island, wherein she studied genomic stability followed by transcriptional regulation of ribosomal proteins. In her PhD she is now interested in the intersection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection across diverse hosts: plants and people.
Bernadette Traina
PhD STUDENT – BIOLOGY, MCDB (Pitt)
Bernadette graduated from Juniata College with a B.S. in Biology in 2024. In the Haney Lab, she is interested in investigating the role of plant receptor-like kinases in cellular signaling and how they shape the rhizosphere microbiome. She enjoys going on walks and spending time with her cat Chester in her free time.
Jordan Watson
PhD STUDENT – BIOLOGY, MCDB (Pitt)
Jordan graduated from The University of Texas at El Paso with a B.S. in Cellular & Molecular Biochemistry. His research interests in the Haney Lab include investigating the role of bacteriophages within the rhizosphere, and the genetic determinants of bacteriophage specificity across diverse Pseudomonas species. In his free time, Jordan enjoys playing board games & video games, exploring Pittsburgh, and fermenting food at home.
Kylah Erdmann
RESEARCH TECHNICIAN (Pitt)
Kylah Erdmann received her B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2025. She joined the Haney Lab as an undergraduate researcher in and continued on in the lab as a technician. Her work focuses on plant–microbe interactions in Arabidopsis. In addition to her research experience in the Haney lab, she worked in the greenhouse maintained by the biology department. She also works as a nursing assistant with UPMC. Outside of the lab, Kylah enjoys spending time and sharing photos of her cat Mango and shelter dogs in the Barks and Rec program with Animal Friends Pittsburgh.
Ben Rand-Leach
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER (Pitt)
Ben Rand-Leach is an undergraduate student in Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. He is currently working with Dr. Beizman-Magen to model root microbiome interactions.
The Haney Lab 