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UF Health University of Florida
Brusko Laboratory Working to Cure Type 1 Diabetes
UF Immune Monitoring Core
Staff Overview

Laboratory Manager

Rachel Wilkes, M.S.

Photo of Rachel Wilkes, Laboratory Manager

Rachel Wilkes earned her B.S. in Zoology and Psychology from the University of Florida in 2011. She completed her Master’s degree in 2015 at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, where she conducted research on the transcriptomics of regeneration in ctenophores under the guidance of Dr. Leonid Moroz.

Following her graduate work, Rachel joined Dr. Rosanna Marsella’s laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine as a Biological Scientist II, contributing to studies on atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions in dogs and horses. By 2019, she was promoted to Biological Scientist III, taking on leadership of laboratory management.

After taking time to care for her young children, Rachel rejoined the scientific community in 2024, becoming a the laboratory manager of Dr. Brusko’s laboratory.

Rachel brings extensive expertise in molecular biology techniques, including next-generation sequencing, nucleic acid isolation, ELISA, immunostaining, and cell culture. She is also skilled in laboratory safety protocols, grant management, hazardous waste management, and animal colony management with IACUC compliance.

Contact

Lab: (352) 273 -9300

Email: rsanford@ufl.edu

Publications

  • Craig, N., Ahrens, K., Wilkes, R., Opriessnig, T., Hoyle, D. V., Bradford, B., Maxwell, S., Del Pozo, J., Parys, M., Kitamura, T., & Marsella, R. (2024). Interleukin 31 transcription in a canine model of acute atopic dermatitis does not correlate with T-cell infiltration. Allergy. 
  • Marsella, R., Ahrens, K., & Wilkes, R. (2024). Studies Using Antibodies against Filaggrin and Filaggrin 2 in Canine Normal and Atopic Skin Biopsies. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI.
  • Sartori, R., Ahrens, K., Wilkes, R., & Marsella, R. (2023). Immunolocalization and Expression of JAK1 and JAK3 in the Skin of Dust Mite-Sensitive Beagle Dogs before and after Allergen Exposure. Veterinary sciences. 
  • Craig N, Munguia N, Trujillo A, Wilkes R, Dorr M., Marsella R. (2023) Transcription of interleukin 31 and its receptor by leukocytes after Culicoides sp stimulation is dose dependent but is not exaggerated in allergic horses or correlated with pruritus. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 
  • Sartori, R., Ahrens, K., Wilkes, R., & Marsella, R. (2023). Immunolocalization and Expression of JAK1 and JAK3 in the Skin of Dust Mite-Sensitive Beagle Dogs before and after Allergen Exposure. Veterinary sciences.
  • Marsella R, Ahrens K, Wilkes R. (2022) Differences in Behavior between Normal and Atopic Keratinocytes in Culture: Pilot Studies. Vet Sci.
  • Marsella R, Wilkes R, Ahrens K. (2022) Canine Epidermal Keratinocytes (CPEK) Grown in Monolayer Are Not Representative of Normal Canine Keratinocytes for Permeability Studies: Pilot Studies. Vet Sci.
  • Marsella R, Ahrens K, Wilkes R, Soeberdt M, Abels C. (2022) Topical κ-opioid receptor agonist asimadoline improves dermatitis in a canine model of atopic dermatitis. Exp Dermatol. 
  • Craig, N., Ahrens, K., Wilkes, R., Marsella, R. (2021) Reduced IL-31 receptor alpha splice variant mRNA following allergen challenge in a canine model of atopic dermatitis. Allergy
  • Marsella, R., Ahrens, K., Wilkes, R., Trujillo, A., & Dorr, M. (2020) Comparison of various treatment options for canine atopic dermatitis: a blinded, randomized, controlled study in a colony of research atopic beagle dogs. Veterinary dermatology
  • Marsella, R., Ahrens, K., Sanford, R., Trujillo, A., Massre, D., Soeberdt, M., & Abels, C. (2019) Double blinded, vehicle controlled, crossover study on the efficacy of a topical endocannabinoid membrane transporter inhibitor in atopic Beagles. Archives of dermatological research.
  • Marsella, R., Ahrens, K., & Sanford, R. (2018) Investigation of the correlation of serum IL-31 with severity of dermatitis in an experimental model of canine atopic dermatitis using beagle dogs. Veterinary dermatology.
  • Pasch B, Sanford R, Phelps SM (2017) Agonistic character displacement in social cognition of advertisement signals. Anim Cogn. 
  • Dabe EC, Sanford RS, Kohn AB, Bobkova Y, & Moroz LL (2015) DNA Methylation in Basal Metazoans: Insights from Ctenophores. Integr Comp Biol.
  • Kohn AB, Sanford RS, Yoshida MA, & Moroz LL (2015) Parallel Evolution and Lineage-Specific Expansion of RNA Editing in Ctenophores. Integr Comp Biol.
  • Moroz LL, Kocot KM, Citarella MR, Dosung S, Norekian, TP, Povolotskaya, IS, Grigorenko AP, Dailey, C, Berezikov E, Buckley KM, Ptitsyn A, Reshetov D, Mukherjee K, Moroz TP, Bobkova Y, Yu F, Kapitonov VV, Jurka J, Bobkov YV, Swore JJ, Girardo DO, Fodor A, Gusev F, Sanford R, Bruders R, Kittler E, Mills CE, Rast JP, Derelle R, Solovyev VV, Kondrashov FA, Swalla BJ, Sweedler JV, Rogaev EI, Halanych KM, Kohn AB (2014) The ctenophore genome and the evolutionary origins of neural systems. Nature.