Education
PhD Biology, University of California, San Diego
Courses Taught
- Cell Biology (BIO355)
- Biology 111L
- Advanced Topics in Microbiology & Seminar in Molecular Cell Biology (BIO409/609)
- Intro to Biotechnology Lab 494L
Research
I study how RBCs and host physiology shape microbial behavior in blood, and I build whole-blood microfluidic + phage-enabled platforms for functional phenotyping, diagnostics, and therapeutic discovery.
Selected Publications
- Tinker-Kulberg, R, Magdy, M, and Josephs, E. A. (2025). Polyvalent guide RNAs enhance the CRISPR-mediated suppression of a human Coronavirus. In review.
- Islam, T., Kalkar, S., Tinker-Kulberg, R., Ignatova, T., & Josephs, E. A. (2023). The “Duckweed Dip”: Aquatic Spirodela polyrhiza Plants Can Efficiently Uptake Dissolved, DNA-Wrapped Carbon Nanotubes from Their Environment for Transient Gene Expression. ACS Synthetic Biology, 13(2), 687-691
- Tinker-Kulberg, R and Bagchi, R, et al., (Shared co-first authorship) (2021). Polyvalent Guide RNAs for CRISPR Antivirals. Iscience, 25(11), 105333.
- Tinker-Kulberg R, et al., (2020). Effects of diet on the biochemical properties of amebocyte lysates from Limulus polyphemus in an aquaculture setting. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7:860.
- Tinker-Kulberg R, et al., (2020). Evaluation of indoor and outdoor aquaculture systems as alternatives to harvesting hemolymph from random wild capture of horseshoe crabs. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7:813.
- Tinker-Kulberg R, et al., (2020). Horseshoe crab aquaculture as a sustainable endotoxin testing source. Frontiers in Marine Science; 7, 153.
- Tinker-Kulberg R and Morgan, D. (1999). Pds1 and Esp1 control both anaphase and mitotic exit in normal cells and after DNA damage. Genes & Development; 13.
More information
Coming Soon! I will co-lead UNCG’s HHMI SEA-PHAGES program (2026–2027) to integrate discovery-based training with publishable research pipelines and future therapeutic discovery.
