People

University of Missouri-Kansas City, Spencer Building, 5009 Rockhill Rd., Kansas City, MO 64110

<<https://sse.umkc.edu/profiles/spletter-maria.html<<

Spletter Lab Webpage

Splicing and RNA regulation in muscle development

Open Positions

The Spletter lab welcomes students and early-career researchers who are interested in the topics of development, genetics, biochemistry or bioinformatics. We offer research opportunities at all levels, from Bachelor's and Master's students to PhD students and postdocs.

Please contact Dr. Spletter for current opportunities.

Links to job postings and degree programs (please apply online):

Natural Sciences PhD program, Cell Biology and Biophysics Discipline or Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Discipline

To learn more visit: https://sse.umkc.edu/academics/programs/biology-graduate.html

Current Lab Members

Maria L. Spletter, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

maria.spletter (at) umkc.edu

Aaron Morgan, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral scholar

Jenna DeCata, M.S.

Ph.D. student

Bryan Rose, M.S.

Ph.D. student

Jessica Brewer, M.S.

Ph.D. student

Alexis Ramos, M.S.

Research Assistant

Julius Adabla

M.S. Researcher

Rida Arsh

M.S. Thesis Researcher

Alexis Carver

M.S. Thesis Researcher

Sienna Ficken

Undergraduate researcher

Research Associate, Office of Undergraduate Research

SEARCH grant recipient, SUROP grant recipient

Undergraduate Researchers

Paige Baldwin, Hayden McNallan, Jordyn Shively, Malak Kamil Qastoma, Alice Eggen, Adrina George, Hillary Allen, Mirka Gonzalez, Abhiram Madala

Spletter Lab STudent awards

Victoria Finnerty Undergraduate Travel Award from the Genetics Society of America

2025 (for Dros2026), Sienna Ficken
2024 (for Dros2025), Sienna Ficken

Mary and John Newman Award

2025, Jenna DeCata

Dr. Linda Hood Talbott STEAM Award of Excellence

2025, Jenna DeCata

Chi Omega Alumni Association's Award of Excellence

2024, Jenna DeCata

Carol Tally Davis Award

2024, Jenna DeCata

Paul Vortreide Award

2023, Jenna DeCata

Saper Vadere Award

2023, Alana Lopez
2022, Max Diaz

Students Engaged in the Arts and Research (SEARCH) grant

2025-2026, Sienna Ficken
2024-2025, Sienna Ficken

Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity (SUROP) grant

2026, Sienna Ficken
2024, Max Diaz
2023, Danei Smith

Discipline Distinction, UMKC School of Science and Engineering

2024, Jenna DeCata, Cell & Molecular Biology MS

Undergraduate Research Fellow, Transcript Designation

2025, Nicholas de Raad
2026, Sienna Ficken
2026, Nermeen Salamed
2026, Hadil Alkhatib

Spletter Lab Alumni

Former graduate students, postdocs, and technicians

Gittel Levin, UMKC. Masters Thesis, Sept 2024 - May 2026.
Alexis Ramos, UMKC. M.S. Researcher, Jan 2025 - Dec 2025.
Max Diaz, UMKC. Bachelor's Thesis, M.S., Saper Vadere Undergraduate Fellow, SUROP grant recipient, Sept 2023 - Aug 2025.
Bhavya Sameera Bathala, UMKC. Masters Independent Research, Jan - May 2023.
A'Dana Smith, UMKC. Research Assistant. Jan 2022 - Sept 2023.
Sandra Esser, LMU. Laboratory Technician, March 2017 - Aug 2022.
Jakob Heemken, LMU. Medical Doctor Thesis, September 2019 - Aug 2022.
Elena Nikonova, LMU. Doctoral Thesis, March 2017 - June2022.
Shao-Yen Kao, LMU. Doctoral Thesis, Sept 2018 - Feb2022.
Supriya Krishna, LMU. Masters Intern, March-Aug 2020.
Vanessa Todorow, LMU. Masters Thesis and Lehre Award Recipient, May 2019-March 2020. Current: PhD student at Friedrich Bauer Institute, LMU München, DE.
Alexandra Martitz, TUM. Masters Intern, Aug-Oct 2019
Keshika Ravichandran, LMU. Masters Intern, Masters Thesis and Lehre Award Recipient, Sept. 2017- June 2019. Current: Research Associate, Singapore.
Anja Wittner, LMU. Masters Intern, March-April 2018.
Jessica Bouterwek, LMU. Masters Thesis, Sept. 2017-March 2018.
Akanksha Roy, LMU. Masters Thesis, April-Sept. 2017. Current: PhD student, Netherlands.

Former undergraduate students

Hadil Alkhatib, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher, Research Assistant, UR Fellow. Jan 2024 -July 2026.
Nermeen Salamed, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher, UR Fellow. Jan 2025 - May 2026.
Mara Schuett, Staley High School. Research Intern. Jan 2026 - May 2026.
Aisha Ibitoye, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. Jan 2025 - Dec 2025.
Shucayb Shiekhadan, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. Sept 2025 - Dec 2025.
McKayla Annesser, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher, M.S.. Jan 2023 - Dec 2024.
Danei Smith, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher, SUROP recipient. Jan 2023 - Dec 2024.
Priya Joshi, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. Jan 2024 - Dec 2024.
Lindsey Buehler, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. Jan 2024 - Dec 2024.
Pari Patel, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. Aug 2024 - Sept 2024.
Maya Burton, Georgetown. Bachelor's Researcher. June 2024 - Aug 2024.
Fatima Alarthy, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. March 2024 - June 2024.
Bethlehem Mezemir, UMKC. Bachelor's Researcher. March 2024 - June 2024.
Luckee Vean, UMKC. Bachelor's Research Assistant. Sept 2022 - Dec 2023.
Harry Manning, University of Bath. Bachelor's Intern. Sept - Nov 2023.
Michal Lihan, University College London, UK. Bachelor's Intern, Amgen Scholars Program, July-Aug 2022. Current: PhD student at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Thomas Harr, University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA. Bachelors Intern, UW-Madison International Internship Program, May-July 2022.
Oliver Weinert, LMU. Forschungsmodul (Medical Student) Intern, Sept 2021- Feb2022.
Marc Canela Grimau, Universitat de Barcelona. Erasmus Bachelors Thesis, Amgen Scholars Program, Feb-Sept 2021. Current: PhD student at IMIM-Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Paul Walper, LMU. Bachelors Thesis, Oct2019-Feb2022.
Mayra Lenz, LMU. Forschungsmodul (Medical Student) Intern, Sept-Dec 2020.
Marie Dawczynski, LMU. Forschungsmodul (Medical Student) Intern, Aug-Oct 2020.
Maria Armero, Polytechnique University of Valencia, Spain. Bachelors Intern, June-Aug 2020.
Sabrina Chaabane, LMU. Intern and Bachelors Thesis, May-Aug 2020.
Alexander Graur, LMU. Forschungsmodul (Medical Student) Intern, July 2019-Feb 2020.
Albiona Sabani, University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA. Bachelors Intern, UW-Madison International Internship Program, June-Aug 2019
Andi Pan, University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA. Bachelors Intern, UW-Madison International Internship Program, June-Aug 2018. Current: PhD student at Scripps, USA.
Arin Wongprommoon, University of Cambridge, UK. Bachelor's Intern, Amgen Scholars Program, June-Aug 2017. Current: PhD student at Edinburgh, UK.
Kelley Manbeck, University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA. Bachelors Intern, UW-Madison International Internship Program, June-Aug 2017.