Konnor von Emster

kve@caltech.edu

Caltech Graduate Student

SASE + BLP Fellow

Konnor von Emster speaking at a Caltech podium outdoors

After growing up on the SF Bay Peninsula, I went on to study Economics and Biology at UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, I studied sleep in jellyfish and analyzed health economics policy. After graduation, I studied Prochlorococcus as a bioinformatician in Penny Chisholm's lab at MIT.

In 2023 I returned to California to pursue a PhD in Biology at Caltech. In the Cai Lab, I develop computational tools for spatial genomics, including flyfish: a software platform connecting experiment design, execution, and analysis.

In my free time I mountain bike, camp, snorkle, travel, and read as much as humanly possible.

Papers & articles

2026

  1. Paper

    Influence of heterotrophs on phage infection of marine picocyanobacteria.

    Coe, A., Parker, S. M., Vo, N. N., Kearney, S. M., Pollak, S., von Emster, K., Mullet, J. I., Castro, K. G., & Chisholm, S. W. mSystems, e00769-26 (2026).

2025

  1. Paper

    A curated protein dataset for taxonomic classification of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus in metagenomes.

    Coe, A., Mullet, J. I., Vo, N. N., Berube, P. M., Anjur-Dietrich, M. I., Salcedo, E., Parker, S. M., von Emster, K., Bliem, C., Arellano, A. A., et al. Scientific Data 12(1), 1895 (2025).

  2. Paper

    ProSynTax: A curated protein dataset for taxonomic classification of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus in metagenomes.

    Coe, A., Mullet, J. I., Vo, N. N., Berube, P. M., Anjur-Dietrich, M. I., Salcedo, E., Parker, S. M., von Emster, K., Bliem, C., Arellano, A. A., Castro, K. G., Becker, J. W., & Chisholm, S. W. bioRxiv (2025).

2024

  1. Paper

    Emergence of metabolic coupling to the heterotroph Alteromonas promotes dark survival in Prochlorococcus.

    Coe, A., Braakman, R., Biller, S. J., Arellano, A., Bliem, C., Vo, N. N., von Emster, K., Thomas, E., DeMers, M., Steglich, C., et al. ISME Communications 4(1), ycae131 (2024).

  2. Article

    Caltech's Path to Decarbonization.

    von Emster, K. (2024, March 12). The California Tech.

2023

  1. Paper

    Sleep is required for neural network plasticity in the jellyfish Cassiopea.

    Abrams, M. J., Zhang, L., von Emster, K., Lee, B. H., Zeigler, H., Jain, T., Jafri, A., Chen, Z., & Harland, R. M. bioRxiv (2023).

2021

  1. Article

    Funding Scientific Research and Product Development For COVID-19 Innovation.

    von Emster, K. and Upadhyay, S. (2021, February 1). Berkeley Center for Health Technology.

2020

  1. Article

    Back When America Was Socialist.

    von Emster, K. (2020, October 30). Berkeley Economic Review.

  2. Article

    COVID Update: The American Economic Reality.

    von Emster, K. (2020, October 1). Berkeley Economic Review.

  3. Article

    Power to the Diabetics: Non-Profit Production at the Open Insulin Project.

    von Emster, K. (2020, March 16). Berkeley Economic Review.

  4. Article

    Pete Buttigieg's Plan for Free Market Medicare.

    von Emster, K. (2020, March 5). Berkeley Economic Review.

  5. Article

    An Ill Economy: The Economic Toll of Coronavirus.

    von Emster, K. (2020, February 18). Berkeley Economic Review.

  6. Article

    Bernie Sanders' Moral Crusade to Implement Medicare for All.

    von Emster, K. (2020, February 5). Berkeley Economic Review.

2019

  1. Article

    Play-by-Play of Warren-care: Financing the Behemoth.

    von Emster, K. (2019, December 5). Berkeley Economic Review.

  2. Article

    Credit Craze: The Ultimate Company Clout.

    von Emster, K. (2019, December 3). Berkeley Economic Review.

  3. Article

    Interview with Zachary Bleemer.

    von Emster, K. (2019, December 2). Berkeley Economic Review.

  4. Article

    Doctors: In a Dying Profession There Comes New Life.

    von Emster, K. (2019, October 31). Berkeley Economic Review.

  5. Article

    The Economics Driving the Streaming Industry.

    von Emster, K. (2019, October 21). Berkeley Economic Review.