Associate Professor

The petitioner proposes to continue her research in biomedical science, specifically focusing on advancing the understanding of mechanisms behind deadly diseases such as cholera, Salmonella, and COVID-19. Her work involves characterizing complex factors in antibiotic production and resistance to accelerate the development of novel, therapeutically effective antibiotics. The research aims to mitigate the threat of bacterial infections and minimize the prevalence and mortality of infectious diseases in the United States.

The petitioner proposes to continue her research integrating bacterial cell studies with high-throughput sequencing analysis to understand bacterial properties, focusing on natural product generation and bacterial functions to uncover mechanisms for new antibiotics and bioactive compounds.

The petitioner proposes to continue research into microbiology, specifically focusing on elucidating bacteriophages’ bactericidal mechanisms and their beneficial interactions with the human gut microbiome. This work aims to advance the use of bacteriophages as novel therapeutics to develop effective strategies for combating antimicrobial resistance and modifying the gut microbiome.

The petitioner proposes to develop novel bioinformatics approaches for discerning the assembly of complex genomes, characterizing microorganisms, and accurately detecting pathogens in clinical diagnoses. This work focuses on determining the evolution and mutation of microorganisms to understand how bacteria develop resistance to therapies like antibiotics.