“I chose to attend Wake Forest because of the exciting research being performed by the department of Microbiology and Immunology, and also because the primary goal of Wake Forest is to train students and help them to develop into successful scientists.  I also found the small department size very appealing because it provides students with an opportunity to have more one on one time with their mentor, and it allows students to get to know the entire department, which makes it possible to collaborate with other faculty members on certain projects.”

Thesis Project

My thesis focuses on the transcriptional regulator AmrZ from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  P. aeruginosa can cause both acute and chronic infections in immunocompromised individuals.  AmrZ has been shown to be required for expression of several virulence factors, such as alginate production, flagellar repression, proper type IV pili localization and twitching motility.  My project has two goals, one that is biochemistry-based and strives to determine the role of the amino terminus in DNA binding by AmrZ to its numerous DNA targets.  The second goal asks a much broader question, in terms of the regulatory networks of AmrZ, as well as its role in virulence.