STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2021-2022

Awards and Fellowships

  • 2022 Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) - Joshua Kirsch
  • 2021 C. Werner and Kitty Hirs Merit Award - Amber Nguyen  
  • 2nd place Graduate Student Oral Presentation, Rocky Mountain Branch ASM Meeting Fall 2021 - Laurie Lyon 
  • Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology 2022 Travel Award - Laurie Lyon 
  • Instructor SEA-PHAGES course on campus in partnership with Aurora Community College - Emma Sheriff 
  • Runner Up Best Graduate Student Poster at the Rocky Mountain Branch - American Society for Microbiology - Shelby Andersen 
  • AGI SMRT Sequencing Grant - Haider Manzer 
  • 3rd place graduate student talk, 21st Annual Rocky Mountain Virology Association meeting - Monica Graham 
  • N.E.B. Gisela Monsig award for excellence in bacteriophage research - Cydney Johnson 

Molecular Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases T32

2021-2022

  • Joshua Kirsch
  • Laurie Lyon
  • Anna Burnet
  • Klara Keim

Thesis Defenses

  • Sarah Stonedahl- Tyler 
  • Ashley Knox- Van Dyk 
  • Morgan Severn- Horswill 
  • Cydney Johnson- Duerkop 
  • Rachel Neve- Phelan 
  • Hadrian Sparks- Beckham 

Publications

Neugent ML, Kumar A, Hulyalkar NV, Lutz KC, Nguyen VH, Fuentes JL, Zhang C, Nguyen A, Sharon BM, Kuprasertkul A, Arute AP, Li Q, Xing C, Shulaev V, Zimmern PE, Palmer KL, & De Nisco NJ. (2021). Recurrent urinary tract infection and estrogen shape the taxonomic ecology and functional potential of the postmenopausal urobiome. bioRxiv 2021.11.06.467345 

Kleinschmidt, R.A., Lyon, L.M., Smith, S.L., Rittenberry, J., Lawless, K.M., Acosta, A.A., Donze, D. (2021). Genetic screen for suppressors of increased silencing in rpd3 mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae identifies a potential role for H3K4 methylation. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics,11(11). PMCID: PMC8527511 

Severn, M.M., Williams, M.R., Shahabandi, A., Bunch, Z.L., Lyon, L.M., Nguyen, A., Zaramela, L.S., Todd, D.A., Zengler, K., Cech, N.B., Gallo, R.L., Horswill, A.R. (2022). The Ubiquitous Human Skin Commensal Staphylococcus hominis Protects against Opportunistic Pathogens. mBio, 13(3). PMCID: PMC9239047. 

Burcham, L.R., Bath, J.R., Werlang, C.A., Lyon, L.M., Liu, N., Evans, C., Ribbeck, K., Doran, K.S. (2022). Role of MUC5B during Group B Streptococcal Vaginal Colonization. mBio, 13(2). PMCID: PMC9040740. 

Lyon, L.M. and Doran, K.S. (2022) Human Milk Oligosaccharides vs. Streptococcus: How a Human-Made Natural Product Protects Us from Pathogens. mSphere, 7(1). PMCID: PMC8849339 

Barrett BS, Nguyen DH, Xu J, Guo K, Shetty S, Jones ST, Mickens KL, Shepard C, Roers A, Behrendt R, Wu L, Kim B, Santiago ML. SAMHD1 Promotes the Antiretroviral Adaptive Immune Response in Mice Exposed to Lipopolysaccharide. J Immunology. 2022. 208 (2) 444-453.   

Dillon SM, Mickens KL, Thompson TA, Cooper EH, Nesladek S, Christians AJ, Castleman M, Guo K, Wood C, Frank DN, Kechris K, Santiago ML & Wilson CC. Granzyme B+ CD4 T cells accumulate in the colon during chronic HIV-1 infection. Gut Microbes. 2022. 14:1.    

Burcham LR, Akbari MS, Alhajjar N, Keogh RA, Radin JN, Kehl-Fie TE, Belew AT, El-Sayed NM, McIver KS, Doran KS. Genomic Analyses Identify Manganese Homeostasis as a Driver of Group B Streptococcal Vaginal Colonization. mBio. 2022 Jun 28;13(3):e0098522. doi: 10.1128/mbio.00985-22. Epub 2022 Jun 6. PMID: 35658538; PMCID: PMC9239048. 

Akbari MS, Doran KS, Burcham LR. Metal homeostasis in pathogenic Streptococci. Microorganisms. 2022; 10(8):1501. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10081501 

 Burcham LR, Burcham ZM, Akbari MS, Metcalf J, and Doran KS. Interrelated effects of zinc deficiency and the microbiome on Group B Streptococcal vaginal colonization. mSphere. 2022. Accepted. 

Severn M.M., Cho Y.S., Manzer H.S., Bunch Z.L., Shahbandi A., Todd D.A., Cech N.B., Horswill A.R. (2022). The commensal Staphylococcus warneri makes peptide inhibitors of MRSA quorum sensing that protect skin from atopic or necrotic damage. J. Invest. Dermatol, doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2022.05.1092. 

Manzer H.S., Villarreal R., & Doran K.S. (2022). Targeting the BspC-vimentin interaction to develop anti-virulence therapies during Group B streptococcal meningitis. PLoS Path, doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010397. 

Joyce L.R., Manzer H.S., Mendonca J.C., Villarreal R., Doran K.S., Palmer K.L., Guan Z. (2022). Identification of a novel cationic glycolipid in Streptococcus agalactiae that contributes to brain entry and meningitis. PLoS Biol., doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001555. 

Villarreal R., Manzer H.S., Keestra-Gounder A.M., Doran K.S. (2021). Vimentin Regulates Chemokine Expression and NOD2 Activation in Brain Endothelium During Group B Streptococcal Infection. Infect. Immun., doi: 10.1128/IAI.00340-21. 

 Lucas CJ, Davenport BJ, Carpentier KS, Tinega AN, Morrison TE. Two Conserved Phenylalanine Residues in the E1 Fusion Loop of Alphaviruses Are Essential for Viral Infectivity. J Virol. 2022 May 11;96(9):e0006422. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00064-22. 

Lucas, CJ, Morrison, TE. (2022) Animal Models of Alphavirus Infection and Human Disease. Advances in Virus Research (in press). 

Hamilton MK, Wall ES, Robinson CD, Guillemin K, Eisen JS (2022) Enteric nervous system modulation of luminal pH modifies the microbial environment to promote intestinal health. PLoS Pathog 18(2): e1009989.  

Johnson CN* and Palacios Araya D*, Schink V, Islam M, Mangalea MR, DeCurtis EK, Ngo TC, Palmer KL, Duerkop BA. “Genetically distant bacteriophages select for unique genomic changes in Enterococcus faecalis”. MicrobiologyOpen. 2022. *Co-first author DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1273

Presentations

Posters Presentations

  • RNA Society Meeting- Elizabeth Spear 
  • 2022 Streptococcal Biology Gordon Research Conference Symposium- Madeline Akbari 
  • 2022 Streptococcal Biology Gordon Research Seminar Symposium- Madeline Akbari 
  • 2021 Molecular Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Symposium- Madeline Akbari 
  • 2022- Positive Strand RNA Viruses Keystone Symposia, Keystone, CO- Cormac Lucas  
  • American Society for Virology 41st Annual meeting- Monica Graham 
  • 2022 Keystone Symposia Positive-Strand RNA Viruses- Monica Graham 
  • 2022 A mobile plasmid of Enterococcus faecalis encodes an anti-phage system, American Society of Microbiology Microbe, Washington, DC- Cydney Johnson  

Oral Presentations

  • 2022 Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology- Laurie Lyon 
  • 2022 Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology- Haider Manzer 
  • 2021 Mountain Virology Conference, Pingree Park, CO- Cormac Lucas 
  • 21st Annual Rocky Mountain Virology Association meeting- Monica Graham 
  • Rocky Mountain ASM Branch Meeting, Online- Cydney Johnson 
  • American Society of Microbiology Microbe, Washington, DC- Cydney Johnson

Comprehensive Exams Completed

  • Madeline Akbari 
  • Kaylee Mickens 
  • Julie Raab 
  • Elizabeth Spear 

New Thesis Laboratories

  • Shelby Andersen - Duerkop 
  • Shirli Cohen- Doran 
  • Timothy Enroth- Horswill 
  • Reed Haney- Kvaratskhelia 
  • Alyx Job- Doran 
  • Amber Nguyen- Horswill 
  • Elena Wall- Lozupone