Education BS with First Class Honors, Food Science, University of New South Wales (Australia) 2007 PhD with Emphasis in Biotechnology, University of California - Davis 2012 Postdoctoral Research: University of Washington Areas of study Research in my lab aims to understand the mechanisms of bacterial stress response, pathogenesis, and antibiotic resistance. We particularly focus on the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, which is the leading cause of foodborne illness mortality. Controlling Listeria growth in food and treating Listeria infection are highly challenging, due to the remarkable resilience of this bacterium under stress conditions, adaptability within the infected mammalian host, and emergence of antibiotic resistant strains. To tackle these challenges, we are investigating fundamental processes that are essential for Listeria growth and infection. Current projects in the lab address the following questions: i) The roles of nucleotide second messengers in Listeria stress response and host adaptation ii) The pathogenesis of Listeria in the gastrointestinal tract iii) Discovery of natural antimicrobials from the food and environmental microbiota

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