I graduated from Swarthmore College (B.A. 2002) where I worked on fiddler crab behavioral ecology. I then transitioned to work on chemosynthetic symbioses for my PhD at Harvard (PhD 2008) - these wild and crazy invertebrates thrive at the bottom of the ocean on the metabolic power of their bacterial symbionts. For my postdoctoral work (Tufts University) I focused on Wolbachia pipientis, the reproductive parasite of insects and worked on understanding the molecular interactions between host and symbiont.
To summarize my research, I am an environmental microbiologist that applies high-throughput bioinformatic and genomic tools to the study of bacterial ecology and evolution. A common thread in my research is the following question: What is the molecular basis of interactions between bacteria and eukaryotes and ultimately, how do these relationships impact bacterial diversity, population structure, and genomic evolution. In order to best answer this question I have developed expertise in molecular techniques as well as bioinformatics. My current projects include functional genomics of Wolbachia pipientis, a bacterial parasite of insects, as well as the genomics of chemosynthetic symbionts of marine invertebrates. Outside of my research projects, I'm passionate about retaining women and minorities in science as well as mentoring young undergraduate researchers.