Microbiology & Immunology Alumni
Welcome alumni and friends of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology! Please contact us to share your stories, career updates and news. We want to hear from you!
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Alumni by Year
Faith Anderson Davis, Ph.D. (O'Meara Lab), March 21, 2025
Adding Complexity to Models of Candida albicans Human Colonization: Natural Isolates and Polymicrobial Interactions.
LinkedInAnde Garretto, Ph.D. (Woods Lab), February 13, 2025
Bacteriocin Prevalence and Resistance in a Clinical E. Faecium Cohort: Rise of the Class IIa Bacteriocin Bac43
LinkedInFrancisco Gomez-Rivera, Ph.D. (Collins Lab), December 13, 2024
HIV infection dynamics: From underlying the establishment and maintenance to the molecular mechanisms of latency
LinkedInKamya Gopal, Ph.D. (Telesnitsky Lab - CMB student), May 1, 2025
HIV-1 RNA Metabolism as a Source of Heterogeneity in Virus Gene Expression and ReleasePatrick Rimple, Ph.D. (Carruthers Lab), April 17, 2025
Nutrient Acquisition via the Ingestion Pathway in Toxoplasma gondiiAustin Shannon, Ph.D. (Sandkvist Lab), August 7, 2025
Protein Secretion Systems of Gram-Negative Bacteria: Substrate-Specificity in the Type II Secretion System of Vibrio choleraePariyamon Thaprawat, Ph.D. (Carruthers Lab), November 22, 2024
Toxoplasma gondii Autophagy and Chronic Infection.
LinkedIn
- Jennifer Baker, PhD (Robert Dickson and Gary Huffnagle labs), 2024: "The microbial ecology of acute lung injury: how the microbiome affects (and is affected by) alveolar leak"
LinkedIn - Madison Fitzgerald, PhD (Mobley Lab), 2024: "Transcriptional Regulation of Proteus mirabilis Pathogenesis in the Urinary Tract"
LinkedIn - Darian Santana, PhD (O'Meara Lab), 2024: "A Candida auris-specific adhesin, Scf1, governs surface association, colonization, and virulence"
LinkedIn - Sadie Schaus, PhD (Eric Martens), 2024: "Characterization of Gastrointestinal Mucin-degrading Systems in Gut Bacteria"
LinkedIn - Karen Zeise, PhD (Huffnagle Lab), 2024: "Molecular insights into Candida albicans commensalism and pathogenesis: Exploring the role of immune regionalization in the murine stomach"
LinkedIn
- Aric Brown (Mobley Lab), 2023: "The Role of the ArcA Metabolic Regulator in Gram-Negative Bacteremia"
LinkedIn - Austin Campbell (Schmidt Lab), 2023: "Metabolism of Dietary Fiber by Human Gut Microbes: Interspecies Interactions and the influence of Molecular Hydrogen"
- Yuan Li (Lauring Lab), 2023: "Evolutionary Constraints and Potential of the Influenza A Virus RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase"
LinkedIn - Amanda Photenhauer (Koropatkin Lab), 2023: "Carbohydrate Binding Molecule 74 (CBM74) is a specialized resistant starch binding domain"
LinkedIn - Megan Procario (Imperiale Lab), 2023: "Single Cell High Content Microscopy Analysis of BK Polyomavirus Infection"
LinkedIn
- Edmond Atindaana (Telesnitsky lab), April 25, 2022: “High throughput analysis of integrant-specific HIB-1 expression patterns, persistence and latency reactivation”
LinkedIn - Madeline Barron (Young lab), April 29, 2022: “Investigating bacterial intestinal colonization through the lens of systems biology”
LinkedIn - Filipe Cerqueira (Koropatkin lab), June 6, 2022: “Uncovering biochemical features of resistant starch degradation by Ruminococcus bromli”
LinkedIn - Elissa Hult (Moore lab), March 14, 2022: “The role of M2 macrophages and their product, HB-EGF, as regulators of lung fibrosis”
LinkedIn - Anna-Lisa Lawrence (O'Riordan lab), December 7, 2021: “Human intestinal organoids as a model to study intestinal infection by the foodborne pathogen Salmonella enterica”
LinkedIn - Nick Lesniak (Schloss lab), March 15, 2022: “The effect of gut microbiota variation on Clostridioides difficile infection”
LinkedIn - Zachary Mendel (Swanson lab), April 21, 2022: “The role of extracellular amino acids in the regulation of macropinocytosis”
LinkedIn - Eli Olson (Raghavan lab), April 28, 2022: “Endo-lysosomal assembly variations among human leukocyte antigen B allotypes in monocytes and moDCs”
LinkedIn - Yolanda Rivera-Cuevas (Carruthers lab), March 10, 2022: “Toxoplasma gondii exploits the host ESCRT machinery for parasite uptake of host cytosolic proteins”
LinkedIn - Matt Schnizlein (Young lab), April 27, 2022: “Examining regional differences in the gut microbiota and their effects on Clostridioides difficile colonization resistance”
LinkedIn - Chris Sumner (Ono lab), January 21, 2022: “tRNA binding and displacement: implications of specific membrane binding of HIV-1 gag”
LinkedIn - Stephanie Thiede (Snitkin lab), July 2, 2021: “Genomic epidemiological insights into MRSA transmission and adaptation in an urban jail and the surrounding community”
LinkedIn - Lisa Tran Pulianmackal (Vecchiarelli lab), October 21, 2022: “Role of ParA/MinD ATPases in the spatial regulation of bacterial cargos”
LinkedIn - Helen Warheit-Niemi (Moore lab), August 11, 2022: “The regulation of neutrophil function and trafficking in pulmonary fibrosis”
LinkedIn - Emily Yarosz (Chang lab), March 18, 2022: “Novel roles for cullin 3 in T cell-mediated immunity”
LinkedIn
Alumni News & Stories
Department News
Faith Anderson Davis, Ph.D., defended her dissertation on Candida albicans
On March 21, 2025, Faith Anderson Davis, Ph.D., defended her dissertation on Candida albicans, a fungus that naturally lives in small amounts on our mouth, skin and in our intestines. Her dissertation was titled “Adding complexity to models of Candida albicans human colonization: Natural isolates and polymicrobial interactions.” Her mentor was professor Teresa O’Meara.
Department News
Thomas Chen, M.S.: From U-M to Harvard/MIT
Thomas Chen, M.S., graduated in Spring 2025 from the Gilbert S. Omenn Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (DCMB) with a Master's in Science degree. He started his bioinformatics studies at U-M as a senior student majoring in Microbiology, and attended DCMB’s Accelerated MS program. In June 2025, he will pursue his training to become a scientist-physician at the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program.
Department News
Ande Garretto, Ph.D., defended her dissertation on VRE bacterial infection in hospitals
Ande Garretto, Ph.D., studied how toxins produced by a bacteria, or bacteriocins, might influence the competition between bacteria in the human gut microbiome.
Department News
Pariyamon (Pha) Thaprawat defended her Ph.D. thesis in M&I and is on her way to an M.D.
Pariyamon (Pha) Thaprawat defended her thesis titled “Toxoplasma gondii Autophagy and Chronic Infection” on November 2, 2024. She received her Ph.D. summa cum laude under the mentorship of Vern Carruthers.
Department News
Dr. Jennifer Baker defended her thesis on the microbiome’s role in acute lung injury
On November 1, 2024, Jennifer Baker, Ph.D., mentored by Drs. Robert Dickson and Gary Huffnagle, defended her thesis titled "The microbial ecology of acute lung injury: how the microbiome affects (and is affected by) alveolar leak."
Department News
Congratulations to Dr. Madison Fitzgerald for defending her thesis!
On Monday, June 10, 2024, Madison Fitzgerald defended her thesis titled “Transcriptional Regulation of Proteus mirabilis Pathogenesis in Urinary Tract.”
Department News
An Alumni Career Panel Session, organized by the Graduate Program in Immunology
Four Graduate Program in Immunology alumni participated in a panel discussion about their career paths.
Department News
Congratulations Austin Campbell
Dr. Campbell defended his dissertation
Department News
Aric Brown will defend his dissertation
Aric Brown will defend his dissertation
