Senior Project Students
Glenn Decety (Co-advised with M. Tibbetts) '20
“Quantifying Saccharomyces cerevisiae Growth to Elucidate the Mechanism of Violacein” Michael Uhle (Co-advised with M. Tibbetts) '20 “Impact of electronic and traditional cigarette smoke vapor on biofilm production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescens” Julia Gibson '20 “The Characterization of Quorum Sensing Related Behaviors for BJB404, a Unique Violacein Producing Isolate from Salt Spring Island, Canada” Gabriela Vasquez (Co-advised with M. Tibbetts) '19 Daisy Noe '19 “Exploring the Effects of a Novel Microbial Inoculant, Janthinobacterium, on Glycine max Growth” Currently: Junior Research Fellow at Baruch S. Blumberg institute Hannah Henry '19 "Antibiotic-Mediated Biofilm Enhancement in Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa" Currently: Research Assistant, Bard Prison Initiatives Michael Kuckyr '19 "Analysis of Bacterial Membrane Structures Which Alter the Effectiveness of Violacein's Antibacterial Function" Currently: Research Assistant, Weill Cornell School of Medicine Henry O'Donnell '19 Investigation of Genes Related to Quorum Sensing in Iodobacter BJB302 Currently: Research Assistant, UCSF Lexi Akingbade '18 “Impact of Acidity on Vibrio cholerae in Foodborne Environments" Lily Brennessel '18 “Impact of Electronic Cigarette Smoke Vapor on Biofilm Production in Staphylococcus aureus” Currently: Graduate Student Slav Skular '18 “Investigations into the Mechanisms of Violacein Mediated Death in C. elegans” Currently: Research Assistant- Sloan Kettering Jackson Barr '17 “Constructing a Novel Conjugate Vaccine for Cholera: Conjugation of a Protective Vibrio cholerae Virulence Factor to Dextran by Squaric Acid Chemistry” Currently: Research assistant, Johns Hopkins Sophia Konstantine '17, (Bard) MAT '18 “An Investigation into the Anti-nematodal Properties of Janthinobacterium lividum using Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model” Currently: Middle School Science Teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School Dynte' Moore '17 “Potentially Pathogenic: The Classification and Examination of Environmental Vibrio Isolates Sampled from Water Sources Along the Gulf Coast and the Bahamas” Kelsey O'Brien '17 “The Genomic Characterization of Oxalobacteraceae Isolates from the Hudson Valley region: A Proposed Genomic Pipeline” Currently: PhD Student, Penn Biz Osborne-Schwartz '17 “Attachment of Vibrio cholerae to resistant starches to improve oral rehydration therapy” Currently: PeaceCorps Cassandra Savino '17 , MPH “Lime juice as an abundant and affordable mechanism for prevention of food borne cholera infection.” MPH, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University Currently: Katherine Moccia '16, PhD (U Tennessee Knoxville) “What makes a healthy aquatic environment? Investigating the Effects of Hydraulic Fracturing Material Glutaraldehyde on Bacterial Communities” Currently: Post Doc Alessia Zambrano '16 “Examination of violacein-producing Janthinobacterium species’ biofilm structure” Currently: Medical School Student, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine Deanna DePietro '16, MPH “Exploring Copper Tolerance in an Aquatic Janthinobacterium species: An Examination of Biofilm Formation and Viability for Environmental Applications” MPH, Health Promotion at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health Yegor Dukashin '16, DDS “Examination of the Activity of Glycosyltransferases in the Development of Streptococcus mutans Biofilms in Response to Sucrose” DDS, University of Buffalo Dre Szegedy-Maszak '16 “Optimization of the Microbial Fuel Cell for Use in Novel STEM Pedagogy” Currently: Operations and 21 CLCC Grant Manager Tytravia Riley '16 “The Interaction between Violacein Producing Bacteria and Metarhizium anisopliae F52” Abby Soussan '15 “Investigation of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Zoospore Movement in Response to Violacein-Producing Bacteria” Currently: UEdinburgh Veterinary Medicine Alexander Page '16 “The Antibacterial Activity of Tryptophan-derived Pigments Violacein and Deoxychromoviridans on Four Common Bacterial Strains” Currently: Georgia Emerging Infections Program (EIP) Research Assistant Georgia Doing '15 “Machine Learning on Images of a Microbial Mutant Library” (Joint project with Computer Science Program) Currently: PhD student at Dartmouth Molecular and Cellular Biology Program Mildred Kissai '15 Currently: Research Associate Moderna Theraputics (Joint Project with Chemistry Program) Currently: Graduate Student at the Scripps Research Institute Kody Chen '15 “Synthesis and Assays of Potential Anti-Cancer Ruthenium-Ferrocene Compounds” (Joint project with Chemistry Program) Francesca Di Rienzo '14 “Design and development of a chitin-based method for Vibrio cholerae filtration” M.S. Program in Psychology Molly North '14, BSN (Thomas Jefferson) “Transposon based analysis of violacein production in Janthinobacterium lividum” Currently: Maker Mentor, Free Library of Philadelphia Neena Marano '14 “Characterization of biofilm production in Janthinobacterium lividum” Currently: Marketing Coordinator, Reaction Biology, Assistant Soccer Coach Haverford College Julia Les '14 “Biofilm production and swarming motility of Pseudomonas putida in the presence of sub-inhibitory concentrations of the antibiotic chloramphenicol” Rails Developer, Annkissam LLC Adenike Akapo '13 “Do soil microbes inhibit the growth of oral microbes? A natural antibiotic treatment for dental overgrowth” Currently: Dental Student, NYU School of Dentistry Raed Ibraheim '13 "Evidence for the presence of colonization factor GlcNAc binding protein A in Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor biotype variant” Currently: GSBS PhD Program at UMass Medical School Perry Anderson '13 “Carbon source effect on violacein production [in] Hudson Valley aquatic microbial isolates” Alexia Downs '13 “Colonization and conjugation in Vibrio cholerae: the possible link between the GbpA attachment factor and the presence of IncA/C multidrug resistance plasmids” Teach for America Fellow in Los Angeles, CA Patient Advocacy Manager: GoodRx Margo (Finn) Zaval '13 “An Investigation of the Molecular Mechanism of Quorum Sensing in Janthinobacterium lividum” Currently: Research Associate III, Seattle Genetics Lena James '13 “Effects of chitin on conjugation frequencies of the multi-drug resistant plasmid IncA/C from donor Aeromonas salmonicida AS03 to recipient Vibrio cholerae BAA-2163 (Haitian epidemic isolate)” Currently: Senior QC Analyst at Blubird Bio Erin Smith '13, MAT '17 Stanford University “The effects of violacein-producing bacterial strains on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis using a novel chytrid-killing assay” 2017 Knowles Teaching Fellow Currently: AP Biology Teacher at San Lorenzo High School Sara Yilmaz '13 “Acquiring multi-drug resistance in aquatic environments: the role of chitin in conjugation frequencies of the IncA/C plasmid between Aeromonas salmonicida subs. salmonicida AS03 and Vibrio cholerae MQ1795 (Bangladeshi isolate)” Currently: Testing Technologist, Biomat, USA Liza Miller '13 “Survey of vernal pools in the Hudson Valley yields bacterial isolates which inhibit the amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis” Currently: PhD student at Washington University, St. Louis Sining Leng '12, PhD (Harvard) “Characterization a mutation in the gene IRE1 using a cooperative tumor model in Drosophila: role of the unfolded protein response in cancer” Currently: Postdoc, Boston Medical Center Jananie Ravi '12 “Characterization of differences in biofilm formation and violacein production in environmental strains of Janthinobacterium lividum” Project Coordinator, Migration Health Unit UN Emma Taylor Salmon '12 MD (Drexel) “Examination of transfer frequency of a multi-drug resistant plasmid to Vibrio cholerae via conjugation” Currently: Pediatric Resident, Yale Veronica Steckler '12 “Environmental detection of bacterial with anti fungal activity against the amphibian pathogen Batracochytrium dendrobatidis: a preliminary survey of Janthinobacterium in the Hudson Valley” Joshua Tanner '11 “Interruption of vioC in a Janthinobacterium sp. mutant produces a green pigment structurally similar to chromoviridans” Currently: Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist, AstraZeneca Alexandra Bettina,'10, PhD (UV “The preliminary identification and classification of Janthinobacterium hyper-violacein producing mutants as effective anti-microbial agents” Scientific Writer, Regeneron Jyoti Dev '09, PhD (Harvard Medical School) “Co-localization and interaction of a retroviral Gag protein with cellular caveolin-1 protein” Currently: Consultant Will Wylie '09 “Predation effectiveness and biofilm composition in Bdellovibrio and its prey” Currently: 4th Year Medical Student, University of Rochester Medical School |
BSRI Students2010
Alexandra Bettina 2011 Joshua Tanner 2012 Lena James H. Sara Yilmaz Ashley Beaulieu (St. Joseph’s College, Standish ME 2013 Molly North Griffin Burke Emily Hoelzli Shailab Shrestha 2014 Georgia Doing Yangtsho Gyaltshen 2015 Yegor Dukashin Kelsey O’Brien Raneem Jo’Beh (Al Quds) 2016 Kelsey O'Brien 2017 Lexi Akingbade Philippine Alba 2019 Allegra Cooper Julia Gibson Sasha Medjo-Akono |