Congrats to Holly Nichols, PhD!
Holly successfully defended her dissertation “Community Assembly and Genomic Diversity of Mosquito-Associated Bacteria”.
MDTP trainers JD Sauer and Katie Henzler-Wildman receive Vilas Associate Awards
Professors JD Sauer and Katie Henzler-Wildman have been selected as Vilas Associates, a prestigious award that recognizes new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance. Congrats!
MDTP trainer Betül Kaçar delves into the evolution of nitrogenase
UW researchers are helping us understand the origins of life on Earth and possibly recognize signs of life elsewhere.
MDTP trainer Vatsan Raman and alums Phil Huss and Chutikarn Chitboonthavisuk send microbes to space
Researchers are interested in studying effects on the gut microbiome and antibiotic-resistant infections.
MDTP trainer Victor Ujor breaking ground in bioengineering
A new method for removing harmful by-products could help clear a major hurdle for plant-based fuel production.
MDTP student Jacob Eckmann and MDTP alumna Amy Enright Steinberger improve biofuel production
Dual approaches pinpoint genes for better biofuel production – New method can speed discoveries in biomanufacturing, medicine, agriculture
Congrats to MDTP student Katie Barnes!
Katie has been awarded a Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Prize 2026 from Microbiology Society!
MDTP student James Kosmopoulos explores the role of viruses in ecosystems
The viruses could also help determine if a wetland has been damaged or if restoration efforts are working.
Congrats to Anna Gregory, PhD!
Anna defended her dissertation “Adaptive strategies employed by Clostridioides difficile in response to environmental and nutritional cues”.
Congrats to MDTP student Dinesh Kumar Kuppa Baskaran!
Dinesh is the recipient of the B.R. DasGupta Graduate Scholarship for Fall 2025!
Congrats to Evrim Fer, PhD!
Evrim successfully defended her dissertation “Tracing the Origins and Evolutionary History of Translation GTPases”.
Congrats to Abena Kissi-Twum, PhD!
Abena successfully defended her dissertation “Why is the DNA virus Hepatitis B not a RNA virus? – Understanding virion morphogenesis in HBV”.
Congrats to MDTP trainer Erica Majumder!
Erica has just received the 2026 ASM Award for Early Career Environmental Research!
Congrats to Dante Calise, PhD!
Dante successfully defended his dissertation “Dissecting the Role of the Fungal Oxylipin Responsive Transcription Factor ZfpA in the Echinocandin Tolerance of Human Pathogenic Aspergilli”.
Congrats to MDTP alumnus Jason Saba, winner of the Sternberg Thesis Prize!
Jason is the 2025 recipient of the Nat L Sternberg Thesis Prize at this year’s Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages meeting!
Congrats to Eddy Cruz, PhD!
Eddy successfully defended his dissertation “Elucidating Regulatory Inputs Controlling Expression of the Salmonella dmsA Homologs”.
Congrats to Jonathan Lombardino, PhD!
Jonathan successfully defended his dissertation “Genome-scale insights into interspecies natural transformation and mosaic recombination in Bacillus subtilis”.
Congrats to Jacob Vander Griend, PhD!
Jacob successfully defended his dissertation “Systems level analysis of Vibrio fischeri biofilm signaling”.
Vanessa Sperandio and Maggie Alexander featured on PBS
Vanessa Sperandio and Maggie Alexander were featured in PBS Wisconsin’s University Place series discussing the gut microbiome’s connection to human health, including addiction and the body’s response to stress and immunity.
Congrats to Damayanti Rodriguez-Ramos, PhD!
Dama successfully defended her dissertation “Succession and Selection of Microbial Communities in Landfills and Their Growth on Plastics”.
Congrats to MDTP alum Jason Saba!
Jason Saba, PhD, was just awarded the Sternberg Prize for best US PhD thesis.
Congrats to Madeline Topf, PhD!
Madeline successfully defended her dissertation “Evolutionary genomics of Gardnerella spp.”.
Congrats to Xueer Qiu, PhD!
Xueer successfully defended her dissertation “Mapping molecular determinants of yellow fever virus virulence and attenuation”.
Congrats to Nayanna Mercado-Soto, PhD!
Nayanna successfully defended her dissertation “Innate immune regulation during wound healing and infection in zebrafish”.
MDTP alum Ashley Shade named ASM Editor-in-Chief
Ashley Shade is a the new editor-in-chief for mSystems.
MDTP trainer Jean-Michel Ane helps farmers reduce fertilizer use
UW innovations are helping farmers produce crops with less fertilizer. A pause in federal funds is threatening the research.
Congrats to Shane Roesemann, PhD!
Shane successfully defended his dissertation “Computational Microbiology Across the Bench, Clinic, and Classroom: Improved Metagenomic Binning, Wound Microbiome Characterization, and Pedagogical Practice”.
Congrats to Amy Enright Steinberger, PhD!
Amy successfully defended her dissertation “Integrative Functional Genomics to Enhance Bioenergy Stress Tolerance of Zymomonas mobilis”.
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