Research/Areas of Interest:
My research focuses on Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease. Borrelia have a complex life cycle, being transmitted by blood between animals, ticks, and humans. Living permanently inside a larger host, the bacteria have adapted to the comfortable host environment. We're interested in exploiting the unique weaknesses of this over-evolved bacteria to design new antibiotics specifically tailored to Lyme disease.
Having worked with industry for several years after completing my PhD, I am particularly interested in applied and translational research. Inspired by the scavenging of essential nutrients from the human host, are developing a new antibody-based diagnostic test we hope will be useful in the management of post-treatment Lyme disease.