ID Research-In-Progress (IDRIP)

Day: Every other Tuesdays (with some variations – see schedule)
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Place: Pinn Hall, Room 1014
**Zoom only available upon request**

2025-2026 Schedule

Date	Presenter 1 & Discussant	Presenter 2 & Discussant
October 7th, 2025	Amy Forehand "Ribosomal protein paralogs and zinc homeostasis in Neisseria gonorrhoeae" [Discussant: Samantha D'Spain]
October 21st, 2025	Caitlin Wiafe-Kwakye "Role of a Group B Streptococcal Toxin in Colonization and Disease” [Discussant: Jasmine Cruz]	Katie Harris "Cut and paste: A role for tRNA splicing machinery in HSV-1 lytic infection” [Discussant: Rachel Krueger]
November 18th, 2025	Abigail Glenn "A subset of group B streptococcal secreted effectors impairs vaginal colonization" [Discussant: Sarah Acevedo]	Audrey Brown "Human immune response to primary cryptosporidiosis parallels murine infection models" [Discussant: Erin Wettstone]
December 2nd, 2025	Samantha D'Spain "The inclusion membrane protein IncD is essential for Chlamydia trachomatis infection" [Discussant: Amy Forehand]	Mary Broden "C4b-binding protein disrupts Neisseria gonorrhoeae binding to neutrophil CEACAM receptors" [Discussant: Caitlin Wiafe-Kwakye]
December 16th, 2025	Alex Say "Profiling Pneumococcal Vaccine-Specific B Cells Among Older Adults Living with HIV” [Discussant: Daniel Bailey]	Erin Wettstone "Metabolic phenotypes that regulate growth and virulence across the diverse ETEC pathovar” [Discussant: Audrey Brown]
January 6th, 2026	Sarah Acevedo "Integrating phenotypic resistance and genomic predictors in Burkholderia cepacia complex" [Discussant: Peter Oakes]	Cami Westlake "Neutrophil-derived catecholamines enable Neisseria gonorrhoeae to grow in iron-limited conditions” [Discussant: Mahta Gooya]
January 20th, 2026	Claire Fleming "IL-33/ST2 signaling activates pulmonary ILC2s in SARS-CoV-2 infection and enhances COVID-19 disease severity" [Discussant: Ben Fuller]	Mahta Gooya [Discussant: Cami Westlake]
February 3rd, 2026	Dana Van Fossen "Antibiotic induced T and B cell dysfunction leads to repeated Cryptosporidium infections” [Discussant: Abigail Glenn]	Duncan Hart "The hyaluronan receptor CD44 drives COVID-19 severity through its regulation of neutrophil migration" [Discussant: Mary Broden]
February 17th, 2026	Deiziane Costa "Adenosine signaling in Clostridioides difficile infection: a translational and mechanistic investigation” [Discussant: Idu Meadows]	Robert Casper "Resolving Cytosolic Protein Interactions of the Yersinia Type III Secretion System in vivo" [Discussant: Jiayi Tian]
March 3rd, 2026	Farha Naz “A Persistent Inflammatory Effector Neutrophil State in the Inflamed Colon” [Discussant: Maria Luana Morais]
March 17th, 2026	Daniel Bailey "From Sequence to Function: Exploring the structure-activity landscape of CXC antibacterial peptides via computational docking and rational design" [Discussant: Alex Say]
April 7th, 2026	Alexandra Torres-Maisonet "Sialic acid-mediated immunomodulation of neutrophils by Neisseria gonorrhoeae " [Discussant: Dana Van Fossen]
April 21st, 2026	Rachel Krueger "The multicopy small RNA DicF regulates carbon metabolism in enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC)" [Discussant: Claire Fleming]	Addison Hicks "TBD" [Discussant: Alexandra Torres-Maisonet]
May 5th, 2026	Peter Oakes "Optimizing Urologic Surgical Prophylaxis Through Handshake Stewardship" [Discussant: Addison Hicks]	Jasmine Cruz "Identifying the role of PDZD8 during Chlamydia trachomatis Infection” [Discussant: Robert Casper]
May 26th, 2026	Idu Meadows [Discussant: Katie Harris]

Past Years

2024-2025

Date	Presenter 1 & Discussant	Presenter 2 & Discussant
September 17th, 2024	Rachita Dash "Bioluminescence-Based Determination of Cytosolic Accumulation of Antibiotics in Escherichia coli” [Discussant: Samantha D'Spain]
October 1st, 2024	Mary Broden “Opacity protein variation and serum resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae” [Discussant: Audrey Brown]	Sapna Sehrawat "Investigating the Role of LSM14B in the Ebola Virus Life Cycle” [Discussant: Amy Forehand]
October 15th, 2024	Samantha D'Spain "The inclusions membrane protein IncD is essential for Chlamydia infection” [Discussant: Anush Aryal]	Audrey Brown "The CREM Transcription Factor Regulates Susceptibility to Malnutrition and Infection" [Discussant: Evan Lamb]
October 29th, 2024	Cami Westlake "Catecholamines enable Gonococcal resistance to nutritional immunity" [Discussant: Jashim Uddin]
December 3rd, 2024	Benjamin Fuller "Priority Pathogen Surveillance in Uganda " [Discussant: Addison Hicks]	Jasmine Cruz "Identifying the role of PDZD8 in Chlamydia trachomatis infection” [Discussant: TBD]
January 21st, 2025	Abigail Kelly "The role of TNF⍺ signaling in CNS control of Toxoplasma gondii infection" [Discussant: Cami Westlake]
February 4th, 2025	Dana Van Fossen “The influence of environmental exposures on T Follicular Helper cells and implications on immunity” [Discussant: Haley Adcox]	Rachel McMillan (Boone) “A machine learning approach to understanding the role of the microbiome in birth outcomes” [Discussant: David Delgado-Diaz]
February 18th, 2025	Amy Forehand [Discussant: Chris Pastore]	Claire Fleming [Discussant: TBD]
March 4th, 2025	David Lehman “Carbapenem Resistant Klebsiella quasipneumoniae Colonizing the Hospital Environment Demonstrates Increased Tolerance to Chlorhexidine Compared to Similar Species” [Discussant: Isaura Rigo]	James Boehlke "The Role of hnRNPK in HSV-1 Latency Establishment" [Discussant: Dana Van Fossen]
March 18th, 2025	Evan Lamb "High-dimensional spectral flow cytometric analysis of neutrophils challenged with Neisseria gonorrhoeae ” [Discussant: Claire Fleming]	Chris Pastore "IL-5 acts as a pleiotropic cytokine to protect from Acute Lung Injury" [Discussant: Mary Broden]
April 1st, 2025	Addison Hicks [Discussant: Ben Fuller]	Leandro Fernández-García “Noncanonical Translation Initiation and Translation Control of Dengue Virus RNA” [Discussant: James Boehlke]
April 15th, 2025	Peter Oakes “Less is more: Optimizing antimicrobial prophylaxis in urological surgery” [Discussant: Tom Flynn]	Jashim Uddin “T Activation of CXCL9/10/11-CXCR3 pathway protects mice from SARS-CoV-2 infection [Discussant: Jasmine Cruz]
April 29th, 2025	Isaura Rigo [Discussant: Peter Oakes]	Haley Adcox "Chlamydia trachomatis IncS binds STIM1 to impair SOCE response” [Discussant: John Miller]
May 6th, 2025	David Delgado Diaz “A three-dimensional biomimetic model of the human endocervix to study Chlamydia trachomatis infection” [Discussant: Duncan Hart]	John Miller "Membrane contact site alterations during infection with Chlamydia trachomatis” [Discussant: Duncan Hart]
May 20th, 2025	Daniel Bailey [Discussant: Idu Meadows]
June 3rd, 2025	Idu Meadows [Discussant: Daniel Bailey]	Anush Aryal “Investigation of link between nutrient limitation and latency in Plasmodium falciparum” [Discussant: Rachel McMillan]

2021 - 2024

Date	Speaker 1	Speaker 2
September 7th, 2021	Erin Weddle	Aimee Potter
September 21st, 2021	Allie Alcott
October 5th, 2021	Amaris Cardenas	Rachel Ende
October 9th, 2021	Lacie Werner	Clayton Bishop
November 16th, 2021	Tarina Parpia	Deb Powers
November 30th, 2021	Catherine Bielick	Eugenia Cortina
December 7th, 2021	Ghassan Ilaiwy	Chelsea Hall
January 4th, 2022	Dan Van Aartsen
January 8th, 2022	Nick Natale	Ian Liyayi
February 1st, 2022	Maria Geba	Leti Beltran
March 1st, 2022	Evan Robinson	Sayo McCowin
March 15, 2022	Abby Whitford	Samantha D'Spain
March 29th, 2022	Brian Grundy	Samantha D'Spain
April 5th, 2022	Jen Sasson
April 19th, 2022	Nadia Holness	Brandon Thompson
May 3rd, 2022	Jackie Hodges	Sean Cuddy
May 17th, 2022	David Tyus	Chantel Bailey
May 31st, 2022	Esthermari Gonzalez Polanco
June 14th, 2022	Sara Dochnal	Deiziane Costa
September 20th, 2022	Special Seminar See the Seminar Series Schedule for more information
October 4th, 2022	Leti Beltran "Archael conjugation share a common ancestor with the bacterial conjugation system"	Holly Torsilieri "Salmonella-Induced Cholesterol Accumulation Promotes Activation of mTORC1 within Infected Cells"
October 18th, 2022	Lacie Werner “C4b-binding protein in human serum suppresses neutrophil antigonococcal activity in a complement-independent manner”	Maria Geba “Shared Decision Making: Gathering Patient and Provider Perspectives on Anal Cancer Screening to Improve Engagement in Services”
November 1st, 2022	Abby Whitford “The restrictive role of ATRX in HSV-1 reactivation”
December 6th, 2022	Ghassan Ilaiwy “Enhancing Case Finding for Tuberculosis: Finding the Ones We Missed"	Sean Cuddy “Activation of Nucleic Acid Sensing Pathways in Reactivation of Herpes Simplex Virus-1”
January 17th, 2023	David Lehman “Paradoxical Consequences of Wastewater Interventions Targeting Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales"	Steven Rolland “The host protein PIK3C3 promotes Shigella flexneri spread from cell to cell”
January 31st, 2023	Ian Liyayi "Uncovering the role of Ngo1049 during immune-mediated nutrient starvation in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae"	Isaura Rigo "Humoral Immunity against Toxin B in acute and recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections"
February 21st, 2023	Catherine Bielick "National Hospitalization Rates and In-Hospital Mortality Rates of HIV-related Opportunistic Infections in the United States, 2011-2018"	Samantha D'Spain "Exploring IncD-mediated Non-vesicular Trafficking at ER-Chlamydia Inclusion Membrane Contact Sites"
March 7th, 2023	Nadia Holness "Understanding the Spatial Regulators of Intracellular Parasite Restriction”	Yadeliz Serranos Matos “Murine Model of Intergenerational Undernutrition Shows Microbiota Dependent Shifts in Immune Responses”
March 21st, 2023	Amy Forehand "Ribosomal protein paralogs and zinc homeostasis in Neisseria gonorrhoeae"	Jen Sasson "Type 2 immunity and COVID-19”
April 4th, 2023	Brian Grundy "Acute Febrile Illness and Sepsis in Sub-Saharan Africa”	Zichen Liu "Measurement of small molecule permeability into live mycobacteria via click chemistry”
April 18th, 2023	Rachel Boone “C. difficile infection outcomes and the balance of the immune response”	Amaris Cardenas "Investigating the role of lipooligosaccharide sialylation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae-neutrophil interactions"
May 2nd, 2023	Emily Byrd "Archaea dependent regulation of colonic physiology"	Evan Lamb "The membrane attack complex potentiates antimicrobial activity against Neisseria gonorrhoeae"
May 16th, 2023	Aimee Potter "Transcriptome-guided metabolic network analysis in Neisseria gonorrhoeae during neutrophil co-culture"	Volkan Koseoglu “Niche specific roles of Shigella IcsA protein during bacillary dysentery
May 30th, 2023	Duncan Hart "Hyaluronan as a driver of COVID-19 severity"	Dana May "Evaluating Toxoplasma gondii Colonization in the Murine Brain Using a Cellular Barcoding Approach"
June 6th, 2023	Jackie Hodges “Pre-implementation evaluation of a proposed smartphone intervention to improve the quality of TB treatment in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania”	Brandon Thompson “Secondary bile acids function through the Vitamin D Receptor in myeloid progenitors to promote myelopoiesis”
September 19th, 2023	Tom Flynn "Exploring Acute Febrile Illness in the Peruvian Amazon"	Araceli Santiago “Identification and Characterization of Microbial Metabolites that Control the Expression of AraC/XylS-regulated virulence factors”
October 17th, 2023	Audrey Brown The Role of cAMP Responsive Element Modulator (CREM) in Amebiasis Disease Susceptibility"	Tania Strilets “Unravelling the role of YBX1 in Dengue Virus virion assembly”
December 5th, 2023	Evan Lamb “How the membrane attack complex pore kills Neisseria gonorrhoeae and potentiates antimicrobial activity”	Peter Oakes "Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis Stewardship"
January 30th, 2024	Idu Meadows “N-acetylcysteine to reduce treatment-related adverse events associated with drug-resistant Tuberculosis treatment”	Abby Whitford “Epigenetic Memory in Neurons: Long-term Innate Immune Silencing of HSV-1 Latency via ATRX”
February 6th, 2024	Amy Forehand “Ribosomal protein paralogs and zinc homeostasis in Neisseria gonorrhoeae"
February 20th, 2024	Claire Fleming “The Pathogenic Role of IL-33 in Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection”	Maria Geba “Patient and provider perspectives on anal cancer screening among people with HIV”
March 5th, 2024	Rachel Boone “C. difficile and activation of EGFR”
March 19th, 2024	Yadeliz Serrano Matos “Colonization during a key developmental window reveals microbiota-dependent shifts in growth and immunity during undernutrition”
April 2nd, 2024	Mary Wakim Broden "Investigating the contributions of C4b-binding protein to Neisseria gonorrhoeae interactions with human neutrophils"	Dana Van Fossen “Characterizing the functional dynamics of Bangladeshi children’s T follicular helper cells in the context of cryptosporidiosis”
April 16th, 2024	Samantha D'Spain "IncD-mediated non-vesicular trafficking of ceramide at ER-inclusion membrane contact sites"	Isaura Rigo "Measuring pre-existing IgG levels against Toxin B in acute Clostridioides difficile infections to predict recurrence"
April 30th, 2024	Haley Adcox "Chlamydia trachomatis IncS binds STIM1 and prevents NFAT nuclear localization"	David Lehman “Investigating the Variable Susceptibility of Environmentally Colonizing Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales to Chlorhexidine”
May 7th, 2024	Addison Hicks "Early Initiation of Ceftaroline-Based Combination Therapy for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia" + "Limb Preservation"	Ghassan Ilaiwy "Tuberculosis Screening, Treatment and Prevention Experience in Rural Tanzania: Follow up Data from the Active Case Finding Pilot Study"
May 21st, 2024	Catherine Bielick "National Hospitalization Rates and In-Hospital Mortality Rates of HIV-related Opportunistic Infections in the United States, 2011-2018"	Duncan Hart "The role of the hyaluronan receptor CD44 during severe COVID-19."