Currently, I am in the second year of the Medical and Public Health Laboratory Microbiology Fellowship program at Washington University Medical School directed by Dr. Carey-Ann Burnham. My prior research training is within bacteriology, microbial genetics, and next-generation DNA sequencing technology. I obtained my B.S in Microbiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I worked on a project to identify virulence determinants in the neonatal pathogen Escherichia coli K1. I adapted a transposon mutagenesis method to E. coli K1 that allowed for screening pools of 48mutants under given selection conditions. I then obtained my M.S. in Veterinary Pathobiology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My thesis work related to the analysis of a novel prophage present within E. coli K1 and related strains, which was also specifically found within strains of Yersinia p