Microbiology Faculty

Blake Billmyre Assistant Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Infectious Diseases High throughput genetics to better understand evolution of fungal pathogens and drive antifungal drug discovery. Website

Kurt Dahlstrom Assistant Professor Microbiology The rules of microbial community formation to restore and engineer beneficial communities for crops under climate stress and human disease states. Website

Diana Downs Distinguished Research Professor Microbiology Bacterial physiology and metabolic integration using biochemical, genetic and metabolomics approaches. Website

Mark A. Eiteman Professor Microbiology Fermentation and biotechnology with emphasis on microbial processes to generate fuels and chemicals; nutrient-limited processes; central metabolism and the effect of redox constraints. Website

Courtney Ellison Assistant Professor Microbiology Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, dynamics of bacterial nanomachines, microbial subcellular organization. Website

Jorge Escalante-Semerena UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Microbiology Prokaryotic metabolism and physiology with emphasis on protein acetylation, toxic metabolites, and complex metabolic pathway analysis, integration. Website

Ronald D. Etheridge Associate Professor Cellular Biology Toxoplasma’s Strategies to Manipulate Host Immunity Website

Jonathan Frye Research Microbiologist Microbiology We investigate the development and spread of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella, which is the most prevalent foodborne bacterial illness in the U.S. Website

Tim Hoover Professor Microbiology Gene regulation in bacteria; regulation of flagellar biogenesis; control of RpoN-dependent transcription in bacteria. Website

Kate Hummels Assistant Professor Microbiology Our work focuses on understanding the regulation of cell envelope biosynthesis in bacteria using genetic, biochemical, and cell biological approaches. Website

Samantha Joye Professor Marine Sciences Biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in aquatic systems (saline lakes, coastal environments, deep ocean sediments). Biogeochemical and molecular ecological dynamics of microbial community composition and microbial activity. Website

Brian Kvitko Associate Professor Microbiology Molecular mechanisms of plant immune action and bacterial pathogen virulence in model and crop pathosystems. Tool/technique development for phytopathogenesis systems biology and translational research. Website

Karl Lechtreck Professor Cellular Biology Cell Biology of Cilia; Cilia-related diseases, Intracellular Transport. Website

Zachary Lewis Professor Microbiology Chromatin structure and function; Epigenetics; Eukaryotic genome stability; Histone H1. Website

Xiaorong Lin Professor Microbiology; Plant Biology Human fungal pathogens, sexual reproduction and development in fungal pathogenesis Website

Erin K. Lipp Professor Environmental Health Sciences; Microbiology Environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, marine systems, water quality and public health, disease ecology Website

Catherine M. Logue Professor Microbiology A bacterial pathogenesis/food safety lab that specializes in the detection and characterization of pathogens from food animal sources that impact human and animal health. Website

Rob Maier Professor Microbiology Physiology and metallobiology of pathogenic bacteria. Website

Aaron P. Mitchell Professor Microbiology We use genetic and genomic approaches to understand mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis and drug resistance. Website

Michelle Momany Professor Plant Biology Cellular and molecular biology of polar growth in fungi. Website

Silvia Moreno Distinguished Research Professor Cellular Biology, Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases Metabolism and drug development against protozoan parasites. Calcium signaling and storage in Toxoplasma gondii. Website

Tatum Mortimer Assistant Professor Microbiology; Institute of Bioinformatics Population genomics and evolution of pathogenic bacteria, antimicrobial resistance, genomic epidemiology, precision diagnostic. Website

Jan Mrázek Associate Professor Bioinformatics; Microbiology Use bioinformatics and comparative genomics to study relationships between the genomic DNA sequence and the organism’s physiological characteristics,and regulatory processes that govern the flow of genetic information. Website

Ellen Neidle Professor Microbiology We use the easy genetic system of a  soil bacterium, Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1,to study diverse aspects of gene expression and chromosomal rearrangements.This research has implications for medical issues (gene amplification), environmental issues (bioremediation), biotechnology/bioenergy (conversion of lignin to biofuels), and evolution (new methods for experimental evolution). Website

Elizabeth Ottesen Assistant Professor Microbiology Ecology and physiology of environmental microbes. The use of community genomics and transcriptomics to examine microbial behavior in natural systems. Website

Nikki Shariat Assistant Professor Microbiology Molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens using metagenomics; ecology of Salmonella serovars in host animals and environments. Website

Anne Summers Professor Microbiology; Toxicology Environmental stress biology, using biochemical, biophysical, and ‘omics approaches to define the roles of toxic metal exposure in chronic and infectious diseases. Website

Christine Szymanski Professor Microbiology Microbial glycobiology lab characterizing bacterial glycoconjugate pathways, bacteriophage interactions with their hosts, and benefits of human milk oligosaccharides to develop novel vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention of diarrheal diseases and post-infectious neuropathies such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Website

M. Stephen Trent UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Infectious Diseases Characterizing the assembly of bacterial surface structures, development of vaccines for viral and bacterial pathogens, systems approaches to understanding microbial diseases Website

Chelsey VanDrisse Assistant Professor Genetics Our lab seeks to uncover novel regulatory mechanisms of biofilm formation to undermine bacterial survival in chronic infections. Website

Kevin Vogel Assistant Professor Entomology Integrating physiology, genomics, evolution, and microbial symbiosis to understand the biology of insect vectors of disease. Website