Summer 2023
Cassidy Fontaine, a rising 3rd year Biology major, was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE). This summer Cassidy will be investigating how oxygen affects sporulation in beneficial members of the gut microbiota. She will be growing bacteria in an anaerobic chamber (no oxygen) and a hypoxia chamber (low oxygen). Then she will observe when bacteria create spores by plating on solid media and by visualizing spores through microscopy. |
October 2022
First time poster presenters Mia, Morgan, Osmara, Wendy, and Stephanie represent the lab at the 2022 NSM Fall Research Symposium. Feelings of excitement (for discussing science!) balanced out by feelings of embarrassment over their PI taking unplanned photos.
First time poster presenters Mia, Morgan, Osmara, Wendy, and Stephanie represent the lab at the 2022 NSM Fall Research Symposium. Feelings of excitement (for discussing science!) balanced out by feelings of embarrassment over their PI taking unplanned photos.
July 2022
Lab members Osmara, Morgan, and Mia collect microbiota samples from the Sacramento light rail system. The team visited 14 stops throughout the city and swabbed surfaces to collect microbes present on the kiosks, benches, and hand rails. This research in collaboration with the Crawford lab at Sac State continues a multi-year study on the dynamics of microbiota in an urban environment. Samples collected here will be processed and analyzed as part of an international consortium called Metasub with "the goal to improve city utilization and planning through the detection, measurement, and design of metagenomics within urban environments." |
March 2022
Amanda Ilang-Ilang presents her work in the Lopez lab at the Sac State Student Research and Creative Activity Symposium. Amanda crushed her in-person presentation, which was titled "Optimizing methods to quantify metal transporter gene expression in Clostridioides difficile." After the presentation, Amanda went to play with some stress-relief puppies on the Sac State campus!
Amanda Ilang-Ilang presents her work in the Lopez lab at the Sac State Student Research and Creative Activity Symposium. Amanda crushed her in-person presentation, which was titled "Optimizing methods to quantify metal transporter gene expression in Clostridioides difficile." After the presentation, Amanda went to play with some stress-relief puppies on the Sac State campus!
December 2021
In her last act as an undergraduate at Sac State, Jhoana Rodriguez gets a co-authorship on a new study that describes how two different strains of C. difficile respond to oxygen. Jhoana compared the predicted iron-import genes (called ferrous iron importer, or feo) encoded by two common C. difficile lab strains. Some of these genes exhibit differences in transcription when oxygen is present, but until now there was no common naming system for the genes, making direct comparisons difficult. Jhoana found all of the predicted feo genes in both strains using bioinformatics tools, developed a naming scheme, and created a figure for the paper.
In her last act as an undergraduate at Sac State, Jhoana Rodriguez gets a co-authorship on a new study that describes how two different strains of C. difficile respond to oxygen. Jhoana compared the predicted iron-import genes (called ferrous iron importer, or feo) encoded by two common C. difficile lab strains. Some of these genes exhibit differences in transcription when oxygen is present, but until now there was no common naming system for the genes, making direct comparisons difficult. Jhoana found all of the predicted feo genes in both strains using bioinformatics tools, developed a naming scheme, and created a figure for the paper.
November 2021
Recent graduates Suzanna Gomez and Jay Patel have their first paper published. The review article "What's metal got to do with it? Transition metals in Clostridioides difficile pathogenesis" describes up-to-date research on how metals like zinc and iron are involved in C. difficile disease. Fun fact, Suzanna tested out other titles before settling on the published version. Those titles included:
"More metal, more problems"
"C. difficile has 99 problems, but metal ain't one"
"Microbe wars - C. difficile and the metal menace"
Recent graduates Suzanna Gomez and Jay Patel have their first paper published. The review article "What's metal got to do with it? Transition metals in Clostridioides difficile pathogenesis" describes up-to-date research on how metals like zinc and iron are involved in C. difficile disease. Fun fact, Suzanna tested out other titles before settling on the published version. Those titles included:
"More metal, more problems"
"C. difficile has 99 problems, but metal ain't one"
"Microbe wars - C. difficile and the metal menace"
April 2021
Undergraduate student Jhoana Rodriguez was recently awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) to investigate how the bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) can find iron, an important nutrient. Jhoana will be performing hands-on research at the bench and designing experiments that will use a variety of techniques to discover one of the ways that C. diff can adapt to the intestinal environment and cause disease.
Undergraduate student Jhoana Rodriguez was recently awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) to investigate how the bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) can find iron, an important nutrient. Jhoana will be performing hands-on research at the bench and designing experiments that will use a variety of techniques to discover one of the ways that C. diff can adapt to the intestinal environment and cause disease.
March 2021
Undergraduate kinesiology major, Toni Sampson, presents a review of the novel antibiotic, Ridinilazole, as a treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Toni discussed the current clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of Ridinilazole at the Sac State Virtual research symposium. Toni was a student in Chris's BIO 39 class. Chris then served as her mentor as she combed the literature for treatments in the pipeline that reduce recurrence rates of C. difficile. |