Gillian Patton

Program: Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Current advisor: Gautam Dantas, PhD

Undergraduate university: Vanderbilt University, 2023

Enrollment year: 2023

Research summary
I work on the strain-level development of the infant gut microbiome, particularly around the time period of weaning. I also work on characterizing the plasmidome of uropathogenic E. coli.

Early-life use of antibiotics can impact the development of the infant gut microbiome. Antibiotic use is particularly common for pre-term infants. Using a cohort of pre-term twins and their mothers, we aim to characterize within-species diversity in the early-life gut microbiome, particularly around the time period of weaning.

Uropathogenic E. coli is the causative agent of most urinary tract infections (UTIs). Despite this pathogen’s importance, no genetic signature has been identified to separate it from commensal or other E. coli strains, making it difficult to predict which E. coli strains will cause UTIs. We aim to characterize the plasmidome of gut and urinary E. coli strains in order to identify this genetic signature.

Graduate publications