This month, my lab celebrated our 5 year anniversary! On October 16, 2020, I rode the L train to start my lab at UIC, as the only lab member during COVID. In 2025, we celebrated together! It’s been such an honor that all these incredible people and more have chosen to do science with me!

I am thrilled for DOCTOR Hannah Noel who recently successfully defended her PhD thesis!! and celebrated with a 6-foot sub 😋 Hannah is the 1st graduate student from the lab and it was an honor to be her thesis advisor. We are so excited for her!! ‼️👏🏼🥳

Congratulations to 2025 GRC Microbial Adhesion and Signal Transduction Poster Award Winners!! 🎆🥂🙌 Thank you @cp-cell.bsky.social and @femsmicro.org for sponsoring!

From,
Your secret judges 🤫

And congratulations to @cp-cell.bsky.social Poster Award Winners Rachel Washburn (USF) and Jessica Aycock (Clemson) at 2025 GRC MAST!!! 🥳🎉👏🏼

Congratulations to Kia Holt, who passed her prelim this week and is now the lab’s newest PhD CANDIDATE!!! 🥳

The lab rode the chicagocta.bsky.social 🎄Holiday Train🎄 to the Christkindlmarket for hot chocolate in the cold! Happy holidays!

Is this duplicated and enlarged?

🚨We are hiring!!🚨
UIC Micro & Immuno has an open rank faculty search in any area of host-pathogen interactions! Apply by 10/31 to join our fantastic research community in the heart of Chicago! uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

The synergy seems to be mediated at least in part through Mla/UppS synergy in A. baumannii capsule and lipooligosaccharide (LOS). LOS is distinct from the typical outer membrane LPS and has no described role for Und-P glycans.

Hannah made a lot of mutants and showed the UppS allele impacted almost all phenotypes we'd observed for A. baumannii mlaF mutant, including AMR, and persistence in a mouse lung infection. Everything except resistance to bacitracin, which binds the UppS product Und-PP!

In collaboration with Jerry Troutman's lab at UNCC, we showed the UppS-UN is defective, leading to A. baumannii 17978UN having only 50% of the essential glycan carrier Und-P

Hannah reconstructed mlaF mutations in 17978VU (AbaAL44-, obgE-WT) and 17978UN (AbaAL44+, obgE*). The 17978VU mlaF mutant (green) was more resistant to SDS/EDTA membrane stress than in 17978UN (blue)! But was it the obgE (orange)? the accessory locus? Nope! It was uppS (pink

These strains had many genetic variants with variable conservation among A. baumannii, most notably a 44kb accessory locus (AbaAL44)--tree by Jon Winkelman. My previous Mla paper used 17978UN (AbaAL44+).

The synergy seems to be mediated at least in part through Mla/UppS synergy in A. baumannii capsule and lipooligosaccharide (LOS). LOS is distinct from the typical outer membrane LPS and has no described role for Und-P glycans.

Hannah made a lot of mutants and showed the UppS allele impacted almost all phenotypes we'd observed for A. baumannii mlaF mutant, including AMR, and persistence in a mouse lung infection. Everything except resistance to bacitracin, which binds the UppS product Und-PP!

In collaboration with Jerry Troutman's lab at UNCC, we showed the UppS-UN is defective, leading to A. baumannii 17978UN having only 50% of the essential glycan carrier Und-P.

Hannah reconstructed mlaF mutations in 17978VU (AbaAL44-, obgE-WT) and 17978UN (AbaAL44+, obgE*). The 17978VU mlaF mutant (green) was more resistant to SDS/EDTA membrane stress than in 17978UN (blue)! But was it the obgE (orange)? the accessory locus? Nope! It was uppS (pink)

These strains had many genetic variants with variable conservation among A. baumannii, most notably a 44kb accessory locus (AbaAL44)--tree by @JonWinkelman. My previous Mla paper used 17978UN (AbaAL44+).