易胜博官网

With a major National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grant, , assistant professor of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences, aims to solve a microbial mystery: Why are members of a bacterial species so genetically diverse? Her findings could help us understand antibiotic resistance and the emergence of new diseases and, ultimately, lead to better diagnosis and treatment of bacterial infections.

鈥淚n order for bacteria to reproduce, they clone themselves. But they also acquire DNA from their neighbors,鈥� including those of other species, says Andam. 鈥淚t would be like humans getting DNA from mushrooms or giraffes or oak trees.鈥�

Called horizontal gene transfer, this neighborly sharing means that individual cells of a bacterial species 鈥� E. coli, for instance, or Staphylococcus aureus 鈥� aren鈥檛 genetically identical.

鈥淲hen you go to the clinic, the medical professionals collect samples from your mouth or nose, but they only study one strain, then they make prescriptions based on that one strain, without understanding that different strains can be very different from each other,鈥� she says. 鈥淗opefully in the future we can study all the different strains in a single patient and study all the genes that are present,鈥� including those that might lead to antibiotic resistance.

With the $1.17 million grant, more than double the amount of most , Andam will analyze genomic data from Streptomyces, a widespread group of bacteria that produces many useful antibiotics. She鈥檒l work closely with 易胜博官网鈥檚 for the data-heavy work and will hire a postdoctoral researcher, several graduate students and many undergrads.

The award will also support Andam鈥檚 efforts to teach others 鈥� 易胜博官网 undergraduates and graduate students 鈥� the same cross-disciplinary computational skills necessary to analyze massive data sets of genomic information through bioinformatics.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e a biology student, you鈥檙e being trained to work in a lab, to pipette and culture bacteria. But biology research is changing dramatically with the rapidly increasing rate of genome sequencing. Instead of studying just one gene or two genes, we study all of the genes in hundreds and hundreds of strains,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n order for you to analyze all that data, you need to improve your computational skills.鈥�

Beyond culturing bacteria and crunching genomic data, Andam will use part of her CAREER award to mount an exhibit of microbial art. 鈥淪tudents will grow bacteria, and we鈥檒l blow up photos of the agar plates,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t will highlight the tremendous diversity of microbes around us, in our purses or on doorknobs or computer keyboards.鈥�

This early career recognition from NSF will do more than boost her research, Andam says. It addresses the imposter syndrome she shares with many women working in STEM.

鈥淎s a female scientist, I always question myself. Am I on the right track? Is this the right way of thinking about new ideas?鈥� she says. 鈥淕etting this CAREER validates me as a scientist.鈥�