Graduate Student

Email: zalis.e@husky.neu.edu

Research Interests
I study antibiotic tolerance in the bacterial species Staphylococcus aureus. Bacterial communities are composed of many single cells and display a great deal of phenotypic heterogeneity. One result of this heterogeneity is the formation of rare persister cells that can tolerate antibiotic treatment. This phenomenon of antibiotic tolerance results in antibiotic treatment failure and can cause chronic and relapsing infections. I specifically study microbial metabolism and energy generation to figure out how metabolic phenotypic diversity enables some bacterial cells to survive antibiotic treatment. I work to elucidate the molecular mechanism of persister cell formation with the goal of eradicating persister cells and informing the treatment of bacterial infections.