Graziella Mendonsa, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Fellow): Grazie was born in Mumbai, India and raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She then went to Knox College in Galesburg, IL to pursue her undergraduate degree and graduated with Honors in Biochemistry. Her next venture was graduate school training at Washington University School of Medicine in St.Louis, MO where she obtained a Ph.D in Molecular Cell Biology. During her graduate work, she was awarded the Kauffman Bioentrepreneurship Fellowship and was part of the Bioentrepreneur Core (BEC) at WashU. Her thesis studies in Dr. Nancy Baenziger’s laboratory involved determining the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on stress signaling MAPK cascades in human peripheral skin cells. She joined the Mysorekar laboratory in May 2009. She was awarded a post doctoral trainee fellowship from NICHD. She is currently working on identifying the underlying causes of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI) which affects a large population of women annually. In the Mysorekar laboratory, mouse models of Uropathogenic E.coli (UPEC) infection are used to observe the stages of in vivo UTI and pathological hallmarks of infection to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for enabling UPEC to form quiescent intracellular reservoirs (QIRs). It is this very same strain of latent bacteria that re-emerges from their hiding occult months after the primary infection to now cause a recurrent UTI. Grazie is testing the hypothesis that autophagy plays a role in the persistence of UPEC and is currently investigating this hypothesis in autophagy deficient mice in collaboration with Dr. Herbert “Skip” Virgin’s laboratory. Apart from her scientific ventures, Grazie is involved with diverse extra-curricular activities at Wash U: intramural softball and flag-football leagues, Wash U Postdoc Society, living in St. Louis, hiking trails in the summer-fall with her loving beagles.
Rebecca Gunkel ( Research Technician II and Histologist) Rebecca graduated from Florida State University in December of 1997 with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. It is within the Psychology Department that she became interested in and began her career in research. She began with small animal surgeries and electrophysiology and has branched out to cell culture, organ culture and histology. Rebecca joined the Mysorekar Lab in May of 2009 and will be working with Dr. Mendonsa on the autophagy project. She also does histology in the lab. She has lived in many places with the most interesting being the Grand Cayman Islands. Some of her interests include art fairs, running and hanging out with friends. She also loves cats and has become the proud owner of a very loud parrot!
Jane Symington (MSTP Student) Janey is a second year MD/PhD student rotating in the Mysorekar Lab. She is the daughter of a US Foreign Service Officer and grew up mainly in Latin America and in Africa, graduating from high school in Niamey, Niger. She graduated from YaleUniversity with a BS in Biology in 2007, and spent a year in Djibouti doing a breast cancer awareness project. She is interested in microbiology, and has done research on Rice Tungro Bacilliform Virus, Malaria and HIV. She enjoys traveling, Ultimate Frisbee being outdoors and St. Louis.
Megan Isaacson-Schmid (Research Technician II) Megan was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated from the University of New Hampshire in May 2007 with a Bachelor's Degree in Biology. She joined the Mysorekar Lab in December 2007 as a research technician and is currently studying the role for Bmp4 signaling during the host epithelial regenerative response to injury caused by uropathogenic E. coli.
She hopes to go to medical school in the upcoming years. Her hobbies include gardening, wine tasting and camping.
Malika Anand, MD (Ob/Gyn Resident): Dr. Anand is currently a resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology here at Washington University School of Medicine. She will be conducting research when her schedule permits.
Kristina Stemler (Graduate Student): Kristy joined the Mysorekar Lab in August 2009 to complete her thesis work.