The University of Chicago

Missiakas Lab

Dominique Missiakas

Head of laboratory

I am from France and was introduced to bacteria as a fellow at the University of Utah and then Geneva. I have studied bacteria ever since: as an investigator of French CNRS in Marseille, an Assistant Professor at UCLA and now in Chicago. Here is my chance to go uncensored and further litter this white page with a pale attempt at Yeats’ish poetry. So here it goes:
Though I have looked at these bacteria
Through days and nights and ups and downs,
I shall outsmart these little beasts,
And figure out their clever tricks;
And build hypothesis and test models,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The intricacies of bacterial envelopes,
The secrets of their toxin weapons.

Postdocs

Miaomiao Shi

I come from China and joined the Missiakas-Schneewind laboratory in September 2015. Currently, I am studying the mechanisms whereby Protein A mediates B cell activation. I am also developing non-toxigenic variants of Protein A with the ultimate goal of developing a safe vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus.

Shafiul Azam

“Decisions are made by those who show up,” applies to proteins. From the cell’s perspective, a protein is useful if it exists at the correct subcellular space at an appropriate time. But, how are these spatial and timing constraints achieved? To partially address this complex question, I am investigating the underlying mechanisms that position staphylococcal proteins at the septum.

Amany Moawad

I joined the Missiakas-Schneewind Lab February 2020. I am originally from Egypt and earned my PhD from Cairo University. Being always fascinated by the interaction of pathogens with the hosts, I embarked on studying the captivating microbial world during my graduate studies and continue to do so in the Missiakas-Schneewind lab. My research goal is to understand the mechanisms of protein secretion in the general Sec pathway of Staphylococcus aureus which is essential for secretion of various virulence factors, and the targeting of secretory proteins with special N-terminal secretion signal across the septum in the bacterium prior to secretion.

Biswarup Banerjee

I was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. I completed my undergrad and masters in Microbiology from the University of Calcutta, India and got my PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA. I joined the Missiakas-Schneewind lab in August 2022. My research project is based on development and designing of monoclonal antibodies against Staphylococcus aureus that can promote opsonophagocytic killing of the bacterium in the host system. The project ultimately aims to study the detailed mechanism of action of the antibodies, study host responses and optimize therapy to prevent staphylococcal infection in human.

Yunys Perez-Betancourt

I was born in Cuba, in the province of Camagüey, located in the country center. I completed my academic training in Biochemistry at Havana University, Cuba, and The University of São Paulo, Brazil. I joined this group in March 2022. Here, I research S. aureus colonization; what host and pathogen molecular determinants are related to the S. aureus nasopharynx permanent colonization. To do so, we use an animal-adapted strain of S. aureus (WU1) that colonizes mice permanently. Our approach also includes host and bacterial genetics; bacterial adhesins (such as ClfA, ClfB) and virulence factors that control the immune system (such as Spa) are deleted from the bacterial genome, and the colonization and host immune response are then analyzed. Likewise, some host genes related to the immune response are knocked out to investigate their role in clearing S. aureus. The ultimate goal of this work is to identify molecular targets that allow the development of vaccines or therapies to treat/prevent S. aureus colonization and infection.

Graduate Student

Amanda Blocker

I completed my undergraduate and master’s degrees in microbiology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. I joined the Missiakas lab in fall of 2023 as a PhD student to study Bacillus anthracis in the context of gastrointestinal anthrax infection. My goal is to determine what host and bacterial factors enable B. anthracis to interact with and cross the GI tract to establish infection in the host.

Research Technician

Derek Elli

I am currently studying the interactions between the Yersinia pestis type 3 secretion system and human immune cells.

Research Specialists

Haley Gula

As an Illinois native, I attended Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville where I completed both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology. I joined the Missiakas Lab in December of 2020 to aid in SARS-CoV-2 research with the Covid Core. I also contribute to various Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthracis projects. The majority of my time is spent conducting animal experiments in mice, guinea pigs, and rabbits.

Research Manager

Anastasia Tomatsidou

Born and raised in Greece, I moved to Chicago in 2019 and joined the Missiakas lab that same year, as a Post-doc. I have dedicated most of my time working on the secondary cell wall polysaccharide of my favorite bug, B. anthracis. I’ve also been part of the SARS-CoV2 core at HTRL. After taking a short break, doing C. difficile research, I re-joined the Missiakas lab in 2023 as a Research Manager.