In the Cavanaugh Lab, I led the projects to procure and analyze genomic data for three chemosynthetic endosymbionts. These are gamma proteobacteria that reside within invertebrate host cells. They use the energy from reduced sulfur compounds to fuel carbon fixation for both themselves and their hosts.

The Joint Genome Institute has sequenced the Calyptogena magnifica symbiont genome and is sequencing the Solemya velum and Codakia orbicularis symbiont genomes.

The analysis of the Calyptogena magnifica symbiont genome, has revealed the extent of host dependency and the incredible metabolic capabilities in this bacterial lineage (Newton et al., 2007). Although these symbionts may represent an intermediate stage in the evolution towards chemoautotrophic "plastids", they retain many more metabolic pathways than any other sequenced endosymbiont, highilighting the importance of these processes to host survival in the deep sea.

More broadly, I am interested in using bioinformatic tools to develop hypotheses concerning the interactions between bacteria and their hosts. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in th Isberg lab at Tufts where my research focuses on the Wolbachia parasitism. My goal is to use both RNAi and genetics to identify host and symbiont genomic targets necessary for the association.