Ally Lawing '23, graduate student, received the Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies' Domer Graduate Student Research Award for her research on "Co-culture Interactions Between Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis Indicate Increased Biofilm Formation."
Lawing's research aims to differentiate microbe interactions in biofilms between Crohn's disease-related Adherent Invasive E. Coli (AIEC) and Inflammatory bowel disease-analogous E. faecalis to understand favorable micro--microbe interactions that account for their endurance along the inflames GI gract in patients with IBD. AIEC can prevail in biofilms, which attach to surfaces and are encased in a self-producing exopolysaccharide matrix. In her previous research, a phenotype indicating biofilm formation was seen in co-culture with AIEC and E. faecalis. Lawing is currently observing the expression of genes critical for K-12 E. coli biofilm formation in these co-cultures to understand how E. faecalis impacts this microbial system and biofilm response.
Lawing's research was advised by Dr. Rachel Bleich .
