Esther Opoola

Graduate Advisor: Dr. David Thanassi
Clinical Mentor: Dr. Charles Vorkas

M.S., Biology, 2021, Midwestern State University
B.S., Biochemistry, 2015, Obafemi Awolowo University

Role of TolC in subversion of immune responses by F. tularensis and potential for an improved tularemia vaccine.

I’m currently a third-year doctoral student enrolled in the Molecular and Cellular Biology program. I attained my bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and pursued my master’s at Midwestern State University, Texas, where I focused on the analysis of transposons in albino maize. Presently, I am a member of the Thanassi Lab in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where my research revolves around Francisella tularensis. Francisella tularensis is a Gram-negative intracellular pathogen that is the causative agent of the zoonotic disease tularemia. Previous work from our laboratory identified the outer membrane channel protein TolC of F. tularensis as important for the ability of the bacteria to modulate the host immune responses early during infection of macrophages. My project (Dr. Vorkas, Clinical mentor) involves investigating the potential of TolC to be used in development of an improved tularemia vaccine.