the_slizovskiy_lab
Current lab members:
Lipika Das completed her Ph.D. in December 2022 from the Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India. Her doctoral research focused on evaluating the composition and functional profiles of microbiomes associated with aquatic animals, specifically coral and freshwater puffer fish, using both culture-based and metagenomic approaches. Additionally, she investigated the gut microbiome of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), as well as the vaginal microbiome of patients with recurrent bacterial vaginosis. Following her Ph.D., Dr. Das joined an interdisciplinary team at the Institute for Drug Discovery at Purdue University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Her work there involved understanding the role of cyclic dinucleotides in infection, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. Dr. Das joins LIDARR as visiting scholar to work on longitudinal study of the microbiome, resistome, and mobilome dynamics at the Purdue Veterinary Hospital. Her long-term research interests are centered on understanding microbiota function across various contexts and developing microbiota-mediated therapeutics.
Alex Kimball completed his Master's in Biomedical Informatics in May 2024 from the University of Utah. Previously, he was enrolled in the Genetics and Biotechnology Master's program at Brigham Young University, where his research focused on assessing the genetic diversity of Chenopodium berlandieri varieties and creating a reference-quality genome assembly of a cultivated variety, C. berlandieri ssp. nuttalliae. For his practicum in the Biomedical Informatics program, Alex worked with a professor at the Huntsman Cancer Institute to initiate bioinformatics work on a project called OncoCuisine MetaboMap. The project aims to identify diet-related metabolites with gene activity similar to drug compounds and discover dietary patterns that improve treatment responses in endometrial cancer (EC) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Alex joins LIDARR as a Research Scientist, where he will assist with various genomic and metagenomic projects, focusing on the analysis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and bacterial pathogens in human and animal microbiomes. He will also provide bioinformatics support across human, animal, and environmental research dimensions. His position is supported by the Purdue University’s Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, which enables him to collaborate with a diverse set of stakeholders to improve health and healthcare outcomes through engineering and biomedical informatics.
Rebekah Mou is a second-year undergraduate student at Purdue University where she is majoring in Biomedical Engineering and minoring in Computer Science and Studio Art and Design. Though Rebekah has little formal laboratory experience, she is excited to delve into the world of antimicrobial resistance research and bioinformatics. Rebekah is also taking on the role as the LIDARR wet lab manager. She is working on establishing laboratory SOPs for optimal molecular workflows, laboratory biosafety, and in the Summer of 2025, she will begin piloting novel metagenomic sequencing techniques.
No photo
Emeriti lab members:
Reed G. Brzezinski is a student entering his third year at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he majors in Computer Science. Previously, he conducted research with the Economics Department at CU Boulder, studying the impacts of participation in the American Economic Association Mentoring Program. He is at Purdue for the summer through the Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. His current work with LIDARR focuses on quantifying the potential for antimicrobial resistance gene transfer to patients who are candidate recipients of fecal microbiota transplantation for recurrent Clostridioides difficile (rCDI) infections, as well as for the correction of 'dysbiosis' associated with chemotherapy for cancer treatment. This project is his first experience with bioinformatics, and he has learned a lot during the short time of the SURF summer session. Moving forward, Reed intends to minor in Quantum Engineering at CU Boulder, then earn a graduate degree in Quantum Computing.
