Current Lab Members
Sarah E.F. D'Orazio, Ph.D.
Sarah has a B.S. in Medical Technology from Albany College of Pharmacy. She completed her Ph.D. training in bacterial pathogenesis in the laboratory of Carleen Collins at the University of Miami and postdoctoral training in immunology in the lab of Michael Starnbach at Harvard Medical School. She's been a faculty member at UK since Oct. 2004 and she is currently a full Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UK.
Joshua Nowacki, B.S.
Joshua is from the Louisville area and he is a graduate of Centre College. He joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in 2022 and is studying the mechanisms used by Listeria to disseminate to the mesenteric lymph nodes following food borne infection. Joshua is also an accomplished musician, and he likes to bake!
Andrew Mallamaci
Andrew is from North Canton, OH. He is is a pre-med Biology major who is investigating the role of an internalin-like protein expressed by neurotropic Listeria strain UKVDL9 in causing brainstem infections. He also plays the alto saxophone in the UK Marching Band.
Lilly Bauer
Lilly is a Biology major pursuing minors in both Microbiology and Spanish. She plans to attend graduate school to obtain a PhD. She spent summer 2023 doing an undergraduate research fellowship at NIH, and started her own project in the lab looking at the role of inlH/inlD in invasion of various cell types.
Breanna Amelunke, M.S.
Breanna is from Lexington and she got a B.S. in Biology from Hanover College and then pursued a M.S. at Eastern Kentucky University. She worked with Dr. Rishi Drolia there studying Listeria invasion of intestinal eppithelial cells. She's currently the D'Orazio Lab manager.
Breanna is from Lexington and she got a B.S. in Biology from Hanover College and then pursued a M.S. at Eastern Kentucky University. She worked with Dr. Rishi Drolia there studying Listeria invasion of intestinal eppithelial cells. She's currently the D'Orazio Lab manager.
Ellie Sams, B.S.
Ellie graduated from UK in 2024 and is currently applying to PhD programs. We're lucky to have her in the lab for this gap year! She's investigating the role of the truncated actA allele present in our neurotropic strains in promoting brainstem infections.
Ellie graduated from UK in 2024 and is currently applying to PhD programs. We're lucky to have her in the lab for this gap year! She's investigating the role of the truncated actA allele present in our neurotropic strains in promoting brainstem infections.
Ryan Donkin, M.S.
Ryan received both his B.S. and M.S. from Eastern Kentucky University. His master thesis work was with Listeria. After that he spent a couple of years working with Toxoplasma in the Sinai Lab and he joined our group in summer 2024. He's currently applying to PhD Programs!
Undergraduates progressing towards independent projects:
Ella Sweeney, Caitlyn Cox
Ella Sweeney, Caitlyn Cox