Michelle Clay, Phd Email & Phone Number

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

• Postdoctoral Advisor: Dr. Vaughn S. Cooper, Dept of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics• Postdoctoral advisory committee: Dr. Jennifer Bomberger, Dr. Daria Van Tyne• Developed and implemented a novel adaptable, single-cell genomic barcoding method with nested multiplexing for efficient use of amplicon sequencing runs• Managed Illumina NextSeq500/550 sequencing library preps, runs, data transfer, and analysis• Testing of a proprietary clinical device used to non-invasively detect pulmonary pathogens from exhaled breath condensate.• Reviewed and critiqued written manuscripts, posters, and oral presentations biweekly

• Principal investigator: Dr. Deborah A. Hogan, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology• Doctoral advisory committee: Dr. Tami D. Lieberman, Dr. Robert A. Cramer, Dr. Mary Lou Guerinot• Identified and characterized factors that contribute to the empirically strong selection for Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing mutants in the context of human infections.• Utilized genomic and phenotypic analyses to extract evolutionary information from clinical isolate sets.• Mentored two undergraduate student researchers• Learned and utilized techniques such as quantitative western blotting, microbial competitions, promoter fusion assays, metabolomics data analysis.

• Principal investigator: Dr. John Alcorn, Dept of Immunology• Assisted in the design, interpretation, and execution of experiments in John Alcorn’s laboratory, where we studied influenza and Staphylococcus aureus pulmonary co-infections. • Learned and performed a variety of murine model techniques, including oropharyngeal aspiration, intranasal instillation, retroorbital injection, cardiac puncture, oral gavage, and colony husbandry.• Mentored undergraduate student research intern

Clarion University

• Communicated with faculty about their classroom culture medium, equipment, and waste disposal needs.• Large-scale preparation of a wide variety of standard and specialized lab reagents, culture medium, and equipment for use during lab sections each week.

Clarion, Pa

• Co-principal investigators: Dr. Doug Smith (Microbiology and Molecular Biology); Dr. Andrew Keth, (Ecology)• Generated and screened a murine monoclonal antibody library towards the development of an in-field ELISA test for the detection of the global fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.• Performed experiments toward the characterization of an unknown antimicrobial agent found in human urine.• Served as the Smith lab manager. 2013-2014

• Principal investigator: Dr. John Alcorn, Dept of Immunology• Used a murine model of infection and qPCR techniques to study the impact of preceding influenza on Staphylococcus aureus virulence factor expression.

• Principal investigator: Dr. John Alcorn, Dept of Immunology• Data from this internship resulted in authorship in the Journal of Infectious Disease:  Robinson KM, McHugh KJ, Mandalapu S, Clay ME, Lee B, Scheller EV, Enelow RI, Chan YR, Kolls JK, Alcorn JF (2014). Influenza A virus exacerbates Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia in mice by attenuating antimicrobial peptide production. J Infect Dis, 209(6), 865-875. doi:10.1093/infdis/jit527• Harvested murine macrophages and used a flow cytometry protocol to evaluate the effect of interferons on alveolar macrophage uptake of Staphylococcus aureus.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Microbiology

Activities and Societies: Microbiology and Molecular Pathogenesis Program (M2P2)

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Molecular Biology/Biotechnology