As a Ph.D. student, I studied the role of ygfZ gene in the resistance of E. coli to a herbal plant-derived compound, plumbagin. We concluded that yhgZ is necessary for metabolizing plumbagin into a less toxic methylated form. I also studied the sitA gene in K. pneumoniae and proved its necessity in resolving the toxicity of hydrogen peroxide. Besides we demonstrated the possibility of using inactivated sitA mutant strain in vaccination against K. pneumoniae. In the study of EHEC, I… Show more As a Ph.D. student, I studied the role of ygfZ gene in the resistance of E. coli to a herbal plant-derived compound, plumbagin. We concluded that yhgZ is necessary for metabolizing plumbagin into a less toxic methylated form. I also studied the sitA gene in K. pneumoniae and proved its necessity in resolving the toxicity of hydrogen peroxide. Besides we demonstrated the possibility of using inactivated sitA mutant strain in vaccination against K. pneumoniae. In the study of EHEC, I focused on the regulation effect of mpc gene on the expression of its downstream genes of lee3 operon of LEE pathogenic gene island. Show less

I have been working in Kim Lewis Lab at Northeastern University as a visiting scientist since the August of 2016. I mainly focus on studying persister formation mechanism of pathogenic E. coli in cell infection model.