People

Scott Hultgren, Ph.D.

Helen L. Stoever Professor / Molecular Microbiology
Email: hultgren@wustl.edu

For current CV, contact betty@borcim.wustl.edu

Scott Hultgren is the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology (since 2000) and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011. He received his B.S. in Microbiology from Indiana University (1981) and his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Northwestern University (1987). He did post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Staffan Normark at the University of Umea, Sweden (1987-1989).  He became an Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in 1989, Associate Professor in 1995 and Professor in 1998. He was named the Director of the Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research at Washington University School of Medicine in 2007. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed and 80 invited publications. Scott has mentored numerous individuals within and outside of his lab. Twenty-four Ph.D/MSTP students have graduated from his lab and more than 30 postdoctoral and medical fellows have trained with him.

[expand title="Awards for research and teaching"]

• University Scholar, Northwestern Univ., 1984-1987
• Swedish Medical Research Council, Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 1988-1989
• Markey Young Investigator Faculty Award,1990-1992
• Chairman of Gordon Conference on Microbial Attachment and Signaling, 1997
• Nobel Fellowship, 1997
• Eli Lilly Award, 1998
• St. Louis Innovator of the Year Award, 1998
• Shipley Lecturer, Harvard Univ., 1998
• NIH MERIT Award, 1999
• Harry M. Rose Infectious Disease Lecturer, Columbia Univ., 2000
• Henry Pinkerton Lecturer, St. Louis Univ., 2001
• Coursemaster of the Year Award, Washington Univ., 2002
• Fellow, American Society for Microbiology, 2003
• Ippen-Ihler Lecturer, Texas A&M Univ. Health Science School of Medicine, 2004
• John H. Erskine Lecturer in Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 2005
• Neal Groman Lecturer in Microbiology, Univ. of Washington, 2007
• Academic Women’s Network Mentor of the Year, 2007
• Distinguished Investigator Award, Washington Univ., 2010
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2010
• Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011
• John A. Lynch Lecture in the College of Science, Notre Dame University, 2014

[/expand]

See Scott’s profile with the inaugural PNAS article

Elizabeth (Betty) Stiles

Executive Secretary to Dr. Scott Hultgren / Molecular Microbiology
Email: betty@wustl.edu
Telephone: 314-362-7059
Fax: 314-362-1232

Betty is Scott Hultgren’s Executive Administrative Assistant. Betty joined the team in 1998 and assists Scott with his many responsibilities.

Jerome (Jerry) Pinkner M.S.

Research Lab Supervisor / Molecular Biology
Email: jerryp@wustl.edu

Jerome (Jerry) Pinkner: Jerry is the Hultgren Lab Manager. He obtained a B.A. in biology from Washington University (1985) and an M.S. in Biology from St. Louis University (1988). Jerry who joined the Hultgren lab in 1990 is an integral member of the team managing many aspects of the day to day operations of the lab. He also runs a core facility for the fermentation and purification of proteins for members of the lab as well as for other faculty within Molecular Microbiology and other departments at Washington University.

Karen Dodson, Ph.D.

Research Instructor / Molecular Biology
Email: karen@wustl.edu

Karen is a Research Instructor in the lab. She has a B.A. in Biology from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1983) and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Washington University (1990). She joined the Hultgren Lab in 1990 and is involved with multiple projects in the lab ranging from genetics and structural studies to development of new projects and collaborations.

Tom Hannan, Ph.D. DVM

Research Instructor / Pathology & Immunology

Tom studied Biology at Georgetown University before obtaining a professional doctorate in veterinary medicine (DVM) from Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. After 8 years in clinical bovine practice, Tom came to Washington University to pursue doctoral studies in Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, receiving his Ph.D. in 2008. He is currently a Research Instructor in Pathology & Immunology, working with Drs. Marco Colonna and Hultgren to investigate the mucosal immunology of the urinary bladder, translating basic science discoveries from animal models of UTI to clinical investigations of host susceptibility to rUTI.

Mike Hibbing, Ph.D.

Mike received a B.A. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology (2003) and an M.S. (2005) for the study phylogenetic history of the plant pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University in Bloomington (2011) for work in the laboratory of Dr. Clay Fuqua studying the iron and manganese responsive gene regulatory systems of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and the role of iron in mediating interspecies interactions in biofilms. Mike has undertaken several projects in the Hultgren lab focused on examining bacterial factors that contribute to the establishment, maintenance, and recurrence of chronic bladder colonization by uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Ana Lidia Flores-Mireles, Ph.D.

Ana received her Bachelor degree in Marine Biology at Autonomic University of Baja California Sur (UABCS) in Mexico, followed by a Master degree in Marine Biotechnology in the Center for Biological Research of the Northwest. La Paz, Mexico. She obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology at Cornell University, working with Dr. Stephen C. Winans. Currently, she is working on understanding the pathogenesis requirements for E. faecalis catheter-associated urinary tract infection.

Jennifer Walker, Ph.D.

Jen received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Missouri (2008) and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Iowa (2013). Her project in the lab focuses on investigating the mechanisms by which staphylococcal species colonize and infect the urinary tract.

Valerie O’Brien

Ph.D. Student

Valerie is a third-year graduate student in the Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Ph.D. program. She is studying how host adaptations affect susceptibility to recurrent UTI. Valerie is the recipient of a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship and is a former Fulbright Fellow with the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. She holds undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and German from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

Caitlin Spaulding

Ph.D. Student

Caitlin graduated from Trinity University with a B.S. in Biology in 2011. Her graduate thesis work in the Hultgren lab involves determining what bacterial factors are necessary for UPEC colonization of the gastrointestinal tract and examining host responses to intestinal colonization by UPEC.

Henry Schreiber

Ph.D. Student

Henry received a B.S. in Molecular Cell Biology from Tulane University in 2008. He received an M.S. in Biology from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2011, studying the phylogenetic architecture of the plant pathogen, Xylella fastidiosa. His current focus is the bacterial genetic factors that mediate same-strain recurrent UTI by UPEC as well as examining the gut microbiota as a potential reservoir for reinfection.

Vasilios Kalas

MSTP Student

Vasilios is in the Medical Scientist Training Program doing graduate studies in Computational and Molecular Biophysics. He graduated from The University of Chicago in 2010 with a B.S. in Biological Chemistry and a B.A. in Chemistry and investigated the mechanism and substrate selectivity of the insulin-degrading enzyme under the mentorship of Dr. Wei-Jen Tang. Currently, he is working on chaperone-usher pili (CUP) and aims to determine the molecular basis for the conformational regulation of adhesin-mediated functions and pilus assembly using a number of biophysical and computational approaches.

Natalie Omattage

Ph.D. Student

Natalie graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of Richmond in 2012. She is currently a second year graduate student in the Molecular Microbiology & Microbial Pathogenesis program at Washington University. Her thesis project aims to characterize the molecular mechanism of usher-mediated pilus biogenesis of UPEC type 1 pili.

Lu Yu

Ph.D. Student

Lu graduated from Lawrence University with a B.A. in Chemistry & Biochemistry. Currently, her graduate thesis project in the lab is studying the structure and interactions of the Ebp adhesin, EbpA, of E. feacalis with host fibrinogen. She is also involved with projects to determine the basis of the specificity of P pili subunit interactions in UPEC.

Roger Klein

MSTP Student

Roger earned a B.S. from The College of Wooster in Wooster, OH in 2011, majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Physics. He joined the Hultgren lab as a Medical Scientist Training program trainee in 2013 and is investigating the structural and biochemical basis of the function of several different chaperones, including CsgE and CsgF in the Curli system, PapJ in the P-pilus system, and CooB in the CS1 pilus system. He is in the PhD program in the Computational and Molecular Biophysics

Nathaniel (Cris) Gualberto

Research Technician

Cris Gualberto graduated from Washington University in St Louis in 2002 with an A.B. in philosophy and a minor in physics. He joined the Hultgren lab in March 2013 after serving six years as a research technician II for Professor Dong Yu. At this time, he is working on multiple cloning projects for diverse lab members.  In addition to this, he serves as the laboratory safety officer and is responsible for shipping lab packages.

Danielle Liu

Research Technician

Danielle Liu graduated with a B.A. in Accounting, from the Zhongnan University of Finance and Economic in China (1990). She is a technician in the Hultgren lab and is responsible for much of the mouse breeding, weaning and genotyping. She also assists many lab members with experiments as needed.

Sarah Greene, M.D., Ph.D. (2016)
Resident, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine

Drew Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D. (2015)
Resident, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine

Hailyn Nielsen, M.D., Ph.D. (2015)
Resident, Department of Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine

Ender Volkan Ph.D. (2012)
Instructor in Biotechnology Research Centre, Cyprus International University, Haspolat, North Cyprus

Pascale Guiton Ph.D. (2012)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University

David A. Rosen, M.D., Ph.D. (2010)
Instructor, Pediatric Infectious Disease, Washington University School of Medicine

Corinne Cusumano Ph.D. (2009)
Patent Scientist, Polsinelli Law Firm, St. Louis, MO

Ashley Nenninger Ph.D. (2008)
Drug Development Scientist, Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Chapel Hill, NC

Thomas Hannan Ph.D. DVM (2008)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University

Kelly Wright Ph.D. (2006)

Eric M. Miller Ph.D. (2006)
Senior Investment Analyst, BioGenerator, St. Louis, MO

Andrew Kau, M.D., Ph.D. (2006)
Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, Allergy & Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine

Lloyd Robinson Ph.D. (2004)
Sr. Research Technician, Washington University School of Medicine

Yvonne Lee Ph.D. (2004)
Research Scientist, Stratagene, La Jolla, CA

Gregory Anderson Ph.D. (2004)
Assistant Professor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Joel Schilling, M.D., Ph.D. (2003)
Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, Cardiology Washington University School of Medicine

Frederic Sauer Ph.D. (2002)
Orion Investment Company, St. Louis

Michelle Barnhart Ph.D. (2002)
Lead Scientist, Novozyme, Davis, CA

Juan Martinez Ph.D. (2001)
Associate Professor, Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University

Gabriel Soto, M.D., Ph.D. (2000)
Medical Director, Cardiovascular Services, SoutheastHEALTH

Evan Saulino, M.D., Ph.D. (2000)
Physician, Family Medicine, Providence Medical Group – Southeast

Danielle Hung Ph.D. (1998)

Rob Striker, M.D., Ph.D. (1995)
Associate Professor, Medicine, Infectious Disease; Medical Microbiology; Immunology University of Wisconsin Medical School

Lynn Slonim Ph.D. (1993)
Director, Clinical Microbiology Lab, University of Rochester

Meta Kuehn Ph.D. (1993)
Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University

James Bann, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof. of Chemistry, Wichita State University

Julie Bouckaert, Ph.D.
VIB Project Leader, Vrije Universiteit, Brussels

Lynette Cegelski, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof., Chemistry, Stanford University, California

Matthew Chapman, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof. of Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology, U. Michigan

Swaine Chen, MD, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof., Nat’l. Univ. of Singapore, Dept. of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases; Singapore National Research Foundation Fellow

Matthew Conover, Ph.D.
Assay Developer/Molecular Biologist, iCubate, Inc., Huntsville, AL

Corinne Cusumano, Ph.D.
Patent Scientist, Polsinelli Law Firm, St. Louis, MO

Zachary Cusumano, Ph.D.
Microbiology Reviewer, Office of Pharmaceutical Quality Food and Drug Administration, Washington, DC

Jennifer Elam, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Anatomy and Neurobiolgy, Washington University

Bradley Ford, MD, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Maria Hadjifrangiskou, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor, Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Vanderbilt University

Thomas Hannan, DVM, Ph.D.
Research Instructor, Pathology and Immunology, Washington University

Ericka V. Hayes, MD
Asst. Prof. of Pediatrics, Washington University

Jeffrey Henderson, MD, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof., Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Washington University

Chia Hung, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, Infectious Diseases, Washington University

David A. Hunstad, M.D.
Director, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Assoc. Professor of Pediatrics, Washington University

Molly Ingersoll, Ph.D.
PhD Director of students of the Matthew Albert Laboratory at Pasture Institute

F. Jacob-Dubuisson, Ph.D.
Research Director Class II, Institut Pasteur, Paris

Charles Hal Jones, Ph.D.
Principal Research Scientist, Infectious Diseases, Wyeth Research

Sheryl Justice, Ph.D.
Asst. Prof. of Pediatrics, Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Kimberly Kline, PhD
Asst. Prof., Singapore Centre for Environmental and Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Maria Kostakioti Ph.D.
Scientist, Emerging Leaders in Science Program, Monsanto, St. Louis, MO

Mary-Jane Lombardo, Ph.D.
Center for Vaccine Research, University of Maryland

William Lyon, Ph.D.
Assoc. Director of Life Sciences and Technology Transfer, Univ. of Indiana

Steven Martin, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, Sequoia Sciences, Inc., St. Louis, MO

Eric M. Miller, Ph.D.
Research Analyst, The Mattson Jack Group, St. Louis, MO

Matthew Mulvey, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof. of Pathology, University of Utah

Indira Myasorekar, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Center for Reproductive Health Sciences, Assoc. Prof. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University

Kanna Nagamatsu, Ph.D.
Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Michigan

Ashley Nenninger, Ph.D.
Drug Development Scientist, Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Chapel Hill, NC

Joseph J. Palermo, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Director, Pancreas Care Center, Medical Director, TPIAT Program, Asst. Prof., Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati Department

Patrick Seed, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University

Jennifer Silverman, Ph.D.
Scientist, Mogene Green Chemicals, St. Louis, MO

Craig L. Smith, Ph.D.
Lecturer in Biology, Research Lab Manager, Developmental Biology, Washington University

David Thanassi, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof. of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, SUNY-Stony Brook