Dr. Katherine Nesbit

Dr. Katherine Nesbit

PI: Dr. Nick Shikuma

Area of Research: Molecular mechanisms of host-microbe relationships

What excites you about your current SDSU postdoc position?

One of the most exciting parts of my position is working with our animal model, a marine tube worm named Hydroides elegans. Most people aren’t terribly enthusiastic about worms, but I think these animals are absolutely fascinating, diverse, and complex. The larvae are so fun to study, and I could (and often do) spend hours looking at them under the microscope. They have distinct behaviors, specialized anatomy, and seeing their interactions during development in real-time with cellular resolution is always rewarding.

Can you tell us a little bit about the cutting edge research/scholarship you are doing? What key questions is your work answering?

As a postdoc in the Shikuma Lab, I am interested in understanding the diverse nature of host-microbe relationships. All animals are in constant and co-evolving relationships with bacteria, and there are many ways that bacteria can be beneficial to their hosts, including playing important roles in development. We don’t have a very strong sense of the types of molecular mechanisms that enable bacteria to influence the development of animals, and so my work aims to better understand how this is accomplished. The questions we want to answer are 1) what genes and products do bacteria have/make that influence developmental processes; 2) how is the animal detecting and translating bacterial information into developmental outcomes. We use the marine tube worm, Hydroides elegans, as a model because this humble worm requires interaction with bacteria to complete its life cycle (through bacteria-stimulated metamorphosis). By combining innovative synthetic biology tools and forward genetics approaches, we are starting to tease apart how different bacteria impact development.

What is your career trajectory and how is your SDSU postdoc position helping you achieve that?

My long-term goal is to run an independent research program as a tenure-track faculty member at a research and teaching institution. My work here at SDSU is helping me to gain additional technical, teaching, and mentorship skills that will help me to run my own lab. I have had opportunities to give lectures, design and seek funding for independent research projects, publish additional research papers, mentor students in the lab, and learn new skills at the bench in bacterial genetics. All of these opportunities have been instrumental in propelling me towards my goal of being a professor in the near future.