Student Profiles

Stephanie’s research experiences have been a blend of microbiology and virology. While in the lab of Dr. Ann Stevens at Virginia Tech, she worked to characterize the unique genome and metabolic capabilities of an emerging bacterial strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus that causes Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) in shrimp which has significant impacts on the aquaculture industry where it’s endemic. Additional to her academic research experience, Stephanie had the opportunity to conduct research with BEI Resources at American Type Culture Collection located in Manassas, VA to develop a safe and immunogenic Virus-Like Particle (VLP)-based vaccine against Zika virus as a part of their internship program. Upon graduating from Virginia Tech in 2017, Stephanie remained on campus as lab technician in the lab of Dr. Jonathan Auguste to study and develop vaccines for variety of vector-borne viruses such as Mayaro, Chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Since 2018, Stephanie has been a member of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section run by Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger at the National Institutes of Health studying influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Stephanie’s research uses a combination of molecular virology, animal models, and bioinformatics to characterize the hemagglutinin (HA) pathogenicity of the 1918 Pandemic and Classical Swine influenza A viruses. Using the data from this study, the lab aims to uncover answers behind the virulence of the 1918 influenza virus. In her years of research, she has generated four publications, of which she has one first authorship. Stephanie has been recognized by Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological Sciences for her research efforts and was inducted into the university’s Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Sigma chapters for being a dedicated and well-rounded researcher in the biological sciences.

Stephanie plans to follow her passion for emerging and re-emerging viral diseases upon graduation and seek out research opportunities to study their evolution and pathogenesis. She hopes that her future endeavors could be useful in developing better preventative measures, treatments, and overall lessen the burden of emerging viral diseases on global health.