2025 MAMPM SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Matt Lawrenz, PhD
MAMPM 2025 Meeting Chair
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Dr. Matt Lawrenz is Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and a founding member of the Center for Predictive Medicine for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biodefense at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He received his PhD from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, studying antigenic variation and immune evasion by the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi in the lab of Steve Norris. He then completed postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina in Virginia Miller’s lab, identifying and studying the regulation of virulence factors in Yersinia. His goal is to provide a supportive environment for trainees to achieve their long-term career goals. Off campus, Matt enjoys literature, hiking, and exploring other cultures through food and travel.
Hervé Agaisse, PhD
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Dr. Hervé Agaisse received his PhD at the Pasteur Institute in Paris working on the regulation of toxin gene expression in the entomopathogen Bacillus thuriengiensis. He conducted his post-doctoral training at the Harvard Medical School studying the innate immune response to bacterial infection in Drosophila melonogaster and developed high-throughput RNAi-based genomic approaches for identifying host genes supporting intracellular infection. He started his laboratory in 2005 at Yale University where his group applied the RNAi methodology combined with high-throughput microscopy to systematically identify host genes supporting the dissemination of intracellular pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella flexneri and vaccinia virus. Hervé joined UVa in 2015 where he is currently conducting a research program centered on the molecular and cellular mechanisms supporting Shigella flexneri infection in tissue culture systems and newly developed small-animal models of Bacillary dysentery.
Shaun Brinsmade, PhD
Georgetown University
Dr. Shaun Brinsmade is an Associate Professor with the Department of Biology with a joint appointment within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Brinsmade received a BS from the University of Connecticut-Storrs in 2001, followed by a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2007. Research in the Brinsmade Laboratory seeks to understand how bacteria control pathogenesis using nutritional and host cues during infection. Currently they are focused on the Gram-positive, opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.
Brian Conlon, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Dr. Brian Conlon is a native of Co. Galway in Ireland. He attended the National University of Galway, Ireland as an undergraduate and was awarded a PhD from University College Dublin in 2009 where he worked in Dr. Jim O'Gara's lab examining biofilm formation in Staphylococci. In 2010, he began working in Dr. Kim Lewis laboratory at Northeastern University in Boston, as a postdoc and then as a senior research scientist. He began his independent research career at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in August 2016.
F. Heath Damron, PhD
West Virginia University School of Medicine
Dr. Heath Damron is an Assistant Professor in the the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology in the School of Medicine at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. He is also the Director of the Vaccine Development Center at the WVU Health Sciences Center. The main focus of Dr. Damron’s research is to understand B. pertussis infections in order to develop a next-generation vaccine.
Erin Garcia, PhD
University of Kentucky College of Medicine
Dr. Erin Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Dr. Garcia received her B.S. in Biology from Central Michigan University, followed by a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan and Postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Garcia’s lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern antagonistic and cooperative interactions between Burkholderia species in the context of infectious disease.
Erin Harberts, PhD
Towson University
Dr. Erin Harberts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University. Dr. Harberts received a BA in Molecular Biology from Colgate University, followed by a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her areas of expertise include innate immunity, cell signaling, and host-pathogen interactions.
MD A. Motaleb, PhD
East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
Dr. MD Motaleb is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine. Dr. Motaleb received his BS and MS from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, and his PhD from Osaka University in Japan. His research focuses on Borrelia burgdorferi as well as other pathogenic spirochetes.
M. Ammar Zafar, PhD
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Dr. Ammar Zafar is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Zafar received his PhD from the University of Maryland - Baltimore in 2009. His research interests include bacterial infections, enterobacteriaceae, bacterial drug resistance, host-pathogen interactions, and Streptococcus Pneumoniae.