Anna York, BSc (Hon), PhD

I am a postdoctoral associate working on Streptococcus pneumoniae, which, despite safe and effective vaccines, this bacteria is responsible for 150,000 hospitalizations per year in the United States alone. My previous work aimed to better understand mechanisms of penicillin resistance and assist in the development of novel antimicrobial therapies. My research at Yale, focuses on understanding the importance of the structure and composition of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and its effect on serotype switching and growth patterns in vitro. I am also working on genome wide association studies (GWAS) to provide a better understanding of genetic factors driving differences in capsular polysaccharide structure and composition.