People

People

photo credit: John Soares for Tufts University

Bree Aldridge

Professor, Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine
& Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University School of Engineering
Postdoctoral Training:  Harvard School of Public Health
Ph.D.: MIT, Biological Engineering, 2008
B.S.: University of Arizona, Computer Engineering & Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2002


Research Assistant Professor 

Trever

Trever Smith, PhD
ORCID | Tufts GSBS

I use a combination of fluorescence microscopy, omics style data, and machine learning to understand how environmental signals influence the essentially of different biochemical pathways in Mtb. Using antibacterials to inhibit specific cellular processes, I am investigating how perturbations to one or more pathways contribute to Mtb cell death across different physiological states.


Assistant Professor of Medicine

Husain Poonawala, MBBS, MD
Tufts Medical Center

I am an Infectious Diseases physician and Clinical Microbiologist at Tufts Medical Center. My research interests are in tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria, and my work is focused on developing and integrating novel diagnostic methods into clinical care and public health interventions to improve outcomes from these infections. In 2023, I received a Translational Science Career Development (K12) Award through the Tufts CTSI . My work in the Aldridge Lab will aim to adapt the DiaMOND assay to develop a novel combination antimicrobial susceptibility testing method for Mycobacterium abscessus that can be used in clinical microbiology laboratories. This will allow the design individualized treatment regimens for this multidrug resistant pathogen that is often described as an “antibiotic nightmare.”


Postdocs 

Dan Zhang
ORCID

My current work is focused on the development of in vitro and computational frameworks to identify optimal multi-drug combination therapies for tuberculosis.


Emmanuel Ogbonna, PhD
LinkedIn

I am a joint postdoctoral fellow in the Aldridge Lab at TUSM and the Laboratory for Systems Pharmacology at HMS working with Dr. Peter Sorger. My research is on the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. I had previously studied putative targets for novel TB drugs, including essential cellular proteases. I am currently studying the relationship between granuloma heterogeneity and host immune response – elicited upon tuberculosis infection – using tissue cyclic immunofluorescence or t-CyCIF. CyCIF is used with a wide array of antibody markers to phenotype all the different cell types associated with the granuloma stages, especially their spatial relationships to one another. With these cell-cell associations assessed, it is then possible to understand physiological and immunological outcomes in the TB granuloma microenvironment.


Eun Seon Chung (Christin Chung), PhD
ORCID | LinkedIn

My work focuses on understanding how M. tuberculosis controls its growth and behavior under different growth conditions and antibiotics.


Kathleen Davis, PhD

I collaborating with members of the Levy CIMAR and Tufts Medical Center to develop a method of in-vitro testing of drug regimens on bacterial pathogen clinical isolates from hospital patients with severe infections. The goal is to design in-vitro testing methodology to help choose more effective regimens for serious infections. My other work includes a multi-institution collaborative effort to identify small molecules that can be used in combination with antibiotics to restore or improve the activity of those antibiotics against community- and hospital-acquired bacterial infections.


Students 

Talia Greenstein, Immunology PhD Candidate
ORCID | Tufts GSBS

Lesion heterogeneity is the hallmark of tuberculosis and has made it difficult to treat. I am working to help develop experimental-computational approaches to model drug response in different lesions to identify better drug regimens to treat tuberculosis.


Tim Fitzgerald, Molecular Microbiology PhD Candidate
LinkedIn | Tufts GSBS

I am just beginning my thesis research in the Aldridge lab.


William Johnson, Molecular Microbiology, MERGE ID PhD Candidate
Google Scholar | LinkedIn | Tufts GSBS

My current work has two major aims: 1) Understanding how the growth conditions in TB lesions alter the metabolic state of M. tuberculosis and perpetuate anti-TB drug tolerance through high-throughput image analysis; 2) Using multi-omics data and machine-learning to characterize anti-TB drug mechanism of action in disease-relevant growth conditions.


Joshua Whiteley, Biomedical Engineering PhD Candidate
LinkedIn

I am researching the morphological changes that occur when treating tuberculosis with antibiotics in different growth conditions to better understand drug mechanism of action.


Sofia Aubrey, Undergraduate in Biopsychology and Chemistry (Pre-Health)


Research Technicians and Associates

Mariana Pereira Moraes
LinkedIn

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has the ability to persist within lesion with different stressors present. These stressors are thought to be responsible for Mtb survival and drug tolerance. We aim to develop in vitro models using lesion-specific stressors to dete​rmine how different lesion niches influence Mtb response to specific drug regimens. 


Nhi Van

I study how to optimize drug combination therapies for tuberculosis using a combination of molecular and empirical approaches. 


Tracy Washington, PhD
LinkedIn

I work with the drug combination team to analyze drug combination data for tuberculosis, with the goal of designing improved therapies.


Michelle Yoon
ORCID


Project Administrator

Hope D’Erasmo

I coordinate data and research for the Aldridge Lab’s drug combination team, which aims to develop improved therapies for tuberculosis.


Project Coordinator

Hanna Clutterbuck-Cook, MA

My primary role is to coordinate grant operations for Dr. Aldridge and the Aldridge Lab.


Alumni

Ares Alivisatos, Research Technician

Meriem Bahira, Research Technician

Sheika Belizaire, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Owen Bennion, Research Technician

Christopher Chou, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Murat Cokol, Visiting Scholar

Basira Daqiq, Senior Research Technician

Yonatan Degefu, Research Technician

Aonkon Dey, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Kaydine Edwards, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Iyob Gebremariam, Analyst

Geoffrey Gonzalez, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Shellyhan Gordon, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Alexander Histed, Graduate Student

Sophia Hu, REU Undergraduate Research Assistant

Joey Jabbour, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Maliwan Kamkaew, Research Assistant

Jonah Larkins-Ford, Graduate Student

Michelle Logsdon, Graduate Student

Morgan McNellis, Research Technician

Andrew Min, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Amy Moody, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Sesheta Mwanza, Research Technician

Michaela Olson, Research Technician

Julia Parker, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Brandon Phan, PREP Scholar

Christopher Polleys, REU Undergraduate Research Assistant

Kirsta Pullen, Research Technician

Ditshego Ralefeta, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Ian Richardson, High School Research Assistant

Kirill Richardson, Graduate Student & Research Technician

Daniel Rubin, Undergraduate Research Assistant

Jullian Willett, Medical Student Research Assisant