Dr. Marisa Egan graduated from Saint Joseph's University in 2018 with a BS in Biology. As an undergraduate student, she worked in the lab of Shantanu Bhatt, PhD, studying how pathogenic E. coli use small RNAs (sRNAs) to regulate their virulence. Then, she joined the Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology graduate group at the University of Pennsylvania, studying host-pathogen interactions in the lab of Sunny Shin, PhD. Specifically, Dr. Egan investigated how human macrophages leverage inflammasomes to sense and respond to Salmonella infection. She is excited to explore polymicrobial interactions in the gut, focusing on how C. diff interacts with pathogenic and non-pathogenic E. coli strains. She is also passionate about teaching and mentoring students both in the lab and the classroom settings.