Michael Ranieri receives Fred & Helen Knight Award

Burrows lab MSc student Michael Ranieri was awarded the prestigious 2017 Fred & Helen Knight Enrichment Award, which recognizes exceptional promise in early career graduate students. Mike joined the lab in May 2016 as a summer student after completing his undergraduate degree in Co-op Biochemistry, with a senior thesis in the Magarvey lab, and began his MSc in Sept 2016. Mike’s thesis work is aimed at understanding the mechanisms leading to increased biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa when it is exposed to sub-MIC antibiotics. In addition to basic mechanistic studies, he is using this phenotype as a reporter to identify sub-MIC antibiotic activity in libraries of previously approved drugs and natural products. Mike is the 3rd trainee from the Burrows lab to receive this award, joining former PhD students Ylan Nguyen (2011) and Uyen Nguyen (2012) on the podium. Congratulations Mike!