Anna Seekatz

Nickname: Seekatz

Birthplace: Huntington Beach, CA

Undergraduate Institution: Western Washington University

Graduate School: University of Maryland School of Medicine (in Baltimore)

Postdoctoral Training: University of Michigan (current)

About Me: A West coaster at heart, Anna conducted her PhD project at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Her work in the lab of Dr. Claire Fraser focused on the effects of a live-attenuated Shigella vaccine on the gut microbiota in cynomolgus macaques. Anna was excited to join the Young lab in 2013 to continue research in the microbiota world. Her current focus is on recurrent C. difficile infection (CDI). Anna uses both human clinical samples and an animal model to investigate why 20-30% of patients with CDI experience recurrent disease. She is exploring the role of the microbiome and differences in C. difficile strains in the development of recurrent disease. Additionally, Anna is interested in why fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is so successful in treating recurrent disease. She hopes that understanding how FMT promotes recovery of the gut microbiota will lead to the development of specific microbial targets for the treatment of CDI and other gastrointestinal conditions.

In her spare time, Anna enjoys training her unruly Pomeranian, hosting dinner parties, and traveling to places warmer than Michigan.

Email: aseekatz@umich.edu