Antibiotic Resistance Mechanisms and STEM Education Research

Dr. Lamanna captains a productive and healthy research lab at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY. Providing safe and equitable spaces for all to grow and develop is immensely important to Dr Lamanna as a PI. Regarding research, she is tackles two seemingly disparate real-world problems: 1) disease and 2) education. As a classically trained Microbiologist, Dr Lamanna is fascinated in how social economic status, nutrition, transmission, and pathogenicity all intertwine to form disease and outbreak. For instance, how do proteins of the zoonotic pathogens function in disparate environments of various host species? To unravel these complex biological systems such as disease ecology and cellular division (proliferation and subsequent spread of bacteria) Dr Lamanna has earned her A.A. in Chemistry, B.S. in Biology, and Ph.D. in Microbiology from Indiana University. She has worked on a wide range of organisms (plants, viruses, insects, and bacteria), mastered several versatile techniques (microscopy, genetics, and biochemistry) and received both internal and external funding to support her research. 

Throughout her academic training Dr Lamanna is committed to training and educating the next generation to the best of her ability. Resultantly, she proactively engages in pedagogy workshops and certification programs. In her post-doc, she partnered with the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning to learn pedagogic research skills and techniques. Presently, Dr Lamanna is investigating two active areas of STEM Education Research: 1) developing of novel Course-Based-Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) towards granting equitable access to research and 2) synthesizing novel means to manage and decrease Test Induced Anxiety. As an active member of the scientific community Dr Lamanna is a "hands-on" mentor and encourages her lab to explore, creative interests -- even if they are disparate. Why not science is FUN.