The Romo Lab - Lab News

Spring 2025

Megan and Karyme won 1st place (graduate and undergraduate) in the 3MT competition at the MMI Symposium!

Kendall, Megan, Karyme, Oscar, Kyndall, and Elizabeth presented their research at the MMI Symposium!

Oscar tied for 2nd place for best poster presentation at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Showcase at UTSA!

Karyme and Oscar both presented their research at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Showcase at UTSA!

Oscar was accepted into the McNair program!

Elizabeth received the Najim Center & the University Career Center 2025 Experiential Learning Scholarship!

Oscar received the Spring 2025 Provost's Undergraduate Research Fellowship!

Alvaro was accepted into the MMI PhD program and will start this August!

Paola received the San Antonio-Based Coccidioidomycosis Collaborative Research Center (Sa-CCRC) Pilot Project Grant!

Megan was featured in the Catalyst for the "a day in the life" series!

Elizabeth was accepted into the MIT MSRP BIO summer research program! Go Elizabeth!

Fall 2024

Karyme was accepted to the Masters of Laboratory Sciences program at UT Health San Antonio! Congrats, Karyme!

The Romo lab won 2nd place in the MMI Gingerbread House Competition!

Theo Courteaux joined the Romo lab as an MMI rotation PhD student and will be working with clinical isolates of N. glabratus. Welcome, Theo!

Taylor Hearne joined the Romo lab as an MMI rotation PhD student and will be working with environmental isolates of N. glabratus. Welcome, Taylor!

The Romo lab won 1st place in the MMI Halloween Door Decoration Competition AGAIN!!!

Caden Munson joined the Romo lab as an MMI rotation PhD student and will be working on drug screening to target C. difficile biofilms. Welcome, Caden!

Katelyn presented her research at the UTSA RISE Programs Research Symposium!

Katelyn won outstanding poster presentation at ABRCMS! Congrats, Katelyn!

Elizabeth and Katelyn presented their work at the ABRCMS in Pittsburgh, PA

Summer 2024

Megan submitted the first F31 from the lab! Congrats, Megan!

Katelyn received a travel award for the SACNAS conference!

Katelyn presented her research at the UTSA Undergraduate Research Summer Showcase!

Katelyn presented her research at the McNair Scholars Research Conference at Baylor!

Katelyn presented her research at the UT System LSAMP conference!

Megan received the MMI T32 Fellowship! Congrats, Megan!

Megan received her Master's degree and will continue her PhD work with us! Congrats, Megan!

Jesús was nominated and featured in the Atlas Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center

Alvaro successfully defended his Master's thesis entitled "CHARACTERIZATION OF GENOMIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NAKASEOMYCES GLABRATA STRAINS USING A BIOINFORMATICS PIPELINE" and graduated with his Master's in Biology!! Congratulations, Alvaro!!

Spring 2024

Both Megan and Katelyn received travel awards to present their research at the SACNAS (NDiSTEM) 2024 Conference in Phoenix, AZ! Congratulations Megan and Katelyn!

Karyme Lozano joined our laboratory as part of the UTSA Honey Pathway program and will be working on testing antimicrobial activity of local honey against bacterial pathogens!

Alec graduated from the Honor College at UTSA with his undergraduate degree in Microbiology and Immunology! Congratulations, Alec! We wish you the best!

The Romo lab attended the STCEID retreat!

Elizabeth was accepted into the UTSA MARC program! Congratulations, Elizabeth!

Katelyn was accepted into the UTSA RISE program! Congratulations, Katelyn!

Megan successfully completed her Oral Qualifying Exam and is now a PhD candidate! Congratulations, Megan!

Megan, Alvaro, and Kendall participated in the MMI Spring Symposium 3 minute thesis competition. Megan placed 2nd! Congratulations, Megan!

Jesús and the Romo lab were featured in UTSA's newspaper, The Paisano!

Kendall presented his research at the ASM Texas Branch Meeting in Cedar Hill, TX and won 3rd place in the graduate poster presentations! Congratulations, Kendall!

Katelyn was accepted into the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program to continue conducting research in the Romo lab over the summer! Congratulations, Katelyn!

Elizabeth was accepted into the 2024 Cornell University Molecular Biology and Genetics Summer REU program! Congratulations, Elizabeth!

Alec Solis received multiple PhD program offers and accepted the offer from MD Anderson Cancer Center! Congratulations, Alec!

Kendall was accepted in the UTSA PhD program in MMI! Congratulations, Kendall!

Paige Juneau joined the Romo lab as an undergraduate researcher! Welcome, Paige!

Katelyn Ward joined the Romo lab as an undergraduate researcher! Welcome, Katelyn!

Paola was promoted to Assistant Research Professor! Congratulations, Paola! We are very lucky to have you!

Fall 2023

The Romo lab won 1st place in the MMI Halloween Door Decoration Competition!!!

Jesús and the Romo lab were featured in the latest issue of the Catalyst magazine at UTSA!

Kendall, Elizabeth, and Alec presented their research at ABRCMS in Phoenix, AZ! Alec and Elizabeth won poster presentation awards! Congrats everyone!

Elizabeth, Kendall, Megan, and Alvaro presented their research at the 2023 Annual Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio conference!

Jesús was featured on UTSA Today!

Elizabeth won the best poster presentation award in the Life Sciences under the Microbiology division at the national SACNAS conference in Portland, OR! Way to go, Elizabeth!

Jesús is the recipient of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) William A. Hinton Award for Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists! He will receive the award at the next ASM Microbe meeting in Atlanta, GA in 2024!

Spring 2023

Elizabeth was accepted to present a poster at the SACNAS conference this fall and received a travel award! Great job Elizabeth!

Alec was accepted to present a poster at the SACNAS conference this Fall! Go Alec!

Elizabeth won second place and crowd favorite at the MMI Spring Symposium! Go Elizabeth!

Megan, Elizabeth, Kendall, Alec, Armando (rotation) and Evan presented their research at the inaugural UTSA Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Spring Symposium! Their posters were entitled:

- Characterization of a murine model to elucidate the role of fungi in Clostridioides difficile Infection

- Phenotypic characterization of Nakaseomyces glabrata clinical isolates from the human colon

- Phenotypic characterization of Nakaseomyces glabrata oral clinical isolates

- Assay optimization to characterize C. difficile biofilms

- Analysis of in vitro transcriptomics of the interactions between Nakaseomyces glabrata and Clostridioides difficile

- Antifungal susceptibility of pre-formed biofilms of Nakaseomyces glabrata human colon isolates

Elizabeth and Alec presented their research at the UTSA Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry Showcase! Their posters were entitled:

- Phenotypic characterization of Nakaseomyces glabrata clinical isolates from the human colon

- Assay optimization to characterize C. difficile biofilms

Kendall joined the Romo lab as a Master's student! We are very lucky and excited! Welcome back Kendall!

Kendall graduated with his Bachelor's in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology! Go Kendall!!!

Megan Medrano joined the Romo lab as the first PhD student! We are very lucky and excited! Welcome Megan!

Elizabeth presented her research at the Texas Branch ASM meeting in Abilene, TX. Her poster was entitled -Phenotypic characterization of Nakaseomyces glabrata clinical isolates from the human colon

Alec Solis joined the Romo lab as an undergraduate researcher! Welcome Alec!

Evan Garcia joined the Romo lab from Northwest Vista College for a semester internship! Welcome Evan!

Kendall Esparrago joined the Romo lab as an undergraduate researcher! Welcome Kendall!

Jesús published several articles!

- Antifungal therapy of Candida biofilms: Past, present and future (in the journal Biofilm)

- Pre-colonization with the fungus Candida glabrata exacerbates infection by the bacterial pathogen Clostridioides difficile in a murine model (in the journal mSphere)

Jesús gave several talks!

- UTSA's 30 to R1 event (invited). Title: Characterizing the role of Candida species during gastrointestinal infection by Clostridioides difficile

- Candida and Candidiasis meeting. Title: Characterizing the role of Candida species during gastrointestinal infection by Clostridioides difficile

- ASM Microbe: Beyond bacteria: trans-kingdom modulation of microbial pathogenesis session

(invited). Title: Characterizing the role of Candida species during gastrointestinal infection by Clostridioides difficile (Awarded the Peggy Cotter Texas ASM Travel Award!)

Fall 2022

The Romo lab received a pilot grant to study the fungus Coccidioides!

Elizabeth Negron joined the Romo lab as the first undergraduate researcher! Welcome Elizabeth!

Alvaro Ortola Tortosa joined the Romo lab as the first Master's student! Welcome Alvaro!!

Dr. Paola Zucchi joined the Romo lab as a Senior Scientist V! We are truly lucky to have you! Welcome Paola!!

Jesús gave several talks!

- Texas ASM Branch Meeting: Medical Microbiology session (invited). Title: Characterizing the role of Candida species during gastrointestinal infection by Clostridioides difficile

- South Central Medical Mycology (SCMM) meeting. Title: Characterizing transkingdom polymicrobial interactions in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract

Jesús published several articles!

- Characterization of the Effects of Candida Gastrointestinal Colonization on Clostridioides difficile Infection in a Murine Model (in the journal Springer Protocols as part of the Candida Species Methods and Protocols collection)

- A Novel Undergraduate Seminar Course Celebrating Scientific Contributions by Scientists from Historically Marginalized Communities (in the journal JMBE from ASM)