Our Team

Christina Collins joined the Hunstad lab as lead technician and laboratory manager in April 2017.

Teri Hreha joined the Hunstad lab in August 2016, having completed her thesis work in the laboratory of Blanca Barquera, PhD, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. She is investigating cellular and molecular determinants of renal abscess formation and fibrosis.

Rachel completed her undergraduate degree in Biology (Computational and Genomics Track) at Wash U in 2024 and is working on several projects in the Hunstad lab, with the goal of entering medical school in 2025.

Hunter Kuhn earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Central Florida. He is working on the activity of UPEC alpha-hemolysin in the kidney during pyelonephritis.

Rebekkah joined the Hunstad lab in 2023.  She has a BS in Biochemistry from UC-Santa Barbara and worked previously at Elemental Enzymes and St. Louis University.

Elisa Vesely completed her PhD in microbiology and molecular genetics with Michael Lorenz, PhD at UT-Houston and a postdoctoral fellowship at Dartmouth with Robb Cramer, PhD before joining the Hunstad lab in 2024.

As a postdoctoral fellow from 2017-2020, Clay Albracht worked on the effects of testosterone on the outcomes of UTI, and the host binding partner of the UPEC neutrophil-suppressing virulence factor YbcL.

Kelleigh Briden spent two years in the Hunstad lab as part of her Newborn Medicine fellowship, working on multiple projects including the evaluation of the urinary kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio as a marker for UTI.  She is now Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Newborn Medicine) at WUSM.

Elisabeth (Bis) Cole worked in the Hunstad lab from 2022-2024 during the scholarly portion of her Neonatology fellowship and is now Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Newborn Medicine) here at WUSM.

Elizabeth Danka completed her PhD (Molecular Cell Biology) thesis work in our lab in 2015, supported by an individual National Science Foundation fellowship grant. She completed an NIH IRACDA postdoctoral fellowship with Peggy Cotter, PhD, (UNC) and is a tenure-track assistant professor at St. Norbert College in Green Bay, WI.

Nicole was a Research Instructor in the Hunstad lab from 2021-24 and now is a tenure-track Assistant Professor with an independent lab studying UTIs and the vaginal microbiome.

Jessie Griffith completed her MA from Washington University in 2021.  She is currently a student in the Washington University Program in Occupational Therapy.

Meg Lau completed her thesis in Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis in June 2013. She defined the role of YbcL, a novel UPEC effector protein, in inhibiting neutrophil trafficking across the bladder epithelial surface.

During her seven years (2006-13) as a postdoctoral fellow and staff scientist in the Hunstad lab, Jen Loughman dissected interactions between uropathogenic E. coli and human neutrophils, including UPEC effects on a host immunomodulatory enzyme, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO).

Abby Mapes completed her MA from Washington University in 2013. Her work examined exotoxin expression by colonizing and infecting Staphylococcus aureus strains, as part of a collaboration with the Fritz group and Julie Bubeck Wardenburg, MD, PhD.

Lisa McLellan’s work revealed the importance of type 1 pili in pathogenesis of kidney infection and identified the first type 1 pilus receptor on renal epithelium. She completed her postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Alan Grossman at MIT and is now Assistant Professor of Biology at Purdue University – Fort Worth.

Tracy Nicholson completed her PhD thesis work in our laboratory in the spring of 2010. Her thesis detailed the role of the E. coli outer membrane protein A (OmpA) in UTI pathogenesis and described how intracellular UPEC pathogenesis provokes the innate immune response.

Patrick Olson completed his PhD thesis in the Hunstad lab in 2016 as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program. His work on a new animal model of male UTI was supported by the Infectious Diseases training grant (T32) followed by an individual NRSA fellowship (F30) from NIAID. He is now an Instructor in Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at WUSM, working in the lab of Julie Bubeck Wardenburg, MD, PhD.

Robert Potter was a postdoctoral researcher in the Hunstad lab from 2022-2024, following the completion of his clinical microbiology fellowship. He is now Assistant Professor of Pathology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

David Rosen completed his postdoctoral work in December 2017, forging new avenues in the pathogenesis of pneumonia caused by Klebsiella. He is currently Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Microbiology at WUSM and an independent NIH-funded investigator.

Luba Tothova spent six months as a Fulbright Scholar in the Hunstad lab in 2018, coming from her home country of Slovakia. She worked on sex-specific responses to therapeutic agents in UTI.