Department of Infectious Diseases
Graduate Student, Kyle Lab
Biography
Joe Dainis obtained two B.S. degrees (Biology/Biotechnology and Biochemistry) from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. He participated in undergraduate research focusing on the RNase E-mediated regulation of RNA degradation in Mycobacterium smegmatis in Dr. Scarlet Shell’s lab at WPI. He then researched Candida albicans gut fitness in the presence of the bacterial microbiome in Dr. Richard Bennett’s lab at Brown University as a research technician. Joe is currently researching the brain eating amoeba in Dr. Kyle’s lab at UGA, and is interested in understanding the virulence factors of Naegleria fowleri and possible communication of these factors through extracellular vesicles. He is also interested in the possible host factors involved during the response to amoeba infection.
Research Interests
- Virulence factors/mechanisms of virulence
- Host-pathogen interactions
- Extracellular vesicle-mediated communication
