Taylor Blackburn

Taylor graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Fall 2020 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. As an undergrad, she did research in Dr. Amit Reddi's lab aimed at elucidating mechanisms of heme acquisition. Post-graduation, she worked in Dr. Pamela Peralta-Yahya's lab on a project to develop novel GPCR-based chemical sensors. Taylor is currently a chemistry Ph.D. candidate at Emory University in Dr. Christine Dunham's lab. She is working to biochemically and structurally characterize mechanisms of bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems and how these genetic modules contribute to bacterial persistence, which is shown to be a precursor and promoter of antibiotic resistance. In alliance with the mission of ARTDTP, the long-term goal of this work is to identify novel antimicrobial targets that precede and circumvent the development of resistance.