Publications

One of the main criticisms from the previous grant I submitted was that it had been a long drought since I had published anything consecutively in the primary scientific literature.

When I got out of graduate school, I ended up taking a teaching position at a very small private school. The department I was part of consisted of me, myself, and I. Not that big. With the size of the school, my department size, and trying to make ends meet through a recession, I never was able to get any research going and I ended up leaving when a new opportunity presented itself.

As I took the opportunity to relocate, I was afforded some of the benefits to get to get back in the lab and do research. My first year was sabotaged because of a lack of oversight on my part (I let some students mismanage important stock cultures). A couple of years later, my entire frozen stock collection died when the -80 died... twice. Pretty major setbacks in terms of research and trying to get things going.

During that time, though, I was able to maintain being productive by generating data during those intervals of time and presenting the data at the Virginia Academy of Science. They welcomed the science and saw enough merit to the work that they awarded small grants to fund the research. Once I was able to get on my feet stably, we began a building campaign and I convinced my department chair to purchase a DNA sequencer. With that DNA sequencer and the -80 situation temporarily resolved, we were able to sequence an entire genome for Citrobacter rodentium strain DBS100 in 2015.

2016 is already taking shape to be a promising year in terms of research. I switched institutions one more time because I wanted a fresh start and have the opportunity to pursue research in a more realistic setting that has a balance between teaching responsibilities, research, and the opportunity to properly mentor students. In my transition, my former students ended up taking residence in the lab of my collaborator and so my research has continued. We are currently working on submitting a paper that is likely going to have a high impact.

The focus of the upcoming paper is the literal connection between bacteria and the host in the intestine via quorum sensing. We didn't expect to find such an interesting connection existed, but were even more surprised to find out that this connection appears to be related to key physiological observations. I don't want to spoil the peer review process, but I think the paper is going to turn some heads and allow us to pursue some of the greatest lingering questions within microbial physiology within the intestine.

I have a renewed vigor and sense of approaching the bench as evidenced by building this web site and getting back to publishing. If everything goes according to plans, we'll have a publication in consecutive years for 3 straight years from last year, this year, and the next year. While getting funding is not always guaranteed and depends on the whims of government agendas, it seems that the Fabich lab is primed and ready to submit grants for funding that have a solid chance of funding. The funding chances are exciting because it will significantly enhance the current institution and help transform it into taking steps in building a major research program. The university is located in an underserved and minority part of the country, so the opportunities are endless.