7mÊÓƵ

Email

rachel.lahowetz@bcm.edu

Positions

Graduate Student

Molecular Virology and Microbiology
7mÊÓƵ

Addresses

One Baylor Plaza (Lab)

Houston, TX 77030
United States

Education

BS from Texas Tech University

05/2021 - Lubbock, Texas United States

Microbiology

BA from Texas Tech University

05/2021 - Lubbock, Texas United States

Honors & Awards

2nd Place Poster

2024 MVM Department Retreat

2022 Professor John J Trentin Scholarship Award

BCM GSBS

Professional Interests

• Phage therapy
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Evolution
• Phage

Projects

Determine how phage-antibiotic co-administration alters bacterial evolution

Phage therapy – the use of phage to treat bacterial infections – is a promising approach to combat antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria can evolve resistance to phage, but this frequently incurs a fitness cost and can result in re-sensitization to antibiotics. However, it is not well understood if and how antibiotics, when co-administered with phage, alter bacterial evolution of resistance. To determine this, I am evolving bacteria under a wide range of phage-antibiotic pressures, using Whole Genome Sequencing to identify resistance mutations, and investigating effects of these mutations on bacterial fitness and virulence. This will aid in the development of phage cocktails that can anticipate and preclude mechanisms of resistance, improving feasibility of phage therapy on a larger scale.