Gavin Chambers, Ph.D. Candidate
I studied at the University of California, Davis, and received a B.S. in Global Disease Biology in 2021. My projects primarily involve the spirochetal bacterium, Borreliella burgdorferi, which is the main causative agent of Lyme disease (LD) in North America and the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the United States. My leading project is focused on a main virulence factor called Outer Surface Protein C (OspC). I am utilizing genetic manipulation in an effort to discover the functional determinants of this protein. My secondary area of research is the Human Lyme Disease Vaccine Project. This vaccine uses a chimeric epitope-based recombinant protein approach targeting different OspC types, a component of Dr. Marconi's most widely used Lyme vaccine for dogs, Vanguard®crLYME. Lastly, I am studying immunological memory in response to these vaccines over the course of LD infection in mice.