🧪 We've published our first paper on Gardnerella. There is extensive phase variation in all the Gardnerella species we examined. It effects surface proteins, toxin production, and human cervix infection ex vivo. doi.org/10.1128/msph...

The phase variation work was a collaboration with Kim Jefferson's lab at VCU and Caitlin Pepperell's lab @csp.bsky.social here at UW. Erin Garcia in the Jefferson lab and Amy Klimowicz in my lab discovered the phase varriation at the same time, and we decided to work and publish together.