Baylink Lab Members
Our lab started August 1st, 2022 in the department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University.
We are a community of ‘microthanotologists‘ working to develop new antibacterial medicines. Our research focuses on Helicobacter pylori, Salmonella enterica, bacterial chemotaxis, and bacterial antioxidant enzymes.
Arden Baylink, PhD
Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor
Dr. Baylink originates from a small farming and ranching community in Eastern Oregon. Early interests in nature and wildlife propelled him to pursue a college degree in biology, where he was introduced to research by Dr. Joe Corsini of Eastern Oregon University. Subsequently, Dr. Baylink earned a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics studying structures of bacterial redox enzymes with Dr. Andy Karplus of Oregon State University, and later studied bacterial pathogenesis as a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Karen Guillemin and Dr. Jim Remington at University of Oregon. Dr. Baylink advocates for the inclusion of rural individuals, 1st-generation college graduates, and those from low-income backgrounds in science and academia. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Baylink owns the drug discovery company Amethyst Antimicrobials, LLC, and seeks to use insights from research to develop new antibacterials and fight bacterial diseases.
Education
- Postdoctoral Researcher (Bacterial Pathogenesis) University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 2015-2022
- PhD (Biochemistry & Biophysics) Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 2015
- BS (Biology major, chemistry minor) Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR, 2009
Graduate Students
Kailie Franco
Kailie graduated from Oregon State University with a B.S. in both Biochemistry/Biophysics and Chemistry. Her prior research experience includes work on neuronal chemotaxis under Bo Sun of OSU Physics. In the summer of 2021, she earned the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship through the Oregon National Primate Research Center, where she worked on modeling miRNAs of Epstein-Barr virus in non-human primate models. In 2022, she joined OSU’s GCE4All Center under the direction of Ryan Mehl and Richard Cooley, where she focused on incorporating non-canonical amino acids into antibodies and split green and citrine fluorescent proteins. Kailie’s thesis work is investigating how bacterial pathogens use motility and chemotaxis to navigate redox landscapes. In her free time, Kailie enjoys spending time with her cat, Orion, crocheting and knitting, and hiking.
Siena Glenn
Siena graduated from Oregon State University with B.S. degrees in Microbiology and Psychology and is interested in how bacteria that colonize the gut can influence our physical and mental health. Her prior research experience includes work on Hepatitis B and primate infection models at OHSU in the Burwitz lab. During her time in the Burwitz lab Siena developed an in vitro model to determine the efficiency of gene therapy by fluorescence. Siena started as a doctoral student in 2022 at Washington State University and is an ARCS scholar. Siena’s thesis work is investigating how Salmonella achieves fitness advantages in the inflamed gut through chemotaxis. In Siena’s spare time she enjoys spending time with her cat, Suki, rock climbing, and playing board games.
Andrea Gómez
Andrea is an international graduate student from Guatemala. She graduated from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) with BSc. degrees in Biochemistry and Microbiology in 2016. In 2017 she earned the GuateFuturo scholarship. That allowed her to pursue an MSc in Biomedicine at Lancaster University (UK) studying candidate genes involved in aging hallmarks using the Drosophila model organism at Dr. David Clancy’s fly lab. She has lab experience in multiple fields like forensics, reproductive medicine, and microbiology. She was a professor at UVG for 4 years and worked as a research assistant at the Microbiology Lab for UVG’s Center of Health Studies. Since 2020, she has been a volunteer at the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) in the Guatemala Chapter to promote STEM education to girls. Andrea started as a doctoral student at Washington State University in 2022 and is an NIH Biotech Training Program trainee. Andrea’s thesis work is focused on developing new antibacterial medicines using structure-based drug discovery approaches. During her spare time, Andrea enjoys baking, crocheting, and reading.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Jyoti Kashyap
Jyoti Kashyap received her Ph.D. degree in microbiology from Miami University, Oxford, OH in 2022 under the guidance of Dr. D.J. Ferguson. During her Ph.D. studies, she focused on gut microbiota metabolism and its implications for human health. She studied choline metabolism in a human gut bacterium and an environmental methanogen. Leveraging powerful analytical chemistry techniques, like nuclear magnetic resonance and proteomics, she was able to characterize the pathways and end products involved in choline metabolism. Her Ph.D. resulted in the discovery of a potential probiotic and a new activity for an enzyme involved in quaternary amine utilization. In her current research at Baylink lab, she will focus on illuminating the infection strategies of the gut pathogen Helicobacter pylori in vivo with the help of quantitative 3D confocal microscopy. Jyoti enjoys hiking, watching movies, knitting, and cooking in her spare time. She makes a mean watermelon Mojito and excellent Indian food.
Undergraduate Students
Samira Diaz De Leon
Samira is working toward a B.S. from Washington State University in Biochemistry, with an emphasis in Molecular Biology, and is interested in the field of infectious disease research. In the future, she hopes to pursue a graduate degree in biomedical sciences. Samira is supporting infectious disease research in the Baylink lab, including culturing of bacterial pathogens and protein crystallography. During the summer of 2023, she will attend the RNA Biosciences Initiative Internship at University of Colorado Anshutz Medical Campus. In May 2023, Samira was selected as a MARC scholar. In her free time, Samira enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, swimming, gardening, and playing basketball.
Brendan Richardson
Brendan is working towards a B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular biology at WSU. He has developed a passion for chemistry, and envisions a career in the field of chemical engineering, and is interested in developing therapeutics to treat rare types of cancers such as ALK-Positive Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Brendan loves to travel and has been to 10 countries in Europe, South America, North America. He has a passion for fitness, played football in high school, works out at the WSU URec, and plays basketball with friends. He also has a rescue dog named Toby that keeps him busy!
Lab pets
