I am a PhD student in Texas A&M University. I am part of Dr. Skare's lab in which we study the causative agent of Lyme disease, the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. In our lab we want to understand more deeply the strategies that B. burgdorferi employs to be a successful pathogen in the host. Multiple proteins required for infectivity in the mouse model have been vastly studied but RNA molecules required for infectivity in B. burgdorferi has not been look into in much detail. Only one RNA molecule called small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) has been identified in B. burgdorferi and my research is in identifying more sRNAs important for infection.