PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Petros C. Karakousis, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Dr. Petros Karakousis is a Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has a joint appointment in International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He graduated summa cum laude from the Johns Hopkins University in 1994 and received a Distinguished Alumni Scholarship to study at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society in 1998. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine in 2001 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. After completing fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he joined the Department of Medicine faculty in 2005. He is the Director of the Johns Hopkins University TB Research Advancement Center (TRAC).
LAB MANAGER
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Hannah Annunziata, B.S.
Sr. Laboratory Coordinator
I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from Towson University in 2021. My ongoing research centers on the discovery of potential therapeutic targets that can counteract bacterial persistence in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The goal is to enhance the susceptibility of persistent or tolerant bacteria to antibiotics, ultimately shortening the duration of treatment.
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Hobbies: Yoga, Traveling, Camping
JUNIOR FACULTY
Styliani Karanika, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
I obtained my medical degree from the University of Athens, Medical School in July 2011. I served as a rural physician and resident in Greece until August 2013 when I joined MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas as a post-doctoral research fellow. There, I worked on projects focused mainly on DNA damage response, activation of immune signaling and mechanisms of apoptosis in in-vitro and in-vivo models. Then, I moved to Brown University in March 2015 where I ran epidemiologic studies in C. difficile, MRSA, ESBL gram negative bacteria. I was also involved in clinical trials investigating novel diagnostic nanotechnology-based molecular assays for the diagnosis of bacteremia and candidemia. Subsequently, I completed my Internal Medicine residency training at Boston University Medical Center in June 2019 and then I joined fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Research interest: TB vaccine, HIV, SARS-CoV-2, immunology
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Hobbies: Piano, Traveling, Cooking
POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS
Kathirvel Maruthai, PhD
Post Doc Fellow
I completed my master's degree in biotechnology at Bharathidasan University, Trichy in 2010. Following that, I obtained my doctorate in 2020 at JIPMER, Puducherry in which I investigated the influence of DNA methylation and micro-RNA regulation on the host immune response in children with active-TB disease. Subsequently, I moved to the University of Georgia, Athens, GA, for my initial postdoctoral position where I focused on host-directed therapeutic targets by exploring the immune metabolism of primary human macrophages infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Presently, as a postdoc fellow at JHU, my research focuses on host-directed therapy, aiming to enhance the host immune system's effectiveness in combating TB.
In my leisure time, I derive the most pleasure from spending time with my family, indulging in reading, and traveling.
Farah Shamma, Ph.D.
Post Doc Fellow
I earned my Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Biotechnology at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. I graduated with a Ph.D. in Quantitative Biology from the University of Texas at Arlington. I have joined the Karakousis Lab as a post-doctoral fellow to further my interest in studying Mycobacterial antibiotic tolerance to identify potential therapeutic targets for better Mycobacterial infection management. I taught at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, before my doctoral and postdoctoral programs.
My research so far has focused on understanding bacterial physiology in response to environmental signals and how that might impact bacterial response to drugs. My undergrad research explored mechanisms of heavy metal stress tolerance in soil bacteria and my Master’s Thesis work looked into the environmental signal-mediated regulation of virulence in Salmonella Typhi, with a view to finding a novel therapeutic target. My doctoral and postdoctoral work aims at examining the mechanisms of antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacteria, with the end goal of discovering potential drug targets for a faster Mycobacterial infection treatment. In my doctoral research, I investigated how the post-translational regulation of Mycobacterial cell wall enzymes and regulators mediates antibiotic tolerance. My post-doctoral research focuses on revealing mechanisms of antibiotic tolerance in the stress response like the stringent response to determine potential treatment targets.
I like to: read, think, sleep, and spend time with my family and friends.
PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS
Shweta Pillai, B.S.
I received my Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University at Buffalo in May 2024. During my undergraduate studies, I conducted research characterizing the differences in the human cardiac and adipose tissue secretome to investigate how adipose tissue influences cardiac function.
Currently, I am an ScM student in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. My research focuses on testing host-directed agents against Mycobacterium avium-infected human macrophages, with the goal of reducing treatment time and uncovering the mechanisms of drug action.
Hobbies: Baking, traveling, and going out with my cat.
Anoushka Chinmayi, B.Tech
I graduated with a B.Tech in Biotechnology from PES University, India in 2023. My undergraduate research focused on antibiotic resistance in skin infections casued by Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. During my internships at the Indian Institute of Science and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I explored immune responses across various cancers using genomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), as well as the mechanisms of cancer initiation, specifically focusing on gastrointestinal cancers. Currently, I am in the MS Biotechnology program at the Johns Hopkins University. My research focuses on the genomic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) antibiotic tolerance and host responses to treatment. My interests lie at the intersection of genomics and immunology to understand the molecular mechanisms of disease.
Hobbies: Playing the guitar, Singing, Running
Carina Danchik, B.S.
After receiving my Bachelor of Science in Biology from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2017, I spent a year and a half as a post-baccalaureate research fellow at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. I am now a PhD candidate in the Cellular and Molecular Medicine program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. My current research focuses on elucidating molecular mechanisms of antibiotic tolerance in M. tuberculosis to identify new targets for drug discovery, a strategy which could decrease treatment times by sensitizing the bacteria to antibiotics and allowing for more rapid killing.
Hobbies: Baking, Reading, Gardening
Darla Quijada, B.S.
I graduated with a B.S in Animal and Veterinary Sciences from the University of Vermont in 2017. Afterwards, I was a research assistant at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA evaluating the efficacy of HIV and Zika vaccines in clinical trials.
In 2019, I was a BBS PREP student at Yale University in the Ho lab investigating cellular and viral proteins in a HIV-1 infection. Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in the Cellular and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program and my thesis project focuses on host-pathogen interactions relating to mitochondrial dysfunction and stress in mycobacterium infections.
Hobbies: Zumba, pottery, cooking and watching good TV shows (just to list a few- Insecure, Stranger Things, Ted Lasso, Mandalorian and many more)
Elisa Salcido-Rouse, B.S., B.A.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Biomedical Sciences Emphasis as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2023. There, I worked as a research assistant studying fungal pathogens and drug resistance across different species. I am now a Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) scholar through the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where my research focuses on characterizing genes involved in antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium.
Hobbies: playing violin, reading classical music history, running, learning languages, playing video games
Tianyin Wang, B.S
I received my Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from University of California, Davis in 2021. I’m now an ScM student in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. My current project is focused on transcriptomic analysis of different vaccination routes with the MIP-3α/ RelMtb fusion vaccine targeting dendritic cells.
My hobbies include urban dance and K-pop dance, playing the piano and the drum set, and watching anime.