Summer Bushman

Thesis Title: Zinc homeostasis in C. difficile during infection

Summer earned a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in French Studies from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. She then received a Fulbright research grant to study mucin-degrading commensals in the gut microbiome at the Luxembourg Institute of Health. Summer came to Vanderbilt University in 2023 through the IGP program. Summer joined the Skaar Lab and the Microbe-Host Interactions program in 2024, and her project focuses on how C. difficile survives zinc limitation during infection when in competition with the host and other gut commensals.

Mentor: Eric P. Skaar, Ph.D., MPH