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Matthew Lawrenz, Ph.D.

Matthew Lawrenz, Ph.D.

University of Louisville School of Medicine

Matthew Lawrenz, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the microbiology and immunology department and a founding member of the Center for Predictive Medicine for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biodefense at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. His laboratory studies mechanisms used by Yersinia pestis to overcome nutritional immunity and manipulate the ability of immune cells to mount effective antimicrobial responses during a plague. His research group also develops and uses preclinical models to test new antimicrobials to treat infections by multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. He also promotes the importance of a culture of biosafety and infection control through community education.

Matt received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, studying antigenic variation and immune evasion by the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi. He completed postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina, identifying and studying the regulation of virulence factors in Yersinia. He has served on the program committee for ASM Biothreats and is currently a member of the ASM Microbe Host-Microbe Biology Program Committee.