I was originally born in Toronto, Canada but my family promptly moved and I grew up in Greenbelt, Maryland. I attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in the Science and Technology Program where I found my biology and microbiology classes to be especially interesting. During my senior year, I was an intern at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in an Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory run by Dr. Phyllis Martin. I worked on bacteria that were pathogenic to the brown marmorated stink bug. I characterized the entomopathogenic bacteria using Biolog, phenotypic assays, and 16S rRNA sequencing to distinguish them from the closely-related opportunistic pathogen, Serratia marcescens. I got to present my work to the Science and Tech program and the various PIs who were involved in our high school’s internship program. This experience catalyzed my pursuit towards a career in research as a means to help our environment.
After graduating high school and starting college at the University of Maryland-College Park as a microbiology major, I joined an Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory under Dr. Xiangwu Nou. I worked with Dr. Nancy Liu on biofilm formation of Ralstonia insidiosa when it interacted with common foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes. We found that Ralstonia acts as a bridging bacteria because it promotes the survival and growth of these foodborne pathogens in biofilms. For more details read our paper!
During my last two years at UMD, I worked in Dr. Louisa Wu’s lab studying Drosophila melanogaster innate immunity. I performed a genome wide association study using the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel (DGRP) to find genes associated with the phagocytosis of fungi in Drosophila hemocytes. Using this technique, we found SNPs in genes that were correlated to reductions in phagocytosis of fungal particles.
I received my PhD from UW-Madison, where I worked in the Currie Lab, which focuses on fungus-farming ants as a model system to answer a wide range of evolutionary and ecological questions. The main components of the ant-microbe symbiosis are pictured below. The ants have an obligate mutualism with a fungus, Leucoagaricus. The ants bring substrate (e.g. leaves, insect frass, decaying vegetation) to the fungus, which then breaks the substrate down for the ants to eat! Just like in human agriculture, the ants’ crop (the fungal mutualist) has some natural enemies. Escovopsis is a fungal pathogen that inhibits the growth of the ants’ fungal cultivar. Over millions of years, the ants have developed a way to control Escovopsis with a bacterial symbiont, Pseudonocardia, that lives on the ants’ exoskeleton. Pseudonocardia secretes secondary metabolites (i.e. antibiotics) that kill Escovopsis, which can be seen by the lack of growth surrounding the colony of Pseudonocardia in the Escovopsis picture below. As a result of all these complex relationships, we can study a wide variety of things, from antibiotic resistance to plant degradation for biofuels!
Pictures taken by Alexander Wild, Don Parsons, and Daniel Erhardt.
For my PhD, I investigated the other associations in the fungus-farming ants. Specifically, I wanted to know what other microbes are contributing to the symbiosis and how this allows for fungus-farming ants to adapt to their environment. Using culture-independent and culture-dependent methods, I explored the ability of fungus garden bacteria to detoxify plant secondary compounds that are harmful to the fungal mutualist (Francoeur et al., 2020), I investigated the role of fungus garden-associated bacteria in the genus Burkholderia as potential defensive symbionts that protect the ants against the parasitic fungus Escovopsis (Francoeur, May et al., 2021), and I identified 34 eukaryotic viruses associated with either ant or fungal tissue.
Currently, I am a postdoc in the Khadempour Lab studying the microbiome of honeypot ants. For more information on what I am researching now, click here.
Non-research related interests!
In my free time, I enjoy reading (especially scifi/fantasy), hiking, biking, eating, and playing video games.
My favorite author is Octavia Butler. I can’t really choose my favorite book, but here are the top three: Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, and Lilith’s Brood (technically three books). I recommend any book by Octavia Butler.
One of my life goals is to visit all the National Parks in the United States. So far my favorite one has to be Crater Lake, OR!
It’s really important to have a work-life balance. While I love science, I also make sure to make time for my other interests!
Contact me
Feel free to contact me about anything from specific research to general life!