معرفی
Charlotte Berkes is an Associate Professor of Biology at Merrimack College, holding the Laurence M. Demers Professor in Life Sciences and the Zampell Faculty Fellow title. She specializes in immunology and microbiology, focusing on antibiotic resistance and novel antimicrobial discovery. Her research integrates microbiology, biochemistry, and computational methods to combat fungal pathogens like Histoplasma capsulatum. Berkes collaborates with institutions such as the Structural Genomics Consortium at UNC and Northeastern University’s Antimicrobial Discovery Center.
Education: Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Washington and B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Penn State University. Her expertise spans cell/molecular biology, antibiotic discovery, and fungal pathogenesis.
Research emphasizes drug repurposing, utilizing pharmaceutical libraries like GlaxoSmithKline’s kinase inhibitors to identify antifungal agents. Recent work includes screening for Histoplasma inhibitors and analyzing bacteriophage genomes to understand mycobacterial diversity.
Awards include the 2017 Laurence M. Demers Professorship and the 2012 Murray Fellowship. Her teaching and mentorship involve integrating undergraduates in interdisciplinary projects, such as synthesizing anti-tuberculosis inhibitors and applying image cytometry techniques.
Collaborations with labs at Northeastern and UNC highlight her commitment to translational research. Current efforts aim to bridge computational biology with medicinal chemistry to accelerate drug discovery against infectious diseases.
