Sloan Siegrist

M. Sloan Siegrist is an Associate Department Head of Research and Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Microbiology. Her work focuses on bacterial cell wall biology, particularly in intracellular pathogens like Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes.

Research Interests: Siegrist investigates how pathogens adapt their cell walls to host environments and develops tools to engineer these structures for biomedical applications. Key areas include:

• Cell wall synthesis and remodeling in mycobacteria
• Host-pathogen interactions via cell wall components
• Chemical biology approaches for studying cell envelope dynamics
• Antibiotic permeation and resistance mechanisms

Article Trends: Her recent publications emphasize M. tuberculosis cell wall interactions with host immune systems (e.g., SNARE inhibition), mycomembrane heterogeneity in antibiotic resistance, and chemical engineering of bacterial surfaces for drug delivery or diagnostics. Techniques include metabolic labeling, click chemistry, and biophysical analyses.

Education: Siegrist earned her PhD at the Harvard School of Public Health, specializing in microbial pathogenesis and cell wall biology.