Dana Harmon

Biography

y academic career began at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) where I earned my Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biological Sciences, program of study in Microbiology. I continued my education at Tufts University Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences (Boston, MA), where I earned my PhD in Molecular Microbiology in February, 2012. While there I studied molecular interactions between the type three secretion system tip complex of the bacterial pathogen, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, and its secreted pore-forming toxins at the membrane of infected eukaryotic cells. I went on to postdoctoral fellowships at Northeastern University, studying regulation of antibiotic tolerance in E. coli and then at New York University where I studied molecular interactions of membrane secretins in Yersinia enterocolitica. At CSUN, I spend half of my time teaching BIOL 215 lecture and lab and the other half engaged in research in the lab of Dr. Cristian Ruiz Rueda, where we are studying the role of antibiotic efflux in antibiotic resistance, as well as the role of the efflux protein complex, AcrB-TolC, in metabolism. Additionally, we are also studying the distribution of carbapenem resistance in the environment, focusing primarily on Los Angeles county, including the San Fernando Valley.

Research Interest

Medical Sciences