Jen Amstutz

Graduate Student, Division of Biological Sciences

I am in my second year in Dr. Brown’s lab studying cell wall cross-linking enzymes in the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. There are 14 of these enzymes known as L,D-transpeptidases that make up about 30% of the total cell wall compared to other common bacteria where there is only 6 and they compose about 10% of the cell wall. My work is to understand the significance and function of this increase in number and function in A. tumefaciens. In the future I wish to continue working with bacteria in a teaching capacity at the collegiate level and to continue to do outreach.

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