Shea Joins USA To Study UTIs

Dr. Allyson E. Shea has joined the University of South Alabama’s (USA) Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine, where she will further her research into the pathogens associated with urinary tract infections (UTIs), one of the most common types of infections worldwide. “Half of all women will have at least one UTI by the age of 35,” said Shea, an assistant professor in the department of microbiology and immunology. “Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is becoming a problem, so we have to find new strategies for tackling UTIs.” Shea said she was attracted to the college by the department’s capability to conduct single-cell sorting and gene expression analyses and the expertise in that field held by researcher Dr. Robert A. Barrington, who has more than 20 years of experience in flow cytometry. Shea earned her doctoral degree in biomedical sciences at the University of Florida, then completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan under Dr. Harry Mobley, an expert in gram-negative bacterial pathogenesis research.