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School of Arts, Sciences & Business

Education

• Ph.D., Microbiology and Molecular Genetics University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
• B.A. Biology and Chemistry, Wesleyan College

Certifications

Tiny Earth Instructor Trainer

DataCamp

• Introduction to R
• Understanding Data Science
• Understanding Data Visualization

Biography

Dr. Kerr is currently a Visiting Faculty member working on bioinformatics at the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)-High Impact Virtual Environment (HIVE) group. Her work is focused on validating a new HIVE antibiotic resistance detection pipeline.  She is also a Visiting Scientist at the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory (ABBL) as part of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Her work is centered on bioinformatics analysis within the Poultry Sciences Group.

She is a Co-PI for the C-MOOR Science Program () that supports the increased accessibility to undergraduate bioinformatics curriculum using course based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs).

To learn more about Dr. Kerr’s work, please visit her website at  

Research Interests

My research scholarship focuses primarily on a growing need to create and characterize new, non-invasive antimicrobial strategies and design practices that reduce antimicrobial resistance.

My research is unified under a core set of aims: 1) address the need for new and minimally invasive approaches to manage microbial infections 2) characterize new non-invasive products (including antibiotics) for their antimicrobial properties 3) assess prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes and 4) to determine the link between observed disruptions seen in microbiome communities during disruption events.

Despite advances in prevention and treatment, microbial infections continue to disproportionately affect low income, children, the working poor, and the elderly, significantly impacting quality of life. These projects aim to address various worldwide health crises including: access to treatment and antibiotic resistance. This work is possible due to collaboration with local, national, and international science partners.

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

• American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
• National Science Teaching Association (NTSA)
• Society for Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER)

Publications and Presentations

Selected Publications:

Pomeroy AE, Bixler A, Chen SH, Kerr JE, Levine TD and Ryder EF. “R” U ready?: a case study using R to analyze changes in gene expression during evolution. Front. Educ. 2024; 9:1379910. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1379910

Miller S, Kerr JE, Handelsman J. AJEDI in Science: Leveraging Instructor Communities to Create Antiracist Curricula. J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2022 Apr 11;23(1):e00248-21. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00248-21. PMID: 35496699; PMCID: PMC9053041.

Kerr JE, Abramian JR, Dao DH, Rigney TW, Fritz J, Pham T, Gay I, Parthasarathy K, Wang BY, Zhang W, Tribble GD. Genetic exchange of fimbrial alleles exemplifies the adaptive virulence strategy of Porphyromonas gingivalis. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 13;9(3):e91696. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091696. PMID: 24626479; PMCID: PMC3953592.

Tribble GD, Kerr JE, Wang BY. Genetic diversity in the oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis: molecular mechanisms and biological consequences. Future Microbiol. 2013 May;8(5):607-20. doi: 10.2217/fmb.13.30. PMID: 23642116; PMCID: PMC3808122.

Tribble GD, Rigney TW, Dao DH, Wong CT, Kerr JE, Taylor BE, Pacha S, Kaplan HB. 2012. Natural competence is a major mechanism for horizontal DNA transfer in the oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. MBio. 2012 Jan 31;3(1).

Tribble GD, Rigney TW, Dao DH, Wong CT, Kerr JE, Taylor BE, Pacha S, Kaplan HB. Natural competence is a major mechanism for horizontal DNA transfer in the oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. mBio. 2012 Jan 31;3(1):e00231-11. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00231-11. PMID: 22294679; PMCID: PMC3268665..   

Awards

• BEIC Fellow 2023-2024
• Leading Women Award Daily Record Aug 2022
• American Society for Microbiology Maryland Board Member Jun 2022-Present
• President IADR Microbiology & Immunology Group International Association for Dental Research 2022
• HITS Case-Study Fellow National Science Foundation 2021-2023
• President of American Society for Microbiology Maryland Branch ASM Maryland Branch 2021