Current Lab Members
Kelly Bachta, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
kelly.bachta@northwestern.edu
Kelly earned her M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Chicago studying Yersinia pathogenesis with Dr. Olaf Schneewind. She subsequently completed internal medicine training at University of Washington in Seattle and an Infectious Disease fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Following a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Alan Hauser, she opened the Bachta Laboratory in the fall of 2020. In her free time, she enjoys exploring Chicagoland with her husband and two children and is an avid Maryland Terrapins and Chicago Bears sports fan.
Ryan Kich, MS
Research Technician
ryan.kich@northwestern.edu
Ryan earned his BS/MS in marine biology from the University of California, San Diego in 2020/ 2022. During this time, he became fascinated by the world of microbiology while studying the fish microbiome and a putative novel symbiont Shewanella sp.. In 2022, he relocated to Chicago and joined the Bachta lab. Currently, his research focus involves using transposon sequencing to learn about the genetic mechanisms of Pseudomonas growth in the gallbladder. In his free time, you can find him rock climbing or enjoying Chicago’s live music scene.
Clara Luczak
Undergraduate Student
Clara is a junior at Northwestern University pursuing a degree in Neuroscience, Business Institutions, and Global Health. She first joined the Bachta lab in June 2022. Her current research focuses on colistin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. When she’s not in lab, she is a tour guide on the undergraduate campus and enjoys reading and running!
Madeleine Vessely
Graduate Student
madeleine.vessely@northwestern.edu
Madeleine is a PhD candidate in the Bachta lab researching mechanisms of colistin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Before joining the Bachta lab in 2022, she got her undergraduate degree in Biology and Anthropology at Grinnell College in Iowa. In her free time, she likes to read, hang out with her cat, Dandelion, watch movies, and go to concerts.
Former Lab Members
Hanna Bertucci, Medical student at Northwestern University
Samuel Gatesy, PhD graduate student at Rosalind Franklin University
Josh Jerisha, Undergraduate at Northwestern University
Andrea Liu, Undergraduate at Northwestern University