Emerging Leader Award Recipient, Nichole Pedowitz, PhD
Nichole Pedowitz, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Dr. Nichole Pedowitz is a post-doctoral researcher in the Bogyo Lab at Stanford University School of Medicine. She received a dual B.S. in Chemistry and Biological Sciences from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Southern California.
At Stanford, her current research focuses on using activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) to identify active hydrolytic enzymes expressed by infectious Borrelia burgdorferi. Her ELA project plans to exploit the endogenous activity of this class of enzymes to develop covalent affinity ligands that will ultimately be conjugated to a graphene biosensor. The resulting device will be capable of diagnosing active infection for both early- and late- stage Lyme disease.
Her diagnostic project was selected for the 2022 Emerging Leader Award, a $100,000 grant.
Project Description:
Dr. Pedowtiz’s project aims to develop a new rapid diagnostic test to target active Borrelia spirochetes directly by using a peptide conjugated biosensor for the direct detection. She plans to demonstrate that peptide conjugated biosensors can detect Borrelia burgdorferi within patient samples. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a device prototype that can be used to diagnose Lyme at the point-of-care.