David Gafford Gaby

Biography

Undergraduate
Texas A&M University

Undergraduate Degree
BS, Biology

Lab
Dr. Jenny Hyde

Research Interests
I am interested in investigating the role of inner membrane transport and pathogen nutritional uptake in the pathogenesis of Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi, including in aspects of nutritional virulence, host innate immune evasion, and establishing a niche in both the mammalian and tick phases of infection.

What excites you about joining Texas A&M School of Medicine for your PhD studies?
I am very excited to be able to start doing meaningful research in a field I am very passionate about. I am also happy to be joining the collaborative research environment at the School of Medicine.

If you could meet any scientist throughout history, who would you want to meet and why?
This is a tough one. I would probably like to meet Félix d’Hérelle. His ideas about phage therapy were way ahead of their time, and it’s very impressive that he made significant contributions to microbiology almost entirely self-taught, with only a high school degree.

Tell us something you are passionate about apart from research.
Apart from research, I’m really passionate about learning languages! I studied Mandarin Chinese as an undergraduate and hope to keep learning more on my own in my free time.