Michelle is a native of Mentor, OH. She received her B.A. from the College of Wooster in Wooster, OH in 1994. as well as a Masters of Science degree in Biology from Case Western Reserve University in 1998. She has been involved in pulmonary research since 1994 and has had extensive experience in the use of animal models, particularly in the study of respiratory muscle function and responsiveness to phrenic nerve stimulation.
Since joining Dr. Silver’s lab in 2013, Michelle has taken primary responsibility for establishing a murine model of aerosol M. tuberculosis infection to assess the interaction between T-cell populations of the lung parenchyma and those of the airways. This work has led to a successful application for funding that will allow us to further clarify how lung airway cells accessible in humans via bronchoalveolar lavage do or do not reflect M. tuberculosis-specific immune responses elsewhere in the lung.