Lab Members

Research Associate

Emily received her B.S in Biochemistry at Louisiana State University. While a student there she did research on leptin signaling with Weihong Pan, MD, PhD and Abba Kastin, MD, PhD in the Blood Brain Barrier group at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Emily went on to earn her M.S. in chemistry and PhD in Biochemistry with Ann H. West, PhD at the University of Oklahoma, studying protein signaling, enzymology and crystallography using bacterial two-component systems.

Emily then joined the lab of Robert Bourret, PhD at the University of North Carolina as a postdoctoral researcher. She studied signaling in the mechanisms of protein signaling using evolutionary biology as a guide for experiment design.

Emily joined the lab as a Research Associate in July 2025 where she will study antibiotic heteroresistance.

 Research Technician

Jordan received her B.S. in Biology at The College of William and Mary. As an undergraduate, she participated in research under Dr. Patty Zwollo where she investigated the effect of ecological factors such as climate change on immune dysregulation in prespawning sockeye salmon.

After graduating, Jordan joined the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services’ Food Microbiology Lab. She worked alongside her team to help isolate microbial outbreaks in food products across the state of Virginia.

Jordan recently joined the Choby lab as a Research Technician where she will study heteroresistance to cephalosporins in Enterobacter.

 PRISM scholar

Emily RW received her B.S. in Microbiology at North Carolina State University (NCSU - Go Pack!). She was an undergraduate researcher in the Michael Sikes PhD Laboratory investigating the potential role of upstream stimulatory factor 1 (USF1) and USF2 during DNA damage response in B cell lymphocytes induced by genotoxic therapies.

After graduating, Emily entered the world of clinical microbiology and earned her Medical Laboratory Scientist  M(ASCP)CM Microbiology Certification in 2024.

Diving into her interest in antibiotic resistance, she transitioned into a Medical Laboratory Technician II position at the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health. Her main focus was confirmation testing of carbapenemase producing organisms from healthcare settings across the state of North Carolina.

Emily joined the lab as a PRISM Scholar June 2026 cohort where she will study antibiotic heteroresistance to novel antibiotics.

Undergrad

Nicholas graduated high school from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and is currently a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing a double major in Biology and Exercise and Sport Science with a minor in Sports Medicine.

In August 2025, Nicholas joined the Choby Lab as an undergraduate student researcher, focusing on antibiotic heteroresistance.