Evan Couser is a senior undergraduate researcher in Associate Professor Ankur Dalia's lab, where he has been studying the motors that drive extension and retraction of bacterial appendages called pili in the model organism Vibrio cholerae. This research has resulted in multiple poster presentations and a publication in the Journal of Bacteriology. In addition to conducting research in the Dalia lab, Evan has worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Experience (ASURE) Genome Engineering lab with Dr. Mike Manzella. Following graduation, Evan will be attending Northwestern University to pursue a Ph.D. through the Driskill Graduate Program in the Life Sciences.

Thesis: “Retraction ATPase motors are promiscuous among type IVa pilus systems”