Allison Carey, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

Allison is a physician-scientist who received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale School of Medicine. At Yale, she completed her doctoral training with Dr. John Carlson, investigating how the  Anopheles gambiae mosquito uses its sense of smell to detect human blood-meal hosts, a key step in the malaria transmission cycle. After a Roux fellowship at the Pasteur Institute, she completed her residency training in Clinical Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She then joined Dr. Sarah Fortune’s research group at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she developed expertise in another globally significant pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Utah in January 2021. Outside the lab, Allison enjoys skiing, swimming, hiking, reading, and spending time with her dog, Charlie.

Kylie Beach

Graduate Student

Kylie is a graduate student in the Carey lab. She received her B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Washington where she took classes in microbiology, genetics, and epidemiology. Her course work led her to seek opportunities in basic science research. During and after undergrad she worked as a lab technician studying the regenerative capacity of mammalian organs, specifically, the heart and inner ear. Through her research experience she realized that she wanted to pursue a graduate degree and joined the Molecular Biology PhD program at The University of Utah. Her research aims to understand the fitness costs associated with antibiotic resistance and how we can target these weaknesses to re-sensitize antibiotic resistant Mycobacteria. In her spare time, she likes to read books (mostly non-science related), spend time with her pets, and watch movies.

Kelly Witzl

Genetic Data Analyst,  Myriad Genetics

Meet the Team

Nico Cicchetti, MS

Senior Lab Specialist

Nico is a senior lab specialist who received his B.S. and M.S. from Binghamton University. His research experience began in Dr. Ralph Garruto’s lab, where he assessed Peromyscus leucopusas a primary reservoir for Borrelia burgdorferi, and analyzed genotypes of infectious samples. Throughout his graduate training in Dr. Gretchen Mahler’s lab, he co-cultured cell lines in novelly produced microfluidic environments. After graduating, he joined Dr. Carl Nathan’s research group at Weill Cornell Medicine as a research specialist. There, his sub-group characterized differentially detectable forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in both clinical and lab strains. Since then, he has joined Dr. Allison Carey’s mycobacterial genetics research group as a senior lab specialist at the University of Utah. In his free time, Nico enjoys rock climbing.

Jordan Davis, MS

Lead Technologist, ARUP

Kimra James

Graduate Student

Kimra is a graduate student in the Carey lab. She received her B.S. in Biology from Houston Baptist University. During undergrad, she took classes in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular genetics which captured her attention and made her want to study these subjects further. After undergrad she participated in a post-baccalaureate program here at The University of Utah and felt that it would be a good fit, so applied to the Microbiology and Immunology PhD program. She studies antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacteria and hopes to understand the genetic determinants driving this phenotype. She enjoys the peacefulness of Salt Lake City, especially coming from such a big city like Houston. In her spare time, she likes to lead a sedentary life. Although she takes the occasional long walk, her hobbies include writing, 3D puzzles, painting, and cooking.

Lab Alumni

You?

We are recruiting motivated graduate students. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more about the lab!