Jake Fontaine

I am a Senior in Emory college, with a dual major in Biology and Chemistry.  I am currently working on isolating Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, and Enterococcus faecium, and soon Bacteroides and their phages from the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) samples (doses) used to treat enteric infections.  This project is in collaboration with Rodrigo García, Brandon Berryhill, Bruce Levin in the Department of Biology, and Dr. Michael Woodworth at the Emory Medical School.  One goal of this study is to elucidate the contribution of phages to determining the species and strains composition of the bacteria in the gut microbiome of humans.  Another goal is to determine the extent to which the success of FMTs for treating enteric infections can be attributed to the phages in FMTS, a form of phage therapy.