Biography

Education: UT-Austin, BS in Biochem and Microbio
Year in Program: M3
Thesis Mentor: Drs. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez and Kevin Theis

Conferences Attended:

ASRI 2022

Research Interests

The microbiome and host-response in relation to human physiology and disease

Honors and Awards

• SMBE 2017 Undergraduate Travel and Mentoring Award
• Spring 2016 Undergraduate Research Fellowship Award
   

Publications

1. Shaffer, Z., Romero, R., Tarca, A.L., Galaz, J., Arenas-Hernandez, M., Gudicha, D.W., Chaiworapongsa, T., Jung, E., Suksai, M., Gotsch, F., Theis, K.R., Gomez-Lopez, N. The vaginal immunoproteome for the prediction of spontaneous preterm birth. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4259790. Preprint
2. Theis, K.R., Winters, A.D., Romero, R., Alhousseini, A., Greenberg, J.M., Panzer, J., Galaz, J., Pacora, P., Shaffer, Z., Jung, E., Gomez-Lopez, N. Bacterial profiles of the human placenta from term and preterm deliveries. doi: 10.1101/2022.06.21.497119. Preprint
3. Angoa-Pérez M, Zagorac B, Francescutti DM, Shaffer ZD, Theis KR, Kuhn DM. Cocaine hydrochloride, cocaine methiodide and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) cause distinct alterations in the structure and composition of the gut microbiota. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):13754.
4. Romero R, Theis KR, Gomez-Lopez N, Winters AD, Panzer JJ, Lin H, et al. The Vaginal Microbiota of Pregnant Women Varies with Gestational Age, Maternal Age, and Parity. Microbiol Spectr. 2023;11(4):e0342922.
5. Greenberg, J.M., Romero, R., Winters, A.D., Galaz, J., Garcia-Flores, V., Arenas-Hernandez, M., Panzer, J., Shaffer, Z., Kracht, D.J., Gomez-Lopez, N., and Theis, K.R. (2022). Microbiota of the Pregnant Mouse: Characterization of the Bacterial Communities in the Oral Cavity, Lung, Intestine, and Vagina through Culture and DNA Sequencing. Microbiol Spectr 10, e0128622. 10.1128/spectrum.01286-22.
6. Gomez-Lopez, N., Galaz, J., Miller, D., Farias-Jofre, M., Liu, Z., Arenas-Hernandez, M., Garcia-Flores, V., Shaffer, Z., Greenberg, J.M., Theis, K.R., and Romero, R. (2022). The immunobiology of preterm labor and birth: intra-amniotic inflammation or breakdown of maternal-fetal homeostasis. Reproduction 164, R11-r45. 10.1530/rep-22-0046.
7. Farias-Jofre, M., Romero, R., Galaz, J., Xu, Y., Tao, L., Demery-Poulos, C., Arenas-Hernandez, M., Bhatti, G., Liu, Z., Kawahara, N., et al. (2022). Pregnancy tailors endotoxin-induced monocyte and neutrophil responses in the maternal circulation. Inflamm Res 71, 653-668. 10.1007/s00011-022-01569-z.
8. Winters, A.D., Romero, R., Greenberg, J.M., Galaz, J., Shaffer, Z., Garcia-Flores, V., Kracht, D.J., Gomez-Lopez, N., and Theis, K.R. (2022). Does the Amniotic Fluid of Mice Contain a Viable Microbiota? Front Immunol 13, 820366. 10.3389/fimmu.2022.820366.

Post-baccalaureate research:

1. Damico, M.E., Rueppell, O., Shaffer, Z., Han, B., and Raymann, K. (2021). High royal jelly production does not impact the gut microbiome of honey bees. Anim Microbiome 3, 60. 10.1186/s42523-021-00124-1.

Undergraduate research:

1. Raymann, K., Coon, K.L., Shaffer, Z., Salisbury, S., and Moran, N.A. (2018). Pathogenicity of Serratia marcescens Strains in Honey Bees. mBio 9. 10.1128/mBio.01649-18.
2. Raymann, K., Shaffer, Z., and Moran, N.A. (2017). Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees. PLoS Biol 15, e2001861. 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001861.

 

Other Information

Clinical interests: OBGYN, Pathology, or IM/EM

 

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