The Burrows Award for Womxn in Microbiology

Professor Lori Burrows (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario) is a microbiologist, Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and international expert on the structure, function, and regulation of type IV pili (T4P), ubiquitous bacterial virulence factors used for adherence, DNA uptake, biofilm formation, and twitching motility. Using the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model, her group studies its pilin repertoire (relevant to vaccine design), pilin glycosylation systems involved in bacteriophage defense, structure-function of the pilus assembly system and its integration into the cell envelope, and the complex regulation underlying T4P function. Her group also studies biofilm formation, particularly stimulation of biofilm development by sub-inhibitory antibiotic concentrations and exploitation of the stimulation phenotype to find new antimicrobials for multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. Burrows’ research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Glycomics Network, the Ontario Research Fund, and industrial support. She has published over 120 peer reviewed papers, reviews, and book chapters (h-index 49). She is currently the Associate Director (Partnerships and Outreach) of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Diseases Research and serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Bacteriology (ASM), the Journal of Biochemistry (ASBMB), and ACS Infectious Diseases. Dr. Burrows is the recipient of the CSM 2020 Murray Award for Career Achievement.