Suzan Rooijakkers, PhD Postgraduate Researcher

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Suzan Rooijakkers comes to us from the Netherlands and the Department of Medical Microbiology at University Medical Center Utrecht.  She is conducting advanced postdoctoral training supported by a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) long term fellowship.  Suzan received her Master's in Biomedical Sciences from Radboud University Nijmegen majoring in Biology and Pharmacology.  She then completed her Ph.D. entitled "Innate Immune Evasion by Staphylococci" at Utrecht.  Under the supervision of Prof. Jos van Strijp, she focused on novel staphylococcal virulence factors that specifically target the host complement system - for example, the staphylococcal complement inhibitor (SCIN) that blocks the C3 convertase.  Suzan then extended these studies as a postdoctoral fellow to structure-function analyses and examination of the therapeutic potential of these staphylococcal proteins as anti-inflammatory agents.

Suzan is pictured at left visiting the Institut Pasteur and posing beside a photo of the Belgian immunologist Jules Bordet, the discoverer of complement.  Here at UCSD, Suzan's project continue to focus on bacterial interactions with the complement system, with a focus on novel bacterial genetic approaches, small animal models, and analysis of complement evasion by streptococcal species.