Honors Microbiology major offered research Fulbright

Spring ‘25 grad Sayumi Ranasinghe has been offered a Fulbright award to spend the coming academic year conducting research at the University of Veterinary Medicine at Hannover, Germany. She completed a Microbiology major with minors in Pharmacology and German at the University of Minnesota. In her freshman year, she began investigating the genetics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, with Professor Anna Tischler. She recently completed her Honors thesis on research she carried out in the Tischler lab determining the roles of cytosolic chaperones in protein substrate recognition and secretion in M. tuberculosis. In addition to her research experience on campus, Sayumi spent the summer of 2024 in Hannover with the German Academic Exchange RISE program studying the infectious bursal disease virus and working with Dr. Professor Silke Rautenschlein, who will oversee her Fulbright project. After her year in Germany, Sayumi plans to complete a PhD to prepare for a career of research in zoonotic diseases.