Prof. Taylor is a PhD chemist and biochemist with 19 years experience in small molecule synthesis and characterizing protein function. As a faculty member at Wesleyan, her projects have focused on the identification and characterization of enzymes that are important for the development of antimicrobials for the treatment of Gram-Negative bacterial infections (with an emphasis on bacteria that cause food-bourne illnesses including E. coli, Salmonella, and V. cholerae). Her recent work includes characterization of the biosynthesis of bacterial cell surface lipopolysaccharides, and utilization of biophysical and kinetic methods to investigate the role of protein dynamics in catalysis and inhibition of enzymes.
