Kate Brown

Kate was born and raised near Seattle, Washington. After working for a decade in the service industry, she returned to school as a non-traditional student and mother of two, earning her AS in Biology at Everett Community College before completing her BS in Biochemistry at Western Washington University. During her undergraduate research in Dr. Jeanine Amacher's lab, she focused on sortase enzymes, proteins that play a key role in bacterial virulence. Her work examined both substrate specificity and transmembrane domain interactions. These experiences sparked her passion for understanding how pathogens exploit molecular machinery to colonize hosts and ultimately inspired her to pursue doctoral training studying host-pathogen interactions. At Dartmouth, she is keen to build on this foundation and explore the molecular details of infection and their potential applications in developing therapeutic strategies. When not in the lab, she loves to spend time with her family (especially while beating them at video games) and enjoys both cooking and baking.