Congratulations to Kristina Delgado for receiving the third-place poster presentation award at the 2024 Graduate Student Research Day.   Kristina’s project centers around the development of a vaccine against Treponema pallidum (Tp), the causative agent of syphilis.  Under the mentorship of Drs. Justin Radolf, Kelly Hawley, and Melissa Caimano, Kristina’s research focuses on identifying surface-exposed loops of Tp ß-barrel-forming outer membrane proteins (OMPs) to inform vaccine candidate selection.  Her use of long-term in vitro  cultivation of Tp allowed for the development of a GFP⁺ Tp strain, which enables precise tracking of bacterial infections with the immune system, significantly advancing the field’s ability to study spirochete-host dynamics and identify effective vaccinogens.