Dr. Elizabeth A. Shank is a molecular microbiologist whose lab studies the chemical and physical interactions of bacteria and fungi with each other and with their plant and human hosts. They use microbiology, fluorescence imaging, mass spectrometry and computational approaches to answer outstanding questions in microbial ecology and apply this knowledge to environmental and clinical challenges.

The research in her lab spans environmental, mechanistic and clinical questions. (How do microbes degrade carbon in the soil? How does methylation impact bacterial gene expression? Can we discover new antibiotics through bacterial coculture?) She started her laboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013 and relocated to the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in 2020, where she is an associate professor in the Department of Systems Biology.

In addition to research, she is passionate about enhancing both her own and her colleagues' mentoring and advising capabilities, improving graduate training and increasing diversity at all levels of science.