Position Title

MD/PhD student

Joint Appointments

 MD/PhD Program

Areas of Interest

Host Microbiome Interactions in Pregnancy: an Immunobiological Perspective (dissertation title)

Narrative Bio

 Zach defended his dissertation on February 19, 2024 and is in the process of returning to medical school to complete his clerkships years. 
Anticipated date of degree(s): 2026

Publications

1. Angoa-Pérez M, Zagorac B, Francescutti DM, Shaffer ZD, Theis KR, Kuhn DM. Cocaine hydrochloride, cocaine methiodide and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) cause distinct alterations in the structure and composition of the gut microbiota. Sci Rep. 2023 Aug 23;13(1):13754. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-40892-1. PMID: 37612353
2. Romero R, Theis KR, Gomez-Lopez N, Winters AD, Panzer JJ, Lin H, Galaz J, Greenberg JM, Shaffer Z, Kracht DJ, Chaiworapongsa T, Jung E, Gotsch F, Ravel J, Peddada SD, Tarca AL. The Vaginal Microbiota of Pregnant Women Varies with Gestational Age, Maternal Age, and Parity. Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Jul 24:e0342922. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.03429-22. PMID: 37486223
3. Greenberg JM, Romero R, Winters AD, Galaz J, Garcia-Flores V, Arenas-Hernandez M, Panzer J, Shaffer Z, Kracht DJ, Gomez-Lopez N, Theis KR. Microbiota of the Pregnant Mouse: Characterization of the Bacterial Communities in the Oral Cavity, Lung, Intestine, and Vagina through Culture and DNA Sequencing. Microbiol Spectr. 2022 Aug 31;10(4):e0128622. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01286-22. PMID: 35916526
4. Gomez-Lopez N, Galaz J, Miller D, Farias-Jofre M, Liu Z, Arenas-Hernandez M, Garcia-Flores V, Shaffer Z, Greenberg JM, Theis KR, Romero R. The immunobiology of preterm labor and birth: intra-amniotic inflammation or breakdown of maternal-fetal homeostasis. Reproduction. 2022 Jun 20;164(2):R11-R45. doi: 10.1530/REP-22-0046. PMID: 35559791
5. Farias-Jofre M, Romero R, Galaz J, Xu Y, Tao L, Demery-Poulos C, Arenas-Hernandez M, Bhatti G, Liu Z, Kawahara N, Kanninen T, Shaffer Z, Chaiworapongsa T, Theis KR, Tarca AL, Gomez-Lopez N. Pregnancy tailors endotoxin-induced monocyte and neutrophil responses in the maternal circulation. Inflamm Res. 2022 Apr 21:1-16. doi: 10.1007/s00011-022-01569-z. PMID: 35445873
6. Winters AD, Romero R, Greenberg JM, Galaz J, Shaffer ZD, Garcia-Flores V, Kracht DJ, Gomez-Lopez N, Theis KR. Does the Amniotic Fluid of Mice Contain a Viable Microbiota? Front Immunol. 2022 Feb 28;13:820366. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.820366. PMID: 35296083
7. Damico ME, Rueppell O, Shaffer Z, Han B, Raymann K. High royal jelly production does not impact the gut microbiome of honey bees. Anim Microbiome. 2021 Sep 13;3(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s42523-021-00124-1. PMID: 34517918
8. Raymann K, Coon KL, Shaffer Z, Salisbury S, Moran NA. Correction for Raymann et al., "Pathogenicity of Serratia marcescens Strains in Honey bees". mBio. 2019 Feb 5;10(1):e02855-18. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02855-18. PMID: 30723134
9. Raymann K, Coon KL, Shaffer Z, Salisbury S, Moran NA. Pathogenicity of Serratia marcescens Strains in Honey Bees. mBio. 2018 Oct 9;9(5):e01649-18. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01649-18. PMID: 30301854
10. Raymann K, Shaffer Z, Moran NA. Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees. PLoS Biol. 2017 Mar 14;15(3):e2001861. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001861. eCollection 2017 Mar. PMID: 28291793

Education

 2017 - BS/BS in Biochemistry and Biology, University of Texas Austin

Advisor

Dr. Kevin Theis and Dr. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez

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