Swati Agrawal, PhD
Associate Professor
Office: 330 Jepson Science Center
Email: sagrawal@umw.edu
Phone: 540-654-1435
Dr. Agrawal is a cell and molecular biologist with a focus on infectious diseases. Her research centers on parasitic pathogens, Trypanosoma and Toxoplasma gondii, which cause serious human diseases including African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and toxoplasmosis. Her work in molecular pathogenesis employs gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR–Cas9 to identify and characterize novel determinants of pathogenicity in these parasites. Another area of Dr. Agrawal’s research investigates bacteriophages as potential solutions to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, with a focus on foodborne pathogens such as Bacillus cereus, the bioterrorism threat Bacillus anthracis, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. This work expands upon original course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) conducted through the SEA-PHAGES and SEA-GENES programs of the HHMI Science Education Alliance.
A third area of Dr. Agrawal’s scholarship centers on developing classroom interventions aimed at improving students’ visual literacy. She has created active learning tools using augmented reality to support the study of protein and nucleic acid structure and function. Her ongoing work focuses on developing accurate and compelling molecular and cellular visualizations that enhance research, learning, and scientific communication.
Courses:
- BIOL 340: Cell Biology
- BIOL 371: Microbiology
- BIOL 430: Molecular Biology of the Gene
- BIOL 443: The Biology and Biochemistry of Proteins
- BIOL 451: Seminar
- BIOL 467: Research in Molecular Parasitology