By Torie Doll, University Communications and Marketing
Claudia Zamora Cisnero was born in Cuba and moved to the United States as a teenager. She said she 鈥渇ell in love with science鈥 the first time she looked through a microscope, but her path to research was not direct.
After earning her bachelor's degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of South Florida, Zamora Cisnero became a middle school science teacher. Then, a classroom conversation changed her trajectory. When she told her students that scientists were working to cure diseases, one replied, 鈥淵ou should be one of those people.鈥
She took that suggestion to heart and applied to graduate school at USF. After starting as a non-thesis master鈥檚 student, she found what she describes as 鈥渁lmost like a calling鈥 while volunteering in the laboratory of Lindsey 鈥淟es鈥 Shaw, a professor of molecular biosciences.
For Shaw, the fight against drug-resistant bacteria is personal. Growing up in England, he developed a chronic staph infection after hip surgery as a teenager. The infection, caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, led to years of hospitalizations.
鈥淏ugs, drugs and hospitals were kind of my life,鈥 Shaw said.
The experience ignited a lifelong fascination with bacteria that has driven his academic path. Today, Shaw leads research on drug-resistant pathogens and works with clinicians to better understand how bacteria cause disease and how to treat them. His work anchors the USF Center for Antimicrobial Resistance, launched with seed funding from the university鈥檚 CREATE award to advance collaborative strategies to curb the spread of resistant infections.
Under Shaw鈥檚 mentorship, Zamora Cisnero advanced from volunteer to master鈥檚 researcher and now doctoral candidate. Shaw said her passion and curiosity were evident from the start and all she needed was to be given a chance.
"Dr. Shaw believed in me just like my students did," Zamora Cisnero said. "My wonderful group of lab mates also believed in me, and they have helped me come this far."
Zamora Cisnero wants to have her own lab one day and to focus her research on infectious diseases that affect expectant mothers.