Administration

Distinguished Professor Picking earned his PhD at the University of Kansas. His research interests include the use of specialized secretion systems by bacteria to communicate with mammalian cells, the mechanism of activation of the "type III secretion system" of Shigella flexneri, the general molecular mechanisms used by bacterial pathogens to cause disease in humans and how these can be targeted in vaccine development, comparative analysis of type III secrection systems from other bacterial pathogens, and protein structure-function relationships.

Qi Zheng received her master’s degree in Bioengineering at the University of Kansas. She was a research technician in the KU Protein Production Group conducting molecular cloning and protein purification before joining the Picking Lab. Her current work in the Picking lab focuses on the animal experiment and immunology assays related to the development of vaccines against pathogens utilizing the type III secretion system.​