{"id":2842,"date":"2024-06-11T12:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T16:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/?post_type=ud_entry&#038;p=2842"},"modified":"2025-08-08T15:21:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T19:21:37","slug":"rita-tamayo-phd","status":"publish","type":"ud_entry","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/people\/rita-tamayo-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Rita Tamayo, PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The goal of my laboratory\u2019s research is to determine how <em>Clostridioides difficile<\/em> colonizes the mammalian intestine, regulates the production of virulence factors, and transmits between hosts. Our current focus is on the mechanisms employed by <em>C. difficile<\/em> to generate a phenotypically heterogeneous population that is better able to adapt to environmental stresses. We are particularly interested in the contributions of intracellular signaling molecules (c-di-GMP, c-di-AMP) and phase variation to phenotypic heterogeneity, and how these mechanisms influence <em>C. difficile<\/em> virulence and disease outcome. Through our research, trainees in the lab gain expertise in bacterial genetics, molecular biology, second messenger signaling, protein biochemistry, animal models of disease, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2843,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"ud_division":[19,21],"class_list":["post-2842","ud_entry","type-ud_entry","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ud_division-microbial-interactions","ud_division-primary","odd"],"acf":[],"ud_entry_custom_fields":{"ud_last_name":"Tamayo","ud_first_name":"Rita","ud_gallery_summary":"","ud_telephone":false,"ud_email":"rtamayo@med.unc.edu","ud_positions":[{"ud_title":"Professor"}],"ud_options":[],"ud_sort_order":""},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1414\/2024\/06\/RTamayo-high-portrait.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1414\/2024\/06\/RTamayo-high-portrait-243x300.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1414\/2024\/06\/RTamayo-high-portrait-768x949.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1414\/2024\/06\/RTamayo-high-portrait-829x1024.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1414\/2024\/06\/RTamayo-high-portrait-150x150.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ud_entry\/2842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ud_entry"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ud_entry"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ud_division","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/microimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ud_division?post=2842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}