Dr. Bivins successfully defended her thesis, “Evolution of Antimicrobial Resistance in N. Gonorrhoeae: Balance Between Essential Function and Preventing Antibiotic Activity.” under the direction of her mentor, Dr. Rob Nicholas.
Dr. Bivins will be joining the Skiba lab at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor as a Postdoctoral Researcher to investigate GPCR signaling in reproductive biology.
Publications
Antibiotic-resistance mutations in penicillin-binding protein 2 from the ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain H041 strike a delicate balance between increasing resistance and maintaining transpeptidase activity. Marissa M. Bivins*, Joshua Tomberg*, Madeleine Bagshaw, Avinash Singh, Sandeepchowdary Bala, Christopher Davies, Robert A. Nicholas. bioRxiv 2025.11.13.688206; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.13.688206
Metagenomics combined with activity-based proteomics point to gut bacterial enzymes that reactivate mycophenolate. Simpson JB, Sekela JJ, Graboski AL, Borlandelli VB, Bivins MM, Barker NK, Sorgen AA, Mordant AL, Johnson RL, Bhatt AP, Fodor AA, Herring LE, Overkleeft H, Lee JR, Redinbo MR. Gut Microbes. 2022 Jan-Dec;14(1):2107289. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2022.2107289. PMID: 35953888 PMC9377255
CIB1 depletion with docetaxel or TRAIL enhances triple-negative breast cancer cell death. Chung AH, Leisner TM, Dardis GJ, Bivins MM, Keller AL, Parise LV. Cancer Cell Int. 2019 Feb 4;19:26. doi: 10.1186/s12935-019-0740-2. eCollection 2019. PMID: 30740034 PMC6360800
Structure, function, and inhibition of drug reactivating human gut microbial β-glucuronidases. Biernat KA, Pellock SJ, Bhatt AP, Bivins MM, Walton WG, Tran BNT, Wei L, Snider MC, Cesmat AP, Tripathy A, Erie DA, Redinbo MR. Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 29;9(1):825. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-36069-w. PMID: 30696850 PMC6351562
Structural Basis of Polyketide Synthase O-Methylation. Skiba MA*, Bivins MM*, Schultz JR, Bernard SM, Fiers WD, Dan Q, Kulkarni S, Wipf P, Gerwick WH, Sherman DH, Aldrich CC, Smith JL. ACS Chem Biol. 2018 Dec 21;13(12):3221-3228. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.8b00687. Epub 2018 Dec 3. PMID: 30489068 PMC6470024
Dr. Bivins’ bioRxiv paper (listed first) is also in submission at PLOS Pathogens. She is also third author on another paper currently in revision at ACS Biochemistry.
Honors, Awards & Highlights
Pharmacological Sciences T32 Training Program Awardee (2019)
UNC WinSPIRE Alumni Outreach Co-Chair (2020-2023)
We wish you all the best, Marissa!