Chief, Biology of Spirochetes Unit
Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigator
NIH Distinguished Scholar
Education:
Ph.D., 2017, Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, FL
B.S., 2012, Biology, Summa Cum Laude, West Virginia Wesleyan College, WV
Biography
Dr. Philip Adams earned his undergraduate degree in biology at West Virginia Wesleyan College in 2012, where he first studied B. burgdorferi cell biology. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Central Florida, College of Medicine, Division of Immunity and Pathogenesis in 2017. His dissertation work identified and characterized murine infection-relevant RNAs in Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease.
In 2017, Dr. Adams joined NIH as a postdoctoral fellow at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He was accepted into the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Associate Training program in 2019. His postdoctoral work characterized novel regulatory RNAs and RNA-binding proteins in the model bacterium, Escherichia coli.
In 2020, Dr. Adams received an Independent Research Scholar Award from NIH, allowing him to form the Group on Gene Regulation in Bacterial Pathogens, an autonomous NIH research group focused on RNA-mediated gene regulation in B. burgdorferi. In 2024, Dr. Adams arrived at the Laboratory of Bacteriology within NIAID to start the Biology of Spirochetes Unit (BOSU).
Dr. Adams is currently a Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigator, NIH Distinguished Scholar, and Chief of the NIAID Biology of Spirochetes Unit.