Abbey joined the Scharf lab as an undergrad in May of 2022, pursuing a project on Agrobacterium tumefaciens str. C58 and its relationship with the flagellatrophic bacteriophage Milano. Abbey earned her Bsc. in Microbiology from Virginia Tech in the fall of 2022, and joined the Scharf lab as a Master’s student in the spring of 2023.
After completing the research she started as an undergrad, she will focus on a project investigating the soybean symbiont Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens, and potential flagellatrophic bacteriophages for the organisms 2-flagellar system.
In her spare time, she enjoys crocheting, gaming, watching YouTube, and studying Korean.