Montana State University · Microbiology & ImmunologySecor Microbiology Lab
Patrick R Secor · Bozeman, Montana
Research Focus
Dr. Patrick R. Secor's research lab at Montana State University focuses on understanding Lyme disease, which is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. The lab investigates how bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, contribute to the spread of genetic material between different strains of Borrelia. This research is important as it may uncover mechanisms that help the bacterium survive in nature and evade treatments, ultimately aiming to improve disease diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
Lyme diseaseBorrelia burgdorferibacteriophageshorizontal gene transfergenetic diversitymolecular microbiologyphage biologytiny infectionsspirochetes
Research Aims
3AIM 01Measure horizontal gene transfer between different B. burgdorferi strains in tick vectors.
AIM 02Define the role of BB-1 phage in maintaining spirochete infectivity in previously infected hosts.
AIM 03Dissect the mechanism by which BB-1 switches from lytic to lysogenic cycle.
Skills the Lab Values
PCRcell culturegenetic engineeringanimal modelsbiochemical assaysgenomic sequencingtranscriptomicsdata analysisbacteriophage techniques
Output against the department
Publications76bottom 24% of dept.370th of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations5.6kbottom 42% of dept.284th of 486
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.