Congratulations to Ellen Wald, MD, and Co-PI Laura Cook, PhD (State University of New York, Binghamton) on their recent R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH/NIAID), “Transcriptomic and Genetic Differences of Group A Streptococcus in Humans: Acute Infection versus Carriage.” The overall award is for ~$456,000 total cost over 2 years and ~40% of this funding will be allocated for research conducted at UW-Madison. With Co-Investigator Greg DeMuri, MD, this project aims to define and distinguish physiological differences between “acute infection” and the “carrier” state of the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus) by characterizing and comparing whole genome sequencing and transcriptomic profiles during each phase of infection.