Judy Smith, MD, PhD, was recently awarded a Graduate School Fall Competition Award of $15,000 for her project, “The Role of the Unfolded Protein Response in Brucella Replication.” Brucellosis is a chronic debilitating bacterial disease and the most prevalent zoonosis worldwide. We have new evidence suggesting Brucella hijacks a host intracellular stress response (the Unfolded Protein Response, UPR) to promote bacterial replication. This project aims to establish the importance of the UPR in vivo and determine which signaling axes within the UPR are critical for supporting replication. Greater understanding of pathogenesis will suggest new therapeutic strategies.