Hi, I’m Anayancy. I’m a microbiology PhD student at Emory, going into my 5th year, and an HHMI Gilliam Fellow (‘24–‘27), George W. Woodruff Fellow, and Centennial Scholar Fellow.

Research Interests

I study two bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, that co-infect the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis. I focus on how P. aeruginosa adapts to S. aureus over the course of an infection. I want to understand how they adapt and outcompete each other over time. My work is part wet lab and part bioinformatics: I run experiments at the bench, then use phylogenetics and sequence data to see what’s happening at the genetic level. My advisor is Tim Read, whose lab studies bacterial genomics and builds computational tools (like the Bactopia pipeline) to understand how pathogens evolve and spread.

A few of the threads I’m pulling on right now:

  • Microevolution: the small genetic changes these bacteria pick up over short timescales.
  • Competition and coexistence: what decides whether one of them pushes the other out or they both stick around.
  • Bench to genome: connecting what I see in experiments to the signals left behind in sequence data.

You can find my publications here.

Organizing

Outside the lab (though I’d argue it isn’t really outside), I organize.

I helped lead the DeFlock Emory Coalition, a cross-campus effort to remove Flock Safety’s automated license-plate readers from our campus. We collected over 1,000 petition signatures, built relationships with AAUP and student groups, and produced teach-in, op-ed, and outreach materials that made the stakes legible to our community. Campus surveillance is not abstract for undocumented people, and I’ve spoken publicly about what it costs to be watched at the place where you work.

I’ve also led a session on anti-racist practices in my PhD program and pushed for a more transparent, equitable recruitment process, and I mentor undergraduate researchers, because who gets to do science matters to me as much as the science itself.

A few of the seats I hold right now:

  • HHMI Gilliam Advisory Council, elected representative (2026–2027). I work with HHMI and the Gilliam team to strengthen communication with the Fellows community and to shape the Gilliam Fellows Program through concrete recommendations.
  • Emory University Senate, Community Life Committee, appointed graduate student representative (2026–2027).
  • VP of Communications for EmoryUnite!, our graduate-worker union, elected by the membership. I also lead the International Student Working Group.

I organize because the people who do the teaching, research, and care work that keep a university running deserve a real say in their conditions, and because international, undocumented, and other vulnerable workers are too often left out of that conversation. Again and again, I’ve watched decisions get made for marginalized communities without their input, by people who assume they already know what’s best.

On the Record

I’m a DACA recipient, and I don’t hide it. I almost didn’t make it to college. DACA students in Georgia can’t access federal aid or state tuition assistance, and I’m here because of programs like TheDream.US Opportunity Scholarship and people who decided to invest in me. Staying quiet keeps no one safe, so I use whatever platform I have to help the people coming up behind me and to improve conditions for the people under attack right now.

This Site

I keep this site as a place to think out loud. Some of it is the science and bioinformatics I’m working through. Some of it is organizing, and what I’m learning about power and people. Some of it is stories and resources worth passing on, like a little bulletin board. It’s all one project.

I don’t want to do science from inside the ivory tower, sealed off from my community and everything happening in the world. Instead of running away from that discomfort, I think we should run toward it. That’s how things actually change.