Jolene Bowers Ph.D.

Dr. Bowers is a Research Assistant Professor at TGen North, the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of TGen. Her work centers around development of next-generation molecular tools for clinical diagnostics for infectious disease, antibiotic resistance detection, and for epidemiological surveillance of pathogens. Dr. Bowers’ team also works closely with public health agencies at the local, state, and national levels to apply cutting edge tools to investigate outbreaks and conduct epidemiological studies in support of these agencies.

Starting in January 2020, TGen North mounted an all-hands response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which Dr. Bowers and her team were well-suited. She oversaw design and validation of a SARS-CoV-2 detection assay that received FDA authorization for emergency use in the newly constructed and certified TGen North CLIA Lab, and also manages TGen’s COVID Genomic Epidemiology response, including sequencing thousands of SARS-CoV-2 genomes to track the introduction and circulation of different viral strains into and around Arizona’s communities.

Dr. Bowers joined TGen North in 2007, and received her Ph.D. from Northern Arizona University in 2016, focusing on the evolution and dissemination of a carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) known as Klebsiella pneumoniae ST258, and identifying genomic markers for identification and characterization of K. pneumoniae in complex specimens. Her dissertation work has served as a template for several studies at TGen North.