Jennifer Pennise, MS

Jennifer is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she earned a BS in Biology, a BA in Communication Studies with an English minor, and an MS in Scientific Writing from Temple University in 2023. While at Temple, she trained under Dr. Mohsin Khan, conducting metabolic disease research. During a post-graduate transitional period, she expanded her research under the mentorship of Dr. Kathryn Wellen at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on pancreatic cancer metabolism. Jennifer joined the Skaar and Spraggins labs in 2026 as a co-mentored graduate student. Her research focuses on developing a multimodal workflow that integrates MALDI imaging mass spectrometry and Xenium spatial transcriptomics to better understand host-microbe interactions in the context of *Staphylococcus aureus* infections.