Hello! My name is Adithi, I am an international student from Mauritius, which is in the Indian Ocean. I am currently a junior majoring in Microbiology at the University of Arizona. I have been working in Dr. Schomer’s lab since summer 2023. It is a plant sciences microbiology lab. This lab is observing the process of chemotaxis in different bacteria with plant chemicals. These chemicals are often seed or root exudates and are called QACs (quaternary ammonium salt compounds). Chemotaxis is the ability to sense a chemical gradient and move directionally along that gradient. MCPs (Methyl-accepting Chemotaxis Proteins) are receptors…