[1] She stayed close to home for her undergraduate studies, focussing on biochemistry and plant pathology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

[2] After earning her bachelor's degree she moved to Cornell University, where she studied the hypersensitive response and pathogenicity system.

[6] Charkowski has sequenced the genome of the Pectobacterium taxa, allowing systematic investigations into the role of the bacterial genes that are up-regulated in rotating tubers.

[1] In her investigations of the genome of Pectobacterium, Charkowski identified that the bacteria delivered a single effector protein (DspE) into host cells.

[1] She has tried to move the defensive genes that can recognise DspE into other potatoes and crop plants as a means to destroy pathogens.