Her research is focussed on the evolution of bacterial cell shape, and the discovery of bacteriophages that can attack antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the bee disease American foulbrood.

"[1] Her family members were conservative Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) who did not believe in evolution; in her household there were rules such as "no drinking alcohol, coffee or tea, no popular music and no one smokes.

[9] All three of these genera lack the gene for the protein MreB (the equivalent of actin in eukaryotes) which controls the width of rod-shaped bacteria.

[10] Hendrickson's lab works on discovering and understanding the biology of bacteriophages that attack the bacteria Pseudomonas, Lactocococus, Mycobacterium, and Paenibacillus.

The Hendrickson lab screens soil samples collected by beekeepers from beneath healthy hives, looking for bacteriophages that could be used to prevent AFB infection.