Career
She oversaw the culturing of bacteria in the Laboratory of Plant Pathology at the United States Department of Agriculture"s Bureau of Plant Industry. She received a patent for the production of penicillin mold and jelly in 1952. Hired by Erwin Frink Smith, pathologist-in-charge of the Laboratory of Plant Pathology, United States Department of Agriculture"s Bureau of Plant Industry, Quirk became Smith"s assistant in 1901.
Despite job titles of "laboratory aid" and "scientific assistant," Quirk"s research focused on the crown gall oxidation phenomena and culture mediums used in pathogenic analyses.