"Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself, and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug, make them resistant.” - A. Fleming

Antimicrobial Resistance

Our ultimate goal is to find effective alternatives to antibiotics. We have identified a novel way to enhance the ability of the host to clear infections by antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Protein Conformational Diseases

Our ultimate goal is to prevent and treat neurodegenerative diseases. We are identifying bacteria and their respective signals that affect host protein homeostasis

What is

Antimicrobial resistance

“the ability of a microorganism to stop antimicrobial from working against it” – WHO

Antibiotics

Lack of novel antibiotic classes leads to limited treatment options

Resistance

Constantly increasing resistance poses a threat on a global scale

Bacterial Infections

It is estimated that by 2050, antibiotic resistance will claim 10 million lives annually

Our Approach

Targeting the host and bacterial resistance mechanisms allows us to circumvent antibiotic resistance

How is

Human microbiota linked to neurodegeneration?

Somehow bacteria that are part of our very own microbiome affect the way proteins fold in our brains. Among many factors, antibiotics, diet, and aging affect our microbiota. A dysbiosis of the human gut microbiota has been linked to neurodegeneration.  A number of factors may be contributing.

Inflammation

Increased presence of Gram-negative bacteria can trigger chronic inflammation that was shown to enhance neurodegeneration

Aggregation-prone proteins

Bacteria can secrete amyloid-like proteins that disrupt host proteostasis. Such proteins can migrate from the gut into the brain

Displacement

Bacteria from various microbiome sites (i.e. oral) were found in brains of patients with neurodegeneration

Our Approach

We employ the C. elegans intestine as a test tube to study the effect of bacterial colonization on host proteostasis

Our Team

Daniel Czyz, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

About me

Alyssa Walker, Ph.D.

Postdoc

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Garrett Ellward, BS

Ph.D. Candidate

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Anan Safwat, BS

Ph.D. Candidate

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Jazmine De la Rosa, BS

Technician

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Brittani Brown, MS

Ph.D. Candidate

About me

Sanil Nadar, MS

Ph.D. Candidate

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Michael Bucher, BS

Lab Manager
Lab Safety Officer

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Macie Binda

Undergraduate Scientist in Training

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Mason Bui

Undergraduate Scientist in Training

About me

Yoan Argote

Undergraduate Scientist in Training

About me

Matthew Tibi

Undergraduate Scientist in Training

About me

Cristian Puente

Undergraduate Scientist in Training

About me

Naveen Sedhev

Undergraduate Scientist in Training

About me

Past Members

Shelby Harding, BS

Undergraduate – 2018 Fall

Neelesh Bapatla, BS

Undergraduate – 2018/1019

Nelson Gonzalez, BS

Undergraduate – 2019

Lillianne Marcheggiani, BS

Undergraduate – 2018-2019 (Honors Thesis)

Natalia Andraka

Undergraduate – 2019 Fall

Emily Donahue, BS

Undergraduate – 2019-2020

Benjamin Hoffman, MS

Technician– 2018-2020

Adrienne Hernandez, BS

Undergraduate – 2018-2020

Emily Herring, BS

Undergraduate – 2019-2020

Troy Benvenuto, BS

Undergraduate – 2019-2020

Sagnik Ghosh, MS

Data Scientist– 2021 Spring

Carol Navya Pagolu

Data Scientist – 2021

Rohan Wanare

Data Scientist – 2021

Youssef Sadek

Undergraduate – 2021

Samantha Enslow, BS

Undergraduate – 2021

Valeria Molinary

Undergraduate – 2021

Anika Hedrich

Undergraduate – 2021

Alfonso Vaziriyan-Sani, MS

Undergraduate – 2018 Fall
MS Graduate – 2020-22

Elena Encinas, BS

Undergraduate – 2021-2022

Rohan Bhargava

Undergraduate – 2019-2022

Shazaib Mughal

Undergraduate – 2022-23

Wren Dees

Undergraduate – 2021-22

Amanda Bailey

Undergraduate – 2022-2023

Jacob Best, BS

Technician – 2022-2024

Autumn Dove, PhD

PhD Graduate – 2018-2023

Amanda Brust, BS

Undergraduate – 2021-2023

Nilay Bhavsar

Undergraduate – 2023

Dominika Dzurny, BS

Undergraduate – 2021-2023

Brenton Guerrieri

Undergraduate – 2022-2023

Robert Handy, BS

Undergraduate – 2021-2023

Aiden Rotondo

Undergraduate – 2023-2024

Learn more about our projects

Antibiotic Resistance

We employ in vitro tissue-culture models to identify modulators of bacterial entry, inhibitors of intracellular survival, and enhancers of the immune response

Proteostasis 

We study host-pathogen interaction using C. elegans 

Alternatives

We employ non-traditional approaches to target AMR in Gram-negative bacteria, specifically P. aeruginosa. Such approaches include specific targeting of bacteria by phages and restoring the efficacy of antibiotics by inhibiting efflux pumps.