Description:

Bacteriology Faculty Search Candidate

"Investigating How Staphylococcus aureus Evades host Antimicribial Defenses"

Francis (Frank) Alonzo, PhD / Loyola University Medical Center

Description

The survival of Staphylococcus aureus in an infected host is predicated on a range of adaptive pathogenic traits. Two critical bacterial adaptations that promote S. aureus virulence are (1) the ability to evade host immunity and (2) the ability to acquire trace nutrients within disparate environments. This seminar will examine how bacterial synthesis and salvage of a metabolic cofactor permits survival of S. aureus in nutrient restricted tissues and simultaneously blunts innate immune cell activation to promote infection.