Description:

"Responses of Gram-Negative Lung Pathogens to the Host Environment"

Speaker: Matthew Wargo, University of Vermont

Host: Alan Hauser, MD, PhD

TOPIC

Many opportunistic Gram-negative pathogens make a transition from an environmental pre-infection niche into the lung where they can cause pneumonia or chronic infections in susceptible people. Initial detection of the host environment and elaboration of appropriate responses are required to initiate colonization and promote infection. We are examining the transcriptional and metabolic responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia to the lung environment and, for P. aeruginosa, contrasting the response to the lung with that to the pre-infection niche - potable water.