Insights into multidrug-resistant pneumococcal infections using comparative genomics

The bacterium known as pneumococcus is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis (infection of the brain and spinal cord), community-acquired pneumonia (lung infections), and bacteremia (bacteria in the blood) in the world. Globally, these infections are estimated to result in 1.1 million deaths, and in the United States they are one of the top 10 causes of death. In addition, pneumococcus is one of the main causes of pediatric ear infections. These infections lead to pain and fever, and in some cases cause temporary hearing loss, and consequently speech and language problems. Approximately one-third of children experience three or more ear infection episodes. These are the primary reason sick children visit a doctor, the most widespread pediatric health problem in the United States, and the economic burden exceeds 5 billion dollars a year.

Within this species of bacteria, there exist numerous strains with extensive variability in their DNA sequence and their capacity to cause disease. In fact, almost all children carry some strain of this bacterium in their upper respiratory system at some point in their childhood without any signs of sickness. Symptoms can occur when these bacteria are allowed access to a part of the body where they do not belong, such as the inner ear (this pathway is usually opened by a viral infection and the subsequent depletion of hairs that protect the inner ear). In addition, certain strains seem to be much more likely to cause disease then others due to their unique combination of DNA, and harder to treat due to their multi-drug resistance.

This project focuses on a group of pneumococcal strains that have been isolated from sick patients, have spread all over the world in the last decades, and are resistance to most antibiotics. Together with world-renowned scientists at the Center for Genomic Sciences in Pittsburgh, I hope to use very powerful and novel technology (whole genome DNA sequencing and gene chips) to discover what factors (genes) makes these strains more likely to cause severe disease. Once we identify the disease-associated genes, we can target them to develop new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat pneumococcal disease.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• fundscience
• project
• pneumococcal
• bacteria