Investigator, Full Prof (M) Infectious Disease, Mass General Research Institute

Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

anti-infective agents; antibiotic resistance; bacterial proteins; drug resistance bacterial; e coli; enterococcus; fluoroquinolones; nora; quinolone resistance; quinolones; staphylococcus aureus My laboratory studies the mechanisms and epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in bacteria with a major focus on the molecular determinants of quinolone action and resistance in Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The work includes characterization of the regulation of expression, membrane topology, and structure-activity relationships of the NorA and related quinolone efflux transport proteins of S. aureus; genetic dissection of the roles of topoisomerase IV and DNA gyrase in DNA replication, in regulation of virulence gene expression, and as drug targets; epidemiologic analyses of quinolone resistance and factors determining rates of antibiotic resistance in hospitals; molecular determinants favoring clonal spread of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium; and role of perioperative antibiotic use in selection of resistant bacteria.