Biology Professor Luis Quadri from the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences has published a paper in the American Society for Microbiology journal on Mycobacterium kansasii鈥攁n opportunistic pathogen that causes tuberculosis-like pulmonary disease.
The paper, 鈥�,鈥� argues that a comprehensive understanding of M. kansasii聽biology is critical to facilitate the development of new and more efficacious antimicrobial drugs against聽M. kansasii聽infections.
鈥淒rug resistance emergence is a threat to the control of聽M. kansasii聽infections, which already requires long-term multidrug courses,鈥� Quadri said. 鈥淚n this work, we used a genome-wide approach to uncover the genes聽M. kansasii聽requires for growth. We also compared the gene essentiality dataset of聽M. kansasii聽to those of several other mycobacteria. This analysis highlighted key similarities and differences in the biology of聽M. kansasii聽compared to these other species. Altogether, the findings of our gene essentiality analysis and the results of the cross-species comparative genomics analysis represent valuable resources to assist the process of identifying and prioritizing potential聽M. kansasii聽drug target candidates and to guide future studies on聽惭办听biology.鈥�
Quadri鈥檚 laboratory work focuses on the study of the biology of mycobacterial pathogens.聽聽Before joining 可乐视频 in January 2010, Quadri held faculty and head of laboratory/principal investigator positions at Weill Medical College of Cornell University for 10 years.聽聽Before his tenure at Weill Medical College, Quadri received postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and earned a Ph.D. degree at the University of Alberta, Canada.
